Martin Seligman is a psychologist who is considered the father of modern positive psychology. This is what he has to say about what we choose to focus on:
“When we take time to notice the things that go right – it means we are getting a lot of little rewards
throughout the day.” – Martin Seligman
Think about how many times we tend to focus on what goes wrong, on how the weather is not co-operating, on how someone else’s behaviour has the ability to sway our mood. We often take for granted the things that we expect will go right, so when something creates a roadblock, or isn’t exactly as we hoped it would be, it can set us off and we can follow the slippery slope to a negative mindset.
When we purposefully decide to notice what goes right, we give ourselves permission to feel good about ourselves. When we notice and give credit to our loved ones, we give them the gift of appreciation. By acknowledging the good, we temper the bad. 🙂
Photo credit: https://unsplash.com/@krakenimages
A wonderful reminder Kristine? And so integrated with the other pearls of wisdom you regularly note, explaining our propensity as humans to note the “bad” for evolutionary safety as well as the gifts we receive in our practice of gratitude.
Thanks Gurlie!