Happiness myth #1: Its crucial to maintain a positive mindset. Good luck with that. Though its the founding principle of the positive thinking movement, trying hard to focus on upbeat thoughts and emotions frequently backfires, generating stress. One culprit is the minds susceptibility to ironic effects: attempting not to think about certain negative things only renders them more salient. Research underlines the point: bereaved people who try not to feel grief take longer to recover; experimental subjects who were told to try not to feel sad about some distressing news felt worse. Much more fruitful is the Buddhist-inspired notion of non-attachment: learning to let negative emotions arise and pass, resisting the urge to stamp them out. In any case, its often more productive to focus on behavior, not internal states. Next time youre feeling unmotivated about starting some daunting project, allow yourself to feel unmotivated--and at the same time, open up the file and begin. Doing meaningful work is challenging enough without the burdensome demand that you feel like doing it, too. 5 big happiness myths debunked: f-st.co/T7118EH
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 02:57:47 +0000
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