In my next loop with fifth graders, we will be exploring our negativity bias. This is the tendency of the brain to perseverate over the hard moments and miss/forget about the pleasant.

To be clear, I think it's an unhelpful refrain that when things are hard, we should just try to look on the bright side. With mindfulness, it is more about expanding awareness than negating one with the other. This is hard AND there's so much beauty and goodness. It's not our job to try and talk ourselves out of feeling crummy by pretending things are good. Instead, what happens if we practice, each day, really taking stock of all that goodness? (don't worry, your brain will happily recall all the hard ones without your effort). That effort allows us to live a little closer to the truth.

This week, collect and savor the goodness.