"motivation only starts to build again once we have taken the first steps and gained some momentum in our task."

"Lao Tzu: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Motivation is all about getting started and consistently taking action, making sure we get back on track when we fall off the bandwagon."

"There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. When interest or enjoyment in an activity comes from within us, we experience intrinsic motivation."

"Intrinsic motivation associated with doing what you love therefore strongly correlates with sustained behavioural change and improved well-being, because the activity itself brings pleasure."

"If you enjoy what you do, the activity and the goal will collide so that both your interest and experience of work are enhanced."

"With extrinsic motivation, the outcome you desire is separate to the activity you engage in to achieve it, which will make dips in motivation more likely."

"Motivation has been studied for many years, and one of the most popular schools of thought is Self-Determination Theory. This theory uses empirical methods to highlight the importance of self-regulation, the process of taking in social values before transforming them into our own values and self-motivations."

"Writing in the American Psychologist journal, Richard Ryan and Edward Deci highlighted the three innate psychological needs which must be satisfied to enhance self-motivation and mental health: competence, autonomy and relatedness."

"If we feel competent in a behaviour, either as a result of feedback, communication or rewards, our intrinsic motivation will be greater."

"Relatedness is often more relevant to extrinsic motivation. If a behaviour is valued by a manager, client, or friend, we will feel a sense of connectedness with them, which will lead to internalisation of an extrinsic motivation."

"It’s not just goals that are too hard that can cause demotivation. If a goal is too easy or will not lead to a suitable reward, you may lack the drive to pursue it despite it being achievable."

"Whether your motivation for change is internally or externally motivated, you cannot sustain motivation without having an aim clearly in focus."

"Motivation will only come once we have started a task or behaviour, not before we get going. Rather than letting tasks accumulate until they feel insurmountable, the best strategy is to generate the momentum required to conquer a long-term goal by consistently showing up every day."

"As Confucius put it: “The man who moves mountains begins by carrying away small stones”."

"Focus on the right goals. Intrinsic motivation will occur naturally if you choose a goal you care about. If you don’t feel committed or connected to the goal, you’ll need to rely mostly on willpower, which isn’t sustainable in the long-term."

"Practice self-reflection. To promote motivation, you need to take care of yourself. Allow time for self-care, such as reading and exercise, and commit to self-reflection."

"For our ancestors, being more popular was a survival advantage. Social status offered greater group protection and longevity, which means that they were more likely to reproduce."

"Professor Cameron Anderson explained that status influences how we behave and think."

"Dr Sabina Siebert from the University of Glasgow found that when faced with competition from other professions, barristers protected their prestige with the use of status symbols including professional dress, ceremonies and rituals. She concluded that this allowed “elite professionals to maintain their superior status.”"

"Eugene Wei, who has worked in media, technology and for consumer internet companies, wrote that social media is built on the idea that it offers an efficient way to accumulate social capital."

"In his book Status Anxiety, philosopher Alain de Botton writes that the anxiety about what others think of us and about whether we are judged a success or a failure can lead us to make decisions that are self-defeating, lower our self-worth, or are at odds with our values."

"If you decline opportunities for personal growth or self-discovery while striving for status, you could progress fast, but not in the right direction."

"Take time to consider whether the goal or motivation is truly aligned to your values, or if you are being coerced by a desire for prestige."

"find friends online and in real life who are not playing the status game. This will help to avoid feelings of inadequacy and the desire to keep up with others."

"Reserve time to read memoirs and biographies of those who have achieved their dreams not by striving for wealth or status, but by reflecting on what is important to them and following their own path."

"systematically comparing ourselves to others can make us feel less capable. To avoid comparison anxiety, it’s helpful to be aware of how assessing our success based on a subjective view of how we compare to others may lead to unnecessary stress and poor mental health."

"Comparison anxiety has its roots in social comparison theory, which was initially proposed by social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954."

"Social comparison not only helps us make sense of our own behaviours and assists us in defining who we are, but it drives us to improve and raise to the level of the ones we perceive as the most competent around us."

"near-constant upward comparison can also leave us with a sense of failure and inadequacy, which leads us to suffer from comparison anxiety."

"The researchers found that looking upwards was, in turn, associated with negative feelings and a greater chance of negative self-evaluation. Overall, social media use was found to result in lower subjective well-being due to its detrimental impact on our own self-esteem."

