Don’t let someone else’s bad day affect your day.

When someone approaches you in a bad mood, we tend to get swept away in the same bad mood. Humans naturally empathize with other humans.

During and after the encounter, actively resist the negative attitudes that form in your body and mind.  

After the encounter, actively reinterpret the negative ideas, jump out of your chair and actively change your state, and stop thinking about certain ideas that are especially distorted and pernicious.  

There is no requirement to feel and think the same way as other people. Your friend might interpret a situation negatively, but you do not have to interpret it negatively too.

If you choose, tell your friend your positive interpretation of the situation. Or don’t tell them, you need not share your interpretation with anyone at all.

Above all protect your mind and your general level of happiness.  

Discuss this post in the Happy Forum. Learn more about these ideas at the Happy Wiki.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 2:06 pm and is filed under Happiness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.