Happiness Boosting

Over the last few weeks, I have engaged in the happiness boosting exercise - Three Good Things. The practice has supported my transition from professional to personal life at the end of each work day. It’s easy to get carried away by the work or the meeting that did not go as planned - causing stress and unease to follow us home. At the same time, we adapt to the good things and people in our lives taking them for granted. The outcome: we overlook the positive and therefore miss opportunities for elation and connection - in work and personally.  

How it works:  

At the end of each work day, acknowledge and physically write down three good things that went well for you and provide an explanation for why it went well.  

- Give the event a title. 

- Describe what happened and be specific.  

- Consider how it made you feel as you were experiencing it, as well as right now, during your reflection. 

- Consider why the moment was joyful.  

- Re-focus attention on the "Good Thing" if you find your attention on negative feelings.  

By allowing space to focus on the positives, this practice teaches you to notice, remember and tang the better things happening to you. Reflection on the cause of the event may invoke and attune you to deeper sources of goodness within your life, encouraging a mindset of gratitude.  

First published in NewsReal on September 12, 2019.