3 good things practice

In our day-to-day lives, it's easy to get caught up in the things that go wrong and feel like we're living under our own private rain cloud. At the same time, we tend to adapt to the good things and people in our lives, taking them for granted. As a result, we often overlook everyday beauty and goodness—a kind gesture from a stranger, say, or the warmth of our heater on a chilly morning. 

This practice guards against those tendencies. By remembering positive things that have happened in your day - and considering what caused them - you tune into the sources of goodness in your life. It's a habit that can change the emotional tone of your life, feelings of gratitude and happiness.

How to Do It

Each day, spend 10 mins either writing down, or talking with a loved one, 3 things that went well for you that day.  The items can be relatively small in importance (e.g., “my coworker made the coffee today”) or big (e.g., “I earned a big promotion”). Steps:

1. Describe what happened, and how the event made you feel at the time and later 

2. Explain what you think caused this event

3. If you find yourself focusing on negative feelings, refocus your mind on the good event and the positive feelings that came with it. 

Why it Works

By giving you the space to focus on the positive, this practice teaches you to notice, remember, and savor the better things in life. It may prompt you to pay closer attention to positive events down the road and engage in them more fully. Reflecting on the cause of the event may help attune you to the deeper sources of goodness in your life, fostering a mindset of gratitude.

Source: Jeffrey Huffman, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital

This exercise was originally published on Greater Good In Action, a website from the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.