Turn on the news….go on…do it. Look at all that fear, death, and destruction. It is hard to find anything good on the news….but then there is usually a positive piece of news that brings a smile to the newscasters faces. It helps break up all the negativity.
We are living in scary times right now. We need positive reminders to help break up the negativity in the news. I bet most, if not all, of your conversations has been about COVID-19. You have been getting second hand updates from friends and family and some of that has been contradictory to what you heard thirty minutes ago from your other friend. Scary. It is hard to know which end is up some days. Hell, sometimes it has been hard to determine which DAY it is!
A byproduct of all of this negativity is depression and low motivation. It makes sense, though. We are all undergoing a radical shift to our routine and schedules, some more intense than others. We are having to share spaces with others in our house who also need to use the Internet for work and tensions run high and feelings are expressed and hurt. We are alone in our house and miss our family and friends. We need social interaction. We all have needs and for some of us they are more difficult to get met right now. Enter depressive mood and low motivation. *raises hand* Yes, me too.
One of the suggestions I make to clients early on is to engage in the “Three Good Things”. For two weeks (I know the video says one week, but trust me…), An hour before you go to bed, I want you to write down three good things that happened that day. This may be difficult in the beginning but I promise you it will get easier. As you do this, you are rewriting the neural pathways in your brain to notice the good things, which will increase your overall mood and in response increase your motivation. The reason why I suggest two weeks is the research out of Duke University says that engaging with the process for 12 days has a lasting power of three months. That means for three months, you should experience more productivity and lighter moods.
Part of the experience is also writing down the “why” that thing was good. Some questions you could ask yourself: what was so good about that thing? What was the cause of that thing? How did that thing make me feel and how do I feel now reflecting back on it? It is perfectly natural for other feelings like sadness, regret, and guilt to rise while recalling the situation. Allow yourself to experience those feelings and then notice those feelings subsiding like waves in the ocean. Refocus your attention on the positive feeling that thing created within you.
My hope for you is after you engage in this practice to be able to focus your energy on what is going right for you during this time of stress and uncertainty. Please make sure to share this anyone you think would benefit from this tool.
“Three Good Things”. Retrieved from https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/three-good-things
Rippstein-Leuenberger K, Mauthner O, Bryan Sexton J, et al. A qualitative analysis of the Three Good Things intervention in healthcare workers. BMJ Open 2017;7:e015826. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-015826
