Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/220320
Manliness The Art of By Brett & Kate McKay, courtesy of www.artofmanliess.com The George Bailey Technique: Erase Your Blessings for Greater Joy and Optimism L ately, I've been looking at ways to be less cynical. Not that there's anything wrong with a bit of healthy cynicism, I just have a tendency to go overboard with it so that it devolves into bitterness, pessimism, and passivity. I'm sort of morose by nature, so I'm constantly battling my inner Oscar the Grouch/Eeyore. One thing I've read that's supposed to help you overcome cynicism is starting a gratitude journal.You've probably heard of these things; some of you may have tried it yourself.There's not much to it. Every day you write down the things you're grateful for. By counting your blessings like this each day, you're supposed to feel happier and more optimistic about life. So they say. JOBS for TEAMS I've done gratitude journals a few times throughout my life and I've never really gotten much out of the exercise. Which is really frustrating because I don't understand why. I can flip through pages and pages of stuff that I'm thankful for and I think,"Man, I've got so much going for me.The world is great! Why don't I feel any happier or less cynical about life?" On top of that, I know several folks who report that writing in | 16 JobsForTeams1213_manliness.indd 1 a gratitude journal really helped them, so that made my failure at becoming happier through counting my blessings sting even more. I started to think that my extreme cynicism cankered my soul so much that I would never be able to feel happy or idealistic again.This of course resulted in my feeling more cynical, pessimistic, and bitter… Damnit. The Extraordinary Becomes Commonplace A few months ago I was reading a book called Redirect:The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change by Dr.Timothy D. Wilson. (It's a really good book — I highly recommend it.) One www.jobsforteams.com 11/4/13 9:33 AM