
8. Focus on the good, not on getting over the bad
Research at Indiana University has shown that happier people tend to focus on the things that make them happy, whereas unhappy people tend to focus on trying not to think about negative things. Explains the university’s Carducci, “Happier people really do focus on the positive”—it’s the proverbial glass half full. “If we attend only to what we haven’t yet attained, we will inevitably experience disappointment,” explains Paterson. One strategy to counter this is reallocating our attention. “If we make a conscious effort to focus on what we’ve done, we are more likely to see ourselves as making progress.”
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