Most of us find it easier to focus on life’s problems instead of what is going well. There's a clinical term for that - negativity bias, an evolutionary instinct to look out for threats so that we can escape them unharmed.
It is easy to say "have gratitude"...but it is not always that simple. Gratitude can seem like a glorified form of denial, a way of papering over problems by posting inspirational quotes to social media, by labeling everything in life “a blessing.”
So keep it simple. Think about a basic reset of thoughts, just like in meditation, and choose instead to gently settle your attention on something positive. We don’t erase the pain — it’s still there — but we can broaden our perspective by opening to our pain and also opening to things other than the suffering we feel.
[adapted from Sharon Salzberg, founder of Insight Meditation Society]
