It is all too easy to get used to the good things in life. In today's society, we like to compare ourselves with people who seem to have it better, and instead of being grateful for our good fortune, we feel envious. 

 

 

Even if you make yourself aware of what you should be grateful for from time to time, this does not always really work. The best way to feel honest gratitude, according to psychologists, is through mental subtraction. Mental subtraction means nothing other than imagining one's life without certain privileges, i.e. "subtracting" the good from life and seeing what would then be left. 

 

Intensive studies show that more positive feelings are generated by imagining the absence of a good event in one's life than by imagining its presence. The human brain adapts all too quickly to positive developments and takes them for granted. Mental subtraction counteracts this adaptation and makes the person realise what a happiness this positive event is for him or her, more than by just thinking about it. One suddenly realises that this one wonderful thing did not have to happen automatically, but happened surprisingly and fortunately.

 

Mental subtraction acquires the magic of a happy turn. 

 

 

You start mental subtraction with a simple exercise in which you write down three things from your everyday life for which you are grateful. These can also be things that are taken for granted, such as clean water and a roof over one's head. Usually, you only feel real gratitude for such things when you suddenly imagine having to live without them. What would everything in daily life change through the absence of these things?

 

Mental subtraction not only gives one the ability to feel genuine gratitude, but can lead to a happier and more contented life if used regularly. To prevent the positive effect from wearing off in the long run by imagining the absence of certain things, one should always think of other events and things without which life would be less pleasant.