We have more positive experiences than negative ones, but we have a natural tendency to focus on the negative aspects of our lives.

We ignore or dismiss the good things and amplify bad ones. We speculate on potential problems, to a point where we create them where none exist, simply because it is possible that they could.

If you want to nurture your emotional wellbeing, you’ll need to get a handle on the mind’s habit of favouring the negatives. As a starting point think about your mental diet.

Most of us can choose what we eat and drink, we can do the same with what we come into contact with and absorb intellectually.

If you can’t actually avoid the bad news, soaps, high drama and toxic people (just a few of the threats to our equilibrium), balance the negatives by adding, for example, art, music, nature, beauty and/or literature to your daily diet.