29 May What are THE BEST things in your life and …
Those of you who are familiar with Positive Psychology and self-help happiness strategies generally, will probably be familiar with what is known as the “three good things” exercise.
As the name suggests, it’s a relatively simple journalling activity that, usually once each day, involves reflecting on and ideally writing down three good things that have happened in the last 24 hours (or what others might describe as “what’s going well?”).
There’s no doubt that recording three good things on a regular basis is good for you; it’s correlated with greater happiness and wellbeing and for something that requires such little time and effort, the “return on investment” is really quite significant.
But today I want to proffer an alternative, a version of “three good things” that goes a bit deeper and that as such, might provide an even deeper form of happiness.
Again, it’s quite simple, but involves thinking not just of the last day, but more broadly, of your life. In the same way, however, the question remains similar to “what’s going well?” but in this instance, it’s more about …
What are the best things in your life and … why?
You’ll hopefully notice two differences with the simpler version. Again, this is about your life overall, not just your day, but it also, crucially, adds the question “why?”
Recognising something as being good is definitely … good. Appreciating and being grateful for what’s going well is undeniably an effective way to boost happiness. But taking it a step further by thinking about why, by exploring the underlying reasons for the goodness, should provide an even deeper and more enduring form of happiness and life satisfaction that is likely to be profound.
So, give it a try! And if you’re happy to share, post your thoughts or questions on one of the main social media platforms and tag #thehappinessinstitute so I can respond in some appropriate way : )