Rather Right Than Happy - Roundtable

This Roundtable features the podcast ‘Rather Right Than Happy’ which examined the strong drive we have for righteousness. We are hardwired for certainty, so being wrong can feel threatening, so it appears we will frequently sacrifice happiness in order to be right. Topics that emerged in the Roundtable included that: we become trapped in our own upsetting thoughts thereby upsetting ourselves; that when we notice our tendency to ‘prove them wrong’ we can over time pre-warn ourselves of this tendency and gradually get better at catching ourselves in this bad dream; that righteousness is a way of handing off responsibility for our emotions very often to strangers, and that this really only negatively affects ourself; and that we can help our children develop emotional control by not being righteous about their bad behaviours but persistently redirect their attention to things that are alternatively entertaining and salutary.