Positive or Negative Thinking

Additive thinking creates more happiness because it’s about appreciating how things make our lives better. You can tell them how much you value them and watch their self-esteem rise. They can turn around and bestow some of that onto people around them. They can use that nurturing energy in projects they’re working on and combine it with others into an ascending spiral of success.

Subtractive thinking creates dissatisfaction because it laments what we don’t have. It makes us feel like something is missing. Focusing on what we lack diminishes our power and sense of confidence. That interferes with success on a dozen levels. We may notice the opportunities and things other people have that we don’t, and that breeds resentment. In that climate, we look for and find faults with others—a recipe for poor relationships.