"This threat of perceived inferiority hindered cognitive performance and “resulted in reduced ability to process information.” Peer-learning situations can therefore produce negative effects on performance if students are worried about how they compare to others."

"using downward social comparison is a mere bandage that doesn’t really support better mental health."

"By highlighting our own achievements, it will be easier to avoid the anxiety associated with comparing yourself to others."

"Create a support circle. A support group can be another effective way to avoid comparison anxiety."

"habits are not always good: an important downside is that ceasing undesirable actions can be challenging."

"apps are most likely to successfully support habit formation if they provide contextual cues or implementation intentions to guide goal-directed behaviour."

"One of the key advantages of using a habit tracker is that it allows you to visualise your progress and identify any recurrent setbacks. This form of metacognition can help you adapt your approach and keep on improving your habit formation strategies."

"when students used the habit tracker to improve their study habits, they were less likely to experience a bad mood or feel distracted while studying, and were also less likely to wish they were doing something more enjoyable."

"One of the mechanisms through which habit tracking can benefit your mental health is by celebrating micro-wins throughout your personal growth journey."

"another advantage of using a habit tracker — especially a digital one — is that it can remind us to act."

"One problem researchers found with habit trackers is that it creates a “habit dependency” in users"

"Researchers have warned that many habit tracking apps are too rigid to support our diverse practical and emotional needs"

"The key to developing a habit is to find a way to ensure the desired behaviour becomes automatic. For habit tracking to be successful, it must therefore be simple and flexible, as well as encouraging self-control and goal-directed behaviour."

"By avoiding missing twice, you are making space for the inevitable slip-ups, while maintaining the motivation to succeed over the long-term."

"the publics’ cognitive immunity to misinformation was reinforced when they were given a pre-emptive warning about politically motivated attempts to spread misinformation on the human causes of global warming."

"People with a healthy mental immune system are more likely to detect misinformation. A strong cognitive immune system can also help spot bad ideas at an earlier stage, so you may avoid wasting time, energy or money."

"a healthy mental immune system will detect harmful or incorrect information that enters our mind, so that it can be recognised as such and then promptly rejected."

"While factual information is a great asset, unreliable information and the inability to spot bad ideas may lead to poor decision making."

"developing greater cognitive flexibility allows us to change our minds faster when new, better-evidenced information is presented to us."

"Remember that misinformation is common, that fake news is designed to appear genuine, and train yourself to immediately interrogate the information or data you are presented with."

"A meta-belief is a belief that one holds following a thorough reasoning process or cognitive interrogation to check the validity of the belief."

"Developing meta-beliefs strongly correlates with mental immunity. To strengthen your mental immune system, be prepared to assess and re-adjust previously held beliefs if new evidence comes to light."

"For greater mental nourishment, diversify your information sources and dig deeper into the underlying research to fully understand whether you are unconsciously being sold misinformation."

"Recent research described emotional reasoning as a mechanism that “can lead people to take their emotions as information about the external world, even when the emotion is not generated by the situation to be evaluated.” This leads to inaccurate emotional truths which directly contradict any objective, perceptual truths."

"Emotional reasoning was first coined by the American psychiatrist Aaron Beck in the 1970s."

"Beck referred to thought responses to an emotion as “automatic thinking”."

"automatic thoughts will be relevant to your state of mind, even if you do not specifically struggle with your mental health."

"studies have shown that isolated automatic thoughts can result in negative thought cycles."

"Increasing anxiety can begin to negatively impact your performance. You may struggle to focus, make mistakes, or see a decline in your output. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and a cycle of negative thoughts is set in motion."

"1. Practice validity testing. Validity testing is key to checking whether you are experiencing emotional reasoning."

"2. Write in a journal. Journaling is a great way to pay attention to your thought patterns. Specifically, you should record the difficult situations you face, and which emotions or thoughts a dilemma provokes."

"Recording your feelings in this way will allow you to reflect on your natural thought patterns so that you can start to identify when emotional reasoning is affecting you. This provides an opportunity to reject negative thoughts before they take hold."

"3. Discuss your emotions. If you feel anxious about work, you may struggle to accurately assess your performance. Talking to a trusted colleague or friend about your concerns could give you a much-needed objective view."

