Three Good Things
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The most well-known evidence-based happiness assignment is Martin Seligman’s Three Good Things activity.
Here’s Seligman’s description: Write down, for one week, before you go to sleep, three things that went well for you during the day, and then reflect on why they went well.
Just in case you want to hear it from the horse’s mouth, here’s a one-minute video of Seligman describing the activity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOGAp9dw8Ac
Seligman makes this assignment sound simple and effective. In fact, it’s a documented evidence-based intervention to improve mood and may address depression symptoms. That’s cool and amazing. However, because everyone is different, you may or may not find it as easy and simple Seligman describes. Below, I’ve listed a few issues that sometimes arise as people consider doing it.
For various reasons, some people hate using the word good. Seligman says you can call it three blessings. Of course, some people hate using the word blessings. As a consequence, we recommend using whatever words you like. Some people say “Three meaningful things” or “Three pleasant things.” Use what fits for you.
If you’re the sort of person who lies awake in bed for a while, it might work great for you to do just before you fall asleep. For me, that doesn’t work, partly because I fall asleep so quickly. However, I also often wake up at 4am and have some dark and unpleasant thoughts about myself and the world. A couple years ago, I decided to try using it then. . . and although it doesn’t turn my dark awakenings in to good times, doing three good things in the middle of the night is WAY BETTER that just feeling battered by negative thoughts.
It’s not unusual for people to dismiss their good things. You might think, “I took my dog for a walk” and then say to yourself, “but that’s a minimal thing I should do anyway, so it’s not all that good.” When people dismiss their good things, we call that “spoiling” your positive experiences. If you do that, no worries, just notice it and try to accept the good thing for what it is anyway.
A big reason why three good things work is that our brains are problem-solving machines and so asking your brain “Why?” the good things happened lets us ruminate or chew on explanations for good things (instead of our usual search for explanations for bad things). As you explore the “Why?” question, let yourself go as deep as you like; you might find that your good things are really manifestations of your deeply held values.
For the happiness challenge, your job is to do three good things for a week. That will give you 21 good things. If you feel inclined to share some of these good things, please do. You can do it privately with friends/family, or you can post on social media. If you remember, please use our hashtags: #MHPHappinessChallenge and #MontanaHappiness. Also, if you remember, be sure to tag us so we can see what you’ve posted.
Also, share any other interesting experiences you had doing Three Good Things.
As always, thanks for engaging with and sharing the Montana Happiness Challenge.
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Dr. John Sommers-Flanagan, University of Montana
