What could go right?

This week’s Mental Sunshine follows on from last week’s email - which was all about changing your thinking to consider,

What could go right?

The other side of thinking about what might go well in the future is the part where you look back over the day’s events.

Be honest - when someone asks you how your day was, what do you say?

I’m willing to bet the most positive thing you’re likely to say in response to this question is Yeah, ok…

In fact, you’re probably tempted to list all the things that went wrong.

A customer shouted at me on the phone

My computer crashed

I missed my train and had to wait 3 mins for the next one

My car broke down (as happened to me last Thursday).

Sound familiar?

What if you chose to focus on what went well during your day?

The human brain is wired to seek out potential threats and danger.

We automatically look for the negatives in a situation.

But you can train your brain to see more of the positives.

A great way of doing this is to make a point of asking yourself each evening, What went right today?

I’m not suggesting that you lie, or act like you had a fabulous day when it was really stressful…

But how often do we allow that negative ten minutes to become the story of our whole day?

A customer might have shouted at you, but what else happened?

Perhaps you managed to help another customer out of a tricky situation

Perhaps a coworker made you a cup of tea

Perhaps you had a really delicious sandwich for lunch.

It’s not about trying to paint a rosy picture over a disastrous day

It’s more about making sure we stop to notice and appreciate the good things that have happened.

When we stop to appreciate these things, we’ll naturally begin to notice more of them.

Thereby increasing the Mental Sunshine in our lives!