Good Day Everyone

When something good happens to you, do you feel it’s deserved? Or do you assume someone must have wronged you to bring about a good result? In our day-to-day lives, we tend to assume the latter. As a result, we often distrust people and assume they must be scheming against us to cause us unhappiness. Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as “implicit reactance” more commonly known as being resentful of good things.

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Why We’re Resistant to Good Things

There are many reasons why we may be resentful of good things. But perhaps one of the most common is that we simply don’t believe things will be good for us in the long run. For instance, maybe you’ve been stuck in a career rut for ages, and you’ve finally decided to make a change. But because you don’t think your decision will pay off in the end, you’re resentful towards it because it’s causing you to stress right now. Similarly, maybe someone has done you a favor or helped you out in some way. But because this person is not the type you usually associate with, you don’t think they deserve your gratitude.

Why Good Things Make Us Feel Bad

The reasons why we might be resentful of good things are numerous. For example, when something good happens to us, our minds automatically imagine all the different ways it could go wrong. This is because our brains are hardwired to look for danger and avoid it at all costs. And by imagining all the negative possibilities, we’re simply being realistic albeit a little pessimistic. But the issue is that when we start imagining those bad things, we also start resenting the good things. This is because our brains don’t know the difference between bad and good they only know “bad” and “worse”.

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How to Be Grateful for the Good Things in Life

Being resentful of good things is a terrible way to live. It makes you overly pessimistic, miserable, and suspicious of others. And while it’s okay to be wary of bad things, it’s not okay to be resentful of everything. One way to be grateful for the good things in life is to be mindful of your thoughts. When something good happens to you, take a moment and consciously focus on how grateful you are for it. Do this while the feelings are fresh in your mind and they’ll become ingrained in your psyche. Another way to be grateful for the good things in life is to practice gratitude meditation. This involves visualizing all the good things in your life and then internalizing those positive feelings.