This article was featured on Lifehack.org. The idea behind positive psychology is that we can control the powers in our life and how they influence us. As a father I preach “calm begets calm.” It’s the same principle behind positive psychology in that we can be what we see ourselves being. If we surround ourselves with positive energy then hopefully that attracts other positive factors in our lives.

1. Comparing yourself to others. “Comparison is the death of joy.” (See “Predictably Irrational“)
2. Talking about your dreams instead of going to work on them. “Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.”
3. Listening to people with nothing positive to say. “A complainer is like a Death Eater because there’s a suction of negative energy.”
4. Focusing on the news. “The bad news is that only the bad people reach the news, because they are noisier.” (See “The Signal and the Noise“)
5. Deciding someone else needs to change. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
6. Thinking “happiness” is a destination you can reach. “Joy has nothing to do with material things, or with man’s outward circumstance… A man living in the lap of luxury can be wretched, and a man in the depths of poverty can overflow with joy.” (See “Happy, Happy, Happy”)
7. Forgetting to say “thank you.” “We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”

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