"trying to suppress a thought “has paradoxical effects as a self-control strategy,” and can lead to obsession or preoccupation despite an individual’s best efforts to ignore the thought."

"this psychological process whereby our deliberate attempts to suppress certain thoughts make them more likely to surface has been named “ironic process theory” by scientists."

"1. Propagation of persistent negative emotions. Intrusive thoughts might include “repetitive thoughts, images or impulses.”"

"There is also evidence that rumination and intrusive thoughts are associated with negative thought patterns. Negative thought patterns were also found to be more common in those who did not practice mindfulness."

"2. Increased distractibility. A study found that those who are plagued by negative thought intrusions, and individuals who have a propensity to worry, show increased distractibility when trying to focus on a specific task."

"Being easily drawn away from the task in hand, by any form of distractor, disrupts focus and prompts the brain to try to multitask. Any form of disruption will stunt your professional creativity and development."

"3. Poor decision making."

"Self-reflection and mindfulness have been proven to protect individuals from the negative impact of intrusive thoughts. In particular, becoming more aware and accepting of negative thoughts or feelings can help to reduce the frequency of intrusive thoughts, as well as making them feel less distressing."

"By concentrating on something else, your mental energy is used elsewhere, leaving less room for intrusive thoughts."

"By turning negative ruminations into positive pledges, the intrusive thought loses the power it has over you. Thinking of positive solutions also helps you to make any appropriate adjustments or improvements."

"Mental immunity is a psychological theory that is also known as cognitive immunology."

"philosopher Alfred Tauber explained that developing an “immune self” requires us to actively distinguish between the self and the foreign, so that foreign information can be interrogated and potentially defended against."

"Furthermore, developing greater cognitive flexibility allows us to change our minds faster when new, better-evidenced information is presented to us."

"1. Build awareness of misinformation."

"2. Develop healthy meta-beliefs."

"The team found that people who were politically liberal were more likely to believe that opinions and beliefs should change according to evidence. Those who were religious, or held paranormal or conspiratorial beliefs, were less likely to agree that beliefs should change."

"3. Practise self-reflection. When practising self-reflection, you should start to pay attention to your patterns of consumption."

"the initial investigations have shown that a strong mental immune system helps filter external information to avoid falling prey to false data or flawed ideas."

"The novelty fallacy is deeply rooted in our neurobiology. It is well known that the brain’s reward system is stimulated by novel ideas and objects."

"As such, our attraction to novelty can be helpful for our survival, but a fast-changing environment can render this cognitive bias rather problematic."

"following their analysis, the researchers found that the novelty fallacy can lead to a pro-innovation bias, the belief that a certain innovation should be widely used across society without the need for any adjustments."

"Often, the person championing the novel idea is so strongly biased in its favour that they cannot see any shortcomings and continue to promote it regardless."

"Similarly, many business leaders have relied on restructuring their teams to tackle business challenges. Changes to organisational structure are often recommended for businesses in financial distress or undergoing rapid expansion."

"But such reshuffles are unlikely to lead to improved performance if the systematic issues are not addressed."

"Although the novelty fallacy occurs naturally due to how the brain’s reward system is designed, once you’re aware of this bias it is possible to avoid falling prey to its worst consequences."

"Notice when novelty feels appealing."

"Document the limitations of a new approach."

"Delay decision making."

"Expensive and time-consuming options are off the table, so it has been refreshing to learn about a free method for boosting self-awareness: proprioceptive writing. This process combines meditation and writing, two of the most effective ways to tap into the inner self."

"She developed the proprioceptive writing method as a tool to bring the self into focus and clarify one’s own life."

"The word proprioception comes from the Latin proprius, meaning “one’s own”."

"If we have ignored our inner voice for some time by not completing any reflective practice, we can become switched off to our own feelings and ideas."

"Proprioceptive writing can help us to rediscover our dreams and creative energy, while rebuilding our self-trust."

"The writing task only takes around 25 minutes. During this time, one listens to inner thoughts, writing down whatever is heard."

"Conversely, they found that embodied reflective practices such as proprioceptive writing reduced the likelihood of unhealthy rumination."

"The combination of writing and reflection serves as a method to connect physical sensations with thoughts that an individual might otherwise remain unaware of."

