by Emilie Glen Colsted

Finding the good stuff

While the glass-half-full mentality is something many have heard an overly enthusiastic college preach about, there is a lot more to this style of thinking. Thinking positively is not exclusively reserved for cheering little league coaches and eager stockbrokers but indeed something you too can use in your everyday life.

Research shows that tuning into positive things that happen throughout the day can boost our overall happiness, which, in turn, will come with a lot of benefits for our mental well-being. Finding the good stuff is a method used in psychological resilience training which helps counteracts the negativity bias.

The good stuff can be big or small. Thinking about the good things that happened today can mean remembering eating a scrumptious breakfast or how a stranger smiled at you on your way home.

A good way to reap the optimism of these positive events is to reflect on your role. E.g. “I enjoyed my breakfast by eating mindfully.”

Identifying your role like this can help you figure out how to contribute to good things in the future. Like if slowing down and paying attention to your senses while you were eating made the meal more enjoyable to you, then you may try to repeat this action tomorrow.

If you want to know more and start practicing positive thinking regularly, then try out the tool: Find the good stuff.