Introduction:
A Fable
An Analogy
Beliefs, good and bad
Fixing Beliefs
Elsewhere in the Library:
Enter
Introduction
First Aid: Individuals
BluesBusters
Anxiety Relief
First Aid:Relationships
The right stuff
Tool Room I
Parting Thoughts

How can we tell good beliefs from bad, helpful from hurtful? One straight-forward approach would be to contrast beliefs of happy and unhappy people. Wherever those beliefs differ, we might assume that the beliefs preferred by happy people tend to help them feel happy, while those preferred by the unhappy people nudge them into misery. From a number of such differences we could compile a list of positive (happy) and negative (unhappy) beliefs. Of course, there's no requirement that such a survey be done formally. You can do a variation on the basic theme simply by asking people who seem to be happy most of the time how they think about things. Their answers will give you hints about their positive beliefs.

Or we can read about it. A great deal of effort has been exerted attempting to discover the secrets of turning lemons into lemonade. We can read what others think they have discovered. One well-known approach comes from Albert Ellis, the father of Rational Emotive Therapy (RET). Suppose we begin with two primary life goals: I want to live as long as I can, and I want to be as happy as possible while I'm at it. All beliefs can be evaluated on the basis of their consistency with those two primary goals. If a belief is consistent, it helps us realize our two primary goals and is rational. If inconsistent, the belief hinders realization of our primary goals and is self-defeating, irrational, and a candidate for challenge and modification.