"By learning to listen to one’s own thoughts in a supportive, empathetic manner, it is possible to develop a stronger connection to our emotions."

"By connecting with physical sensations through practising proprioceptive writing, you are likely to experience better internal and external emotional connections."

"This self-reflection method involves writing for 25 minutes while listening to music. Professor Metcalf recommends Baroque music to aid creativity. The only equipment required is a pen and pad of plain paper."

"Write down what you hear. It takes practice to recognise your thoughts and convert them to words, so take your time writing down each feeling as it comes."

"Hear what you write. Now that you have written down your thoughts, it will be easier to listen to what your mind is saying."

"Go deeper for each thought. With every thought you wrote down, ask yourself: “What do I mean by…?”"

"The, at the end of the 25 minutes, stop writing and and ask yourself four review questions:"

"Which thoughts were heard but not written down?"

"Practising hearing intelligence can be enlightening as it helps you not only discover what is on your mind, but the meaning and significance behind these thoughts, too."

"To support the fast-moving targets of global businesses, a different profile now prevails: the versatilist."

"The way we work is impacted by our talent archetype. The framework was devised by Gartner analyst Diane Morello."

"Each archetype can be described in terms of the “shape” of its corresponding skills."

"As a result of their broad  knowledge base, generalists can respond quickly to different situations. However, their competency and confidence are likely to be much lower than that of someone who has deep knowledge in an area relevant to the business."

"This is where versatilists come in. Also called “T-shaped” people, versatilists are capable in lots of areas, and can become experts in specific fields according to the business needs."

"Rather than settling in one area and becoming a specialist, they are comfortable exploring any new domain that demands their attention."

"Two years later, Haluk Demirkan and James Spohrer found that T-shaped digital professionals tend to combine critical thinking and in depth problem-solving with a “breadth of knowledge, skills, experience, and complex communication abilities.”"

"The career equivalent of a serial monogamist, the versatilist throws themselves whole-heartedly into a project or area to develop deep knowledge and competence."

"Being adept at spotting new trends, they are ready to move to the next priority area as required."

"Because of their wide-ranging experience, the versatilist also has greater insight than a specialist would have regarding the role they should take in a specific project."

"To do this, it’s important to cultivate a versatile mindset by consuming content across different disciplines."

"It’s also vital to practice lifelong learning by keeping up with trends in your industry. The"

"If you currently work as a specialist, it can be daunting to exit your comfort zone to deeply immerse yourself in unfamiliar territory. Taking time to practice metacognition is vital for reflecting on the best areas to invest your time and energy in."

"In addition, developing a deeper understanding of your thought processes will help you expand the versatility of your skill set in areas that are likely to be beneficial to your personal and professional growth."

"Whether it is a work task or a chore at home, if a job doesn’t appeal then I will sometimes ignore it until the last minute."

"Building a reward system is a powerful way to boost your productivity, reducing the need to rely on intrinsic motivation to complete the work you need (and want) to do."

"“success is its own reward.”"

"Far from being frivolous, rewards are considered by researchers to be “the most crucial objects for life.”"

"Dopamine neurons feed into this reward circuit, and it is understood that the offer of a reward increases the firing of these neurons."

"The mesocorticolimbic circuit is also responsible for what researchers call “incentive salience” – the increased firing of dopamine neurons increases our desire for the reward, which in turn creates motivation."

"The researchers, Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach, found that when a small, regular reward was available, participants experienced greater interest and enjoyment in their work than those waiting for the delayed reward."

"to build a successful reward system you should first consider trying continuous reinforcement."

"As humans, we also need to start with continuous reinforcement to boost motivation."

"To make an effective reward system that fosters self-motivation, you will need to choose your carrot wisely."

"Don’t feel discouraged if you set up a reward system and find that it does not seem to work for you. The key is to work out what you need to tweak."

"Once you’ve got the balance of timing and rewards right, the brain’s reward system will take it from there to increase self-motivation, boost productivity, and help you meet your targets."

"However, now that status is not so closely linked to our survival, pursuing goals based on the assumed prestige our success will confer can be a bad idea."

"Rather than striving for status, we need to find more sustainable incentives for success."

"Social status offered greater group protection and longevity, which means that they were more likely to reproduce."

"Such status symbols can help maintain social hierarchies."

