Preloading

How Thinking Big Can Make You Happier

Season 6 Episode 608
Aired on 04/12/2015 | CC tv-14
Mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn says dreaming big can have a lasting positive impact on your life. The negative thoughts that we often hear are not big enough thoughts, he says.

Too often, he says, we focus the stories of our lives around what we're missing instead of what we already have. "We write the story of how miserable I am. How much I need this or that. Need more money. Need more of this. Need more of that. Need more health. All of which may be true on a relative level," he says, "but it's just not a big enough story. So the story of, like, your luminosity, your beauty, the fact that there is more right with you than wrong with you—no matter what's wrong with you—that doesn't come on the radar screen. But as soon as we bring it back, we remind ourselves. You see, that's the meditation practice."

Are you struggling to let go of negative thoughts? Jon recommends a simple visualization exercise to stop them in their tracks. Watch the video above to find out what you need to do.

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