Should I pick apart my happy days?
· Source: Lyubomirsky, Sousa & Dickerhoof, JPSP, 2006
After a really good day, it's tempting to work out why it went so well. Researchers tested that. Students went back to one of their happiest days, eight minutes at a time, three days in a row. Some replayed it like a film. What happened, what was said, how it felt. Others analysed it, step by step: why did it happen, and what could have gone differently? A month later, the ones who analysed it in writing reported less personal growth and poorer health. Replaying seemed to keep the good feeling going. So keep your good days as they were. Replay them, don't explain them.