"Dr Sabina Siebert from the University of Glasgow found that when faced with competition from other professions, barristers protected their prestige with the use of status symbols including professional dress, ceremonies and rituals."

"When you focus on how successful you appear to others, status anxiety can occur. Your fear of not being valued by society may sadly lead to harmful long-term decisions being made."

"The desire to achieve status may mean you did not consider other career options, and may have turned down more suitable opportunities because of your drive to appear prestigious."

"It is possible to replace irrational status-seeking behaviors with healthier alternatives in which the value is found in the act itself rather than by the aimless collection of status symbols."

"Practice metacognition to reflect on long-term goals."

"Surround yourself with explorers."

"To avoid this trap, find friends online and in real life who are not playing the status game."

"Explore unconventional paths."

"Focus on learning new skills."

"If we’re aware that we’re playing the social status game, then we can reflect on whether there is an intrinsically motivated path that could provide opportunities for growth and greater overall satisfaction."

"In fact, psychiatrist Edward Hallowell defined multitasking as a “mythical activity in which people believe they can perform two or more tasks simultaneously as effectively as one”."

"Rather, its meaning was related to computers performing more than one task at once."

"As humans, although it might seem that we’re performing multiple tasks at the same time, the reality is that we only work on one task at a time."

"As Canadian author Michael Harris puts it: “When we think we’re multitasking we’re actually multi-switching”."

"They found that “the human mind and brain lack the architecture to perform two or more tasks simultaneously.”"

"While micro-level multitasking, such as responding to an online work chat while producing a report, will lead to lost efficiency, it’s important to note that macro-level multitasking can be achieved when you are balancing several projects at once."

"However, in most cases, research shows that single-tasking is the most efficient way of working, as it avoids switching costs and conserves energy that would be expended by mentally juggling multiple competing tasks."

"In 2016, an analysis of 49 studies found that multitasking negatively impacted cognitive outcomes."

"Students who multitasked in class failed to offset the damage done to their final grades, even if they put in additional hours of study at home to try to make up for it."

"Focusing on one task can, surprisingly, boost creativity."

"By focusing on one workstream, inspiration and creativity can bloom because you are not trying to split your focus in multiple directions at once."

"Use the Pomodoro technique. The Pomodoro technique involves working for 25 minutes and then taking a 5 minute break."

"As we have become accustomed to so-called multitasking, learning to focus on one thing takes time, but it is worth the effort."

"By creating an environment free from distractions, using techniques to boost your focus and incorporating regular breaks, you are likely to become more efficient and ultimately more successful."

"In reality, motivation only starts to build again once we have taken the first steps and gained some momentum in our task."

"In the words of Lao Tzu: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”"

"There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic."

"Motivation has been studied for many years, and one of the most popular schools of thought is Self-Determination Theory."

"This theory uses empirical methods to highlight the importance of self-regulation, the process of taking in social values before transforming them into our own values and self-motivations."

"Similarly, if you set goals that do not suit you, you may be unable to self-regulate and see how they relate to you."

"What matters is that when you recognise a lull in momentum, you get back on track as quickly as possible."

"Festinger recognised the importance of social comparison from an evolutionary perspective."

"More recently, psychologists have confirmed the hypothesis that social comparison can be both upwards and downwards in nature."

"Downward comparison involves measuring ourselves against someone who we feel is inferior."

"In contrast, upward comparison is when we compare ourselves to someone whom we perceive to be superior to us."

"The researchers found that looking upwards was, in turn, associated with negative feelings and a greater chance of negative self-evaluation."

"This threat of perceived inferiority hindered cognitive performance and “resulted in reduced ability to process information.”"

"Peer-learning situations can therefore produce negative effects on performance if students are worried about how they compare to others."

"Although observing what others are doing may be beneficial in encouraging you to strive for more, comparison with others needs to be carefully managed to ensure that this process does not lead to reduced productivity, cognitive performance, and mental health."

"Find role models."

"seizing short-term opportunities can lead you to settle for a small present reward rather than wait for a larger future reward."

"This tendency is known as the present bias."

"It may feel good at the time, but the present bias can negatively impact long-term planning, decision making and productivity."

"Preferring smaller instant rewards rather than waiting for larger future ones is known as being present-biased."

