Many of us struggle to focus on the good things in our lives – this is called “negative filtering.” To pay attention to what’s going well in your life, try this exercise.
In his book Flourish, Martin Seligman, Ph.D. says that sometimes, it makes sense to analyze bad events so that we can learn from them and avoid them in the future. However, he cautions us against spending more time focusing on the negative than the positive. Dr. Seligman says, “The 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 what went well using the suggestions in this post.
Download Pages for Your WWWW Journal
Download and print the WWWW Journal Pages and follow these instructions for completing the What Went Well Exercise:
Record Three Things That Went Well Every Day
Sometime before you go to bed each night, write down three things that went well that day. These events should be important to you, but they do not need to be “earth shattering” in importance.
Because it is helpful to have a physical record of what went well, use the WWWW Journal Paper, a journal, or your computer to write about these events.
Record Why Each Positive Event Went Well
Next to each positive event, answer the question, “Why did this happen?” For example, if you wrote that you just got a promotion, you might pick as the cause, “I did some really great work this past year and my supervisor noticed.” A student could recognize good grades are because of “strong study habits and hard work.”
Stick With It
At first, writing about why these positive events in your life happened may seem difficult, but if you stick with it for one week, it will get easier. Go back and look at what you’ve written at least once per month, and keep up this exercise for at least six months.
Celebrate!
Finally, celebrate the defeat of “negative filtering” in your life! Dr. Seligman’s research shows that you will be less depressed, happier, and addicted to this exercise six months from now.
Call 817.421.8780 if you need help applying this concept.
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