‘You will die and find out everything — or cease asking.’ –Tolstoy
We all have personal stories about who we are and what the world is like. These stories aren’t necessarily conscious, but they are the narratives by which we live our lives. Many of us have healthy, optimistic stories that serve us well. But sometimes, people develop pessimistic stories and get caught in self-defeating thinking cycles, whereby they assume the worst and, as a result, cope poorly. The question then becomes how to help people revise their negative stories.
{ Timothy D. Wilson/Scientific American | Continue reading }
images { 1. Willem de Kooning, Reclining Nude, c. 1938 | 2. Karlina Caune by Andreas Öhlund }
