Positive Experiences Worksheet
GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
When working with clients who focus on the negative, it can be challenging to break the cycle of negative thoughts and shift attention to positive and hopeful feelings. Clients who struggle with depression, anxiety, or stress may struggle to acknowledge anything besides the negative at times in their lives.
Positive thoughts, feelings, interactions with others, and events in the client's life are worth reflecting on and internalizing. These positive experiences can be used as tools to reinforce a client's values, strengths, and positive qualities that may be clouded when they are focusing on negative thoughts and feelings.
About This Worksheet
Encouraging a client to identify and reflect on positive experiences can help them combat the habit of focusing on the negative. Focusing on the positive can support mental health by helping clients recognize their strengths and build coping skills to boost well-being and emotional resilience.
The Positive Experiences worksheet guides the client on recalling and reflecting on positive experiences that align with their values, strengths, and personal attributes. It can help the client learn how to manage thought patterns and challenge their negative core beliefs about themselves, the world, and their future. This worksheet is helpful for adolescents and adults and can be used in individual and group therapy settings.
Instructions
Begin by reviewing the introductory paragraph with the client and discussing how reflecting on positive experiences can reinforce healthier thought patterns, promote a values-based lifestyle, and improve mental wellness. Then, instruct them to choose up to five positive attributes from the word bank and reflect on a memory that reinforces the attribute.
Encourage the client to write about what each memory means to them and what the experience taught them about their values and capabilities. To strengthen the exercise, the therapist is encouraged to ask follow-up questions, such as:
- What does it mean to you to have had this experience?
- When would it be helpful to remind yourself of this experience and what it taught you?
- Which positive attribute would you like to focus on in the upcoming weeks?
Provide support and guidance to the client as needed. You may assign the exercise as homework to complete during the week if they did not complete all five attributes during the session. Use the exercise on the worksheet to encourage the client to focus on positive experiences between sessions.
References
Meyers, M. C., van Woerkom, M., & Bakker, A. B. (2012). The added value of the positive: A literature review of positive psychology interventions in organizations. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22(5), 618–632.
Sin, N. L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2013). Enhancing well-being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: A practice-friendly meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65(5), 467–487.
