People feel worse if they are unhappy but have no idea why. Think about your feelings and emotions. Then, even when you are unhappy, you will take comfort in knowing the cause and how it can be changed.
Professor John Hamler teaches a course on scientific thinking. He demystifies science on the first day of the class with the first words he says: "All science is noticing patterns."
He explains to his students that scientists see the world in a very orderly way. They look for what goes with what. Events and conditions are not random; they have causes and effect.
"Science is noticing patterns, great and small. What happens when you throw a rock up in the air? It comes back down every time. That is a pattern; that is the essence of science."
The difference between most people and scientists, Professor Hamler explains, "is that people let the world be random to them. They allow events to pass without connecting them to other events. Whatever happens, it just happens, there's nothing else to it. Scientists everywhere, all the time, see connections because they are looking for connections."
In dealing with our own emotions and life satisfaction, we need to be scientists. We need to notice patterns. Those who let themselves exist in the midst of random events not only don't
understand what is happening to them, they also can't do anything to change their world.
Those who are least likely to quickly overcome a temporary sense of dissatisfaction with life are those who cannot define the sources of their feelings.
Ramanaiah and Detwiler 1997
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