Pebble Hypnotherapy - What Went Well?

An exercise that was created by Psychologist Martin Seligman. Seligman founded a movement called ‘Positive Psychology’; this approach recognises that from an evolutionary perspective, we are better at focusing on bad events than good ones.

If you’ve ever had a session with me at Pebble Hypnotherapy, you’ll be familiar with the question; I start my sessions by asking clients to tell me some things that have gone well since we last met. But I can’t take credit for this practice! It is an exercise that was created by Psychologist Martin Seligman. Seligman founded a movement called ‘Positive Psychology’; this approach recognises that from an evolutionary perspective, we are better at focusing on bad events than good ones. While this was really helpful at keeping us alive in the stone age, it doesn’t make up happy today! Seligman recognised that to overcome this we need to develop the skill of thinking about what’s gone well, and he developed an exercise which encouraged clients to do just that. They were asked to record 3 things that had gone well that day, and why they had. These things could be small or large, and participants were asked to do the exercise every day for a week, keeping a written record. Seligman was astonished by the results he got just from this one exercise, teaching it very widely, to university students, Mental Health workers, and clients with depression. In his book ‘Flourish’ he states that: “as a therapist and trainer of therapists for thirty years…. I had never encountered such a mass of positive reports”.

This movement has now grown and developed into a number of different forms. The organisation Action for Happiness https://actionforhappiness.org/ provides opportunities to get involved with practical exercises that can improve our mood; from publishing a monthly calendar of suggested micro activities, through to local courses and opportunities to volunteer, there are lots of ideas of ways to try these practices out. But if you just want to do 1 thing – try this; for the next week make a note at the end of every day of 3 things that have gone well, and why they did. I’d love to hear how it goes!

Candy x