Happiness Strategy -- Write About It

When you feel unhappy -- or like you might be getting that way -- it can really help to employ a strategy for shifting gears. One of my favorites is to sit down and write about whatever is going on that contributes to my negativity. This can help in a variety of ways.

• Writing forces me to face the issue head on, combating my tendency to avoid negativity (which pretty much always makes things worse).
• Negativity builds on itself, often becoming bigger than the original issue that caused it. Writing about whatever is bothering me helps me really think about what is going on and staves off the very human tendency to wallow.
• Writing about an issue often helps me realize that it is not such a big deal, and is not worth my time and energy.
• The act of writing occupies my mind. It is active; and any activity starts to create forward momentum -- even if just a little bit -- that I can then put into other activities that will take me even further away from the unhappiness.
• As I write, I do not just write about the issue, I write about how to solve it or otherwise remove it from my life. Writing forces me to organize my thoughts and feelings, and to put real energy into solutions.

For me, the writing strategy works best with the TV off. Music in the background is okay, but television is just different, for me. It fills my brain and mostly shuts it down, like anesthesia.

I absolutely believe that part of the reason I tend to be happier than some people is that I keep a daily journal, employing my writing strategy every day, whether I need it or not. On a tough day, I might even write more than one entry throughout the day, taking a few minutes to get my thoughts and feelings out, organize them a bit, and start developing solutions and strategies