What Went Well

We are somewhat programmed to analyze things for "what went wrong". The phrase, "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst" is a truism lived out by pioneers living in harsh lands.  But this need to be prepared can set us up for anxiety, and also set us up to not see what is going well. 


Martin Seligman, the founder of Postiive Psychology, suggests that we become intentional about noticing what is going right. He says, 
"We think too much about what goes wrong and not enough about what goes right in our lives. Of course, sometimes it makes sense to analyze bad events so that we can learn from them and avoid them in the future. However, people tend to spend more time thinking about what is bad in life than is helpful. Worse, this focus on negative events sets us up for anxiety and depression. One way to keep this from happening is to get better at thinking about and savoring what went well."

Seligman suggests that we take 10 minutes each day to notice 3 things that went well, and why they went well.  This has been proven to help with depression and promote changes in life satisfaction.

Read the entire article at Brain Pickings.

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"Do not let what you cannot do
keep you from doing what you can do."

John Wooden