How Focusing on the Good Can Actually Improve Your Mood
It’s common advice to “dwell on the positives” or “count your blessings”, yet this often slides into fluff: trite suggestions without explanation of how or why this works. In truth, the practice of noticing, acknowledging and savouring positive moments isn’t just cheerful rhetoric, it has roots in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and neuroscience. Let’s explore how you can do this in a grounded, repeatable way and why it matters for your emotional health.
Why it works: the science behind “appreciating the small good things”
1. Neurological reward circuits and neuro-plasticity
When you consciously notice and mentally dwell on something positive, for example “This meal is really tasty” or “Someone just praised me and I’ll accept that”, you’re activating the brain’s reward system. Gratitude and positive appraisal show activation in regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the ventral striatum, which are involved in reward, emotional regulation and social cognition. Over time, these activations may strengthen neural pathways (plasticity) so the mind becomes more accustomed to noticing positive experiences.
This means you’re not just “being grateful” in a vague sense, you’re training your brain to respond differently.
2. Cognitive behavioural reframing of attention and interpretation
In CBT, one key principle is that what we pay attention to and how we interpret experiences shapes our mood and behaviour. If you habitually focus on what went wrong (“I burnt the dinner”), you reinforce negative thinking patterns. By deliberately shifting attention to what went right (“Even though I burnt it, I still attempted something new and I enjoyed the appearance of the meal”), you interrupt that pattern and build a different cognitive habit.
Research on gratitude interventions shows they are correlated with increased wellbeing, fewer depressive symptoms and improved emotional regulation.
In essence: you’re retraining your thoughts, not ignoring reality.
3. Stress hormone modulation and emotional regulation
Focusing on positive events and acknowledging them can reduce activity in stress related brain systems (such as the amygdala) and help down regulate the cortisol response tied to threat or negative bias. When the brain’s threat system is less dominant, you gain more access to the prefrontal (reasoning, regulation) systems, which means you’re less reactive, more reflective.
So the practice isn’t just “feel good” fluff, it has a measurable impact on how your brain responds to emotional events.
5 Steps to Practically Use This in Your Daily Life
Here’s a structured approach: think of this as 5 ways to improve emotional health by shifting toward the positive.
1. Notice one good thing each day
Choose something simple: a nice meal, a kind remark, a moment of stillness. At the moment: pause, look at it, say to yourself “This is really nice.” Afterwards: reflect: “I’m really fortunate to have had this this evening.”
That pause strengthens awareness, the reflection reinforces value.
2. Accept compliments and positive feedback
When someone praises you: respond simply “Thank you.” Then allow yourself to soak in that positive regard for a moment, no deflecting, no minimising. This reinforces self worth and builds up the positive internal register.
3. Make a short list of positives (small wins, pleasures, accomplishments)
End of day: write down maybe 3 things that went well (however small). Alongside each, note why it went well (for example: “I cooked something and I enjoyed it” → “Because I did it and it turned out decent”).
This links behaviour → positive outcome → internal reward.
4. Link it to meaning or changeable behaviour
It’s not enough to simply note “It was nice.” Ask: “What did I do to make it happen?” or “What does this tell me about what I like or what works for me?”
For example: “I took 10 minutes to cook rather than rush. That felt better. Next time I’ll plan to slow down a little more.”
This transforms passive observation into active learning, key to CBT.
5. Repeat and build a habit
The power lies in consistency. The more you do this, the more your brain builds the connection: positive experience → recognition → reflection → reward → strengthened neural circuits. Over time, that becomes a default orientation rather than an occasional exercise.
Common Pitfalls & How to Avoid Them
Blanket “always positive” expectation: If you force yourself to act like everything is great you might suppress genuine feelings or fool yourself. The trick is acknowledgement (“I’m feeling frustrated”), then shift attention (“But one thing I did well today was…”).
Gratitude trap: Feeling you must be grateful even when you’re genuinely upset can lead to guilt or invalidation. Better: embrace the full range of emotion, but still look for the “good something”.
Superficial listing without meaning: Simply writing “I’m grateful for X” without reflecting on why or how limits the effect. Meaning making deepens the benefit.
One-off rather than habitual practice: Benefits multiply through regularity, neural pathways need repetition.
Why This Matters for Emotional Health
By doing this you are strengthening your emotional resilience: you build an internal catalogue of positive experiences, you reduce the dominance of negative bias (which most brains default to), you train your brain’s reward and regulation systems, and you improve cognitive control (via CBT style reframing).
This is more than “being optimistic”. It’s about re-wiring attention and thought patterns with evidence based methods.
In short: the better you get at recognising the good, the more your internal system will favour noticing, understanding and acting on it and that contributes meaningfully to emotional health.