Benefit Finding

There will be many times in life when you experience tough situations and tough emotions. In addition to using reappraisal to handle your negative emotions, it is helpful to use benefit finding to explore the benefits of situations which, at first, seemed to be negative. 

Activity: Benefit finding

In this activity, you are going to explore a past negative event. Take a moment to think of something negative you experienced in the past. I know that some negative experiences are very negative, so please select an experience that's just a little bit negative - nothing too hard for your first time using this activity.
 
Please briefly think about this negative event for about 30 seconds.

Then, spend the next 10 minutes writing about the positive things that came from this experience.
 
REMEMBER:
You may be greatly rewarded after experiencing a negative situation.
You may be grateful that you had this experience.
Or you may be better off than when you started.

Try to really search your mind for the benefits of the negative situation.

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