Your brain is future-oriented and constantly anticipating what comes next.

Looking forward to different experiences can create positive emotion before they happen.

You can intentionally plan things to look forward to instead of waiting for them to happen.

“What are you looking forward to?”

It seems like a simple question. Yet when I ask people, many pause much longer than they expect. Some eventually smile and mention an upcoming vacation or a family celebration. But just as often, the answer is, “I don’t know” or “I haven’t thought about it.”

Those answers say something important. Many people spend so much time managing today’s responsibilities that they don’t intentionally create things to look forward to.

But one of the most powerful ways to improve our emotional well-being is to deliberately create positive experiences to anticipate.

It’s what your brain was built to do.

Your brain is fundamentally future-oriented. Every moment it is asking, What happens next? It is constantly making predictions about the future and using that information to decide where to direct your attention, energy, and behavior. Rather than simply reacting to the world around you, your brain is continuously preparing for the world it expects is coming.

This remarkable........

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