"The researchers discovered that when participants indicated that they would rather wait for the delayed future reward, strong activation was seen within the posterior insular cortex, a structure that lies beneath the outer folds of the brain. In contrast, decisions associated with an immediate reward led to activation within the corpus striatum, a component of the reward system that lies deep within the brain."

"Impulsivity is strongly associated with the present bias, and the desire for instant gratification can lead to reckless spending."

"The present bias can also lead to procrastination."

"The most important aspect of managing the present bias consists in staying mindful of your long-term goals so you don’t fall prey to the dangers of instant gratification."

"Write down your long-term goals."

"Delay new purchases until tomorrow."

"Follow the Ten Minute Rule."

"The present bias can impact our long-term plans, cause reckless decision making, and reduce our productivity. Our desire for instant gratification can be managed by keeping your medium to long-term goals in mind and trying to delay impulsive decisions. By"

"In his book The Principles of Psychology, the pioneering philosopher and psychologist William James described living creatures as “bundles of habits”, explaining that developing habits “simplifies the movements required to achieve a given result.”"

"Habit tracking is a way to log all of the times when you behave in a desired way — when you make the right choice, such as eating healthily, writing in your journal, or reading a book."

"Dr Katarzyna Stawarz and colleagues reviewed 115 habit formation apps, comparing app functionality to the cues that naturally help habits become established. They found that apps are most likely to successfully support habit formation if they provide contextual cues or implementation intentions to guide goal-directed behaviour."

"Across the six weeks, using a tracker increased the habit strength and motivation."

"Finally, another advantage of using a habit tracker — especially a digital one — is that it can remind us to act."

"One problem researchers found with habit trackers is that it creates a “habit dependency” in users: you are only sticking to the habit because of artificial support such as reminders and streak notifications, which help with the repetition of a desired behaviour, but tie the habit to in-app triggers."

"Another problem is the over reliance on inflexible technology."

"Researchers have warned that many habit tracking apps are too rigid to support our diverse practical and emotional needs, and that more flexible, customisable self-tracking apps are required to meet the multidimensional goals and challenges of users."

"Finally, it’s common for users to abandon an app before the habit becomes established, meaning that the app fails to fully assist with habit formation."

"The key to developing a habit is to find a way to ensure the desired behaviour becomes automatic."

"Choose the right tool."

"Whichever method you choose, ensure that it doesn’t get in the way of the habit itself, as habits will only form with long-term repetition."

"Decide if you are forming or breaking a habit."

"Apply the “never miss twice” principle. It’s easy to feel discouraged when making or breaking habits, especially when life gets in the way."

"Establishing good habits and breaking bad habits can improve your life and your work, but it takes dedication for these behaviours to become automatic."

"the more you try to suppress them, the more they will bother you. This is called the Pink Elephant Paradox."

"This suggests that trying to suppress a thought “has paradoxical effects as a self-control strategy,” and can lead to obsession or preoccupation despite an individual’s best efforts to ignore the thought."

"Whether it’s a white bear, a pink elephant, or any other thought, this psychological process whereby our deliberate attempts to suppress certain thoughts make them more likely to surface has been named “ironic process theory” by scientists."

"1. Propagation of persistent negative emotions."

"There is also evidence that rumination and intrusive thoughts are associated with negative thought patterns."

"2. Increased distractibility."

"A study found that those who are plagued by negative thought intrusions, and individuals who have a propensity to worry, show increased distractibility when trying to focus on a specific task."

"Intrusive thoughts can be so intense that it becomes difficult to focus on anything else. Although these thoughts or emotions can appear salient, they can be masking other, more important factors or considerations."

"With the intrusive thought taking centre stage, your decision making can become skewed."

"there are other ways you can manage intrusive thoughts to remove their power and make them less noticeable."

"Use self-reflection to reduce the impact of intrusive thoughts."

"In particular, becoming more aware and accepting of negative thoughts or feelings can help to reduce the frequency of intrusive thoughts, as well as making them feel less distressing."

"Engage in constructive distractions. When an intrusive thought arises, finding a constructive distraction is healthier than ruminating on it."

"Find a positive thought substitution. If you find yourself ruminating on negative thoughts, try to replace them with a positive."

"Rather than suppress negative thoughts, it is healthier to acknowledge the emotion."