Page 54 of Happiness for Beginners

“They teach that in college?”

“They do,” she said. “Psychology always used to focus on problems. You know: neuroses, pathologies, disorders. The idea was to analyze the effed-up parts of human life so you could cure them.”

“Sure,” I said. “I get that.”

“But there’s this new theory that we should look at what people do right. Figure out how happy, well-adjusted people do things.”

“That’s what your textbook is about?”

She nodded. “The question is, what are they doing right?”

“Whatarethey doing right?” Suddenly, I really wanted to know.

“Lots of things. That’s why it takes a whole textbook.”

“Okay. For example?”

“Well, for example, happy people are more likely to register joy than unhappy people. So if you take two people who have experienced a day of, say, fifty percent good things and fifty percent bad things, an unhappy person would remember more of the bad.”

“Kind of that glass-half-empty thing.”

“But it’s not just attitude. It’s genuinely connected to memory. It’s like, for unhappy people, if you ask them at the end of the day what they remember, it’s the bad stuff. But they aren’t ignoring the good memories, they just didn’t retain them.”

“Is that brain wiring?” I asked, trying to figure out which type I was.

“It is brain wiring,” Windy said. “But brain wiring appears to be something you can alter. They’ve done these experiments where they have people practice remembering the good stuff. And guess what? It works.”

I thought about that.

“The more you register good things,” she went on, “the more you will think about and remember good things. And since all you really have left of the past is what you remember—”

“It changes the story of your life.”

Windy turned around to nod. “Exactly. Every night, you write down three good things that happened to you that day.”

“Andpresto? You’re happy?”

“Kind of,” Windy said. “Like, what are three good things that have happened to you today?”

“I don’t think I can come up with three.”

“Maybe you just don’t remember them.”

“Oh,” I said. “I think they’d stand out.”

“Try. It doesn’t have to be winning the lottery. Just little things. A moment you enjoyed. A gentle breeze that felt good.”

I thought for a long time. It wasn’t until Windy said, “Hello? You still back there?” that something hit me. “I was glad that you came back to hike with me,” I said.

“See! That’s good! One down!”

“The oatmeal this morning was slightly less rubbery than the oatmeal yesterday.”

“That one’s less good,” Windy said. “Dig deep!”

I sighed. “Okay,” I said. And then, like the lights had just flipped on, I suddenly thought of something real. “I love that feeling, first thing in the morning, when you’re still in your sleeping bag and your body’s toasty warm but your face is cold from the night mountain air.”

“Genius!” Windy said. “You’re a natural.”

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