8. Peak and Pit

Highs and Lows

This was a fun family challenge that we did during dinner each night. Around the dinner table we each shared what was our peak of the day, what was our pit and how we overcome it. Firstly, the peak was spotting the good things that happen and in positive psych circles this fits with ‘strength spotting’ and looking for the good. We have a negative bias where our brains are wired to notice the negative things which tend to be ‘sticky’ in our thoughts compared with positive things which are like ‘teflon’ where they slip away. Deliberately focusing on the ‘peaks’ of everyday helps make the positive things that happen more sticky. By acknowledging a ‘pit’ of the day we understand that life is full of ups and downs. We have the strength within ourselves to handle it and ‘bounce back’ and if we celebrate our ‘bounce backs’ we are literally wiring resilience into our brain. We are reinforcing our personal narrative that we can handle setbacks.

So how did it go? It was super easy, super fun and everyone was happy to be involved. As the challenge went on the stories became more elaborate and detailed. We even included friends who came to dinner.

The take home message is “ life is great, full of peaks and pits and when you’re in the pit you can handle it! “