Stop 'good' v 'bad' snap judgments and your world becomes more interesting

When snap evaluations reign, you effectively shut yourself off from a wide range of possible experiences.

- Lorraine Besser

How many times have you used the words "good" or "bad" today?

From checking your weather app to monitoring the progress you have made on your to-do list, to scrolling through social media, opportunities to make snap evaluations abound. And the more you sort things into these categories, the more instinctive making these judgments becomes. You may find yourself filtering everything that comes your way in terms of "good" or "bad".

A dark cloud triggers "bad", a social media post of baby animals triggers "good", a news story about a political scuffle triggers "bad". Whether you think something is good or bad, or worthy of a like or not, is an important piece of information. But if that categorization is the only thing that is on your mind, the only lens through which you interpret the world, you will miss out on a lot.

I'm a philosopher who specializes in happiness, well-being and the good life. I study how one's state of mind influences one's experiences of the world.

In my recent book, The Art Of The Interesting, I explore the ways the evaluative perspective squashes your ability to experience psychological richness and other positive dimensions of life. The more you instinctively react with a "good" or a "bad", the less of the world you take in. You will be less likely to engage your mind, exercise curiosity and have interesting experiences.

EVALUATION NARROWS YOUR MIND

When you instinctively label something as good or bad, you focus only on the features that make that thing good or bad.