Should I pick apart my happy days?
· Source: Lyubomirsky, Sousa & Dickerhoof, JPSP, 2006
Working out why a good day went so well sounds useful. In experiments, taking a happy day apart left people worse off than simply reliving it.
Should I pick apart my happy days?
Analysing a happy day left people worse off. Students wrote or thought about their happiest day for 8 minutes on three days. A month later, those who analysed it in writing reported less personal growth and poorer health than those who simply replayed it. Replay it. Don’t explain it. Go back to one good moment: what you saw, what people said, how you felt. If you start asking why, return to the details. Keep the good days just as they were. Halflight keeps them under their dates.