Positive Psychology – Thank You Techniques to Increase Well-Being

Hello friends!

The creator of Positive Psychology, Martin Seligman, created two excellent activities for us to learn to be more grateful. As was evident in their research, people who know how to be grateful are happier and manage to create more solid and lasting relationships.

It’s like the story of the half-full glass of water. Is the glass half full or half empty?

In our lives, we will all face good times and bad times. If we focus our attention only on the bad moments (the glass is half empty), the tendency is for negative feelings to appear and even become constant. But if, on the other hand, we see what is working (the glass is half full), the feelings will be positive and our quality of life will tend to improve.

The glass example may seem distant, so we can think of a love relationship in which the wife always complains about everything that her husband does not do for her, such as, for example, helping to take out the garbage. Of course, this can keep happening. However, emotions can change a lot, if she also sees what he does: like spending a whole day at the mall watching her shop, endlessly.

Her focus can be on what he doesn’t do (the glass is half empty) or what he does (the glass is half full).

Well, then, let’s go to the two thank you activities designed by Seligman:

Close your eyes. Remember the face of someone who is still alive and who a few years ago did or said something for you that changed your life for the better. Someone you haven’t received your thank you, your appreciation. Someone you could meet face to face with next week. Can you think of anyone?

Gratitude can make your life more fulfilling and happy. When we feel gratitude, we benefit from a pleasant memory of a positive event in our lives. Also, when we express our gratitude, we strengthen our bonds with others.

But sometimes our thank you is said in such a casual or quick way that it becomes almost meaningless. In this exercise… you will have the opportunity to express gratitude in a much deeper way.

Your activity is to write a letter of gratitude to that person and deliver it personally. The letter should be concrete and around 300 words long: be specific about what was done for you and how it changed your life. Let the person know what you are doing right now and mention how you often remember what you received or heard.

Once you’ve written your testimony, call the person and tell them you’d like to visit, but don’t say why; because this activity is much more fun when it’s a surprise. When you find the person, read the letter.

Diary of 3 positive events

Each night for a week, write down three things that went well during the day and why they went well. You can use a journal or computer to write about events, but it’s important that you keep a file of what you’ve written.

The three events may not be extremely important (for example, “My husband bought my favorite ice cream on the way home”), but also, if they are very important, they may be part of it (for example, “My sister just gave birth to a baby boy”). Cute baby”).

Next to each event, answer the question, “Why did this happen?” Using the example above of the husband bringing ice cream, the answer could be, “because my husband is really thoughtful” or it could be “because I called him and reminded him to stop by the grocery store.”

Or, if it were the example of the birth of a nephew, the answer could be, “because everything went well during the pregnancy”.

Writing about positive events in your life may feel a little strange at first, but please stick with it for a week and you will see results. And besides, it will get easier and easier.

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