Six weeks isn’t long
In her study Dr Kurtz recruited participants who were about six weeks from finishing college and graduating. They were asked to write about their experiences at college in one of three conditions:
1. Encouraged to view 6 weeks as a long time.
2. Encouraged to view 6 weeks as not very long.
3. Just told to write about what they had done on a typical day (control group).
Then, over the next two weeks participants were asked to complete four surveys. Participants in the first two conditions were encouraged to think about what they were grateful for: things like friends, clubs and activities, but with their remaining time at college framed either as very short or relatively long. Participants in the final control condition continued describing their typical day.
As Dr Kurtz predicted it was those in the second group who were happier after the intervention; the other two groups showed no significant improvement. It seemed that just being encouraged to think grateful thoughts was not enough to increase happiness. What made the grateful thoughts beneficial was focusing on the imminent end of this pleasurable experience.
On top of being happier, students encouraged to think how little of college remained were more likely to take advantage of the time they had left. They displayed greater motivation by taking part in more college-related activities. Dr Kurtz suggests thinking about the end of their experience at college put them in a “now or never” frame of mind.
via Gratitude Enhanced by Focusing on End of Pleasurable Experience | PsyBlog.
We forget this often, we put death out of our minds and live as if we are going to forever. Its always about balance balance between the memories of the past, the wants of now and the preparations for tomorrow. If you can honestly say to yourself “Nothing”, When asked the Question”If you have one day to live and knew it, what would you change how you lived yesterday” most of the time,”Congratulations!!!!”