Confronting your past failings by writing them down reduces stress

Writing about negative events and past failings is one of the most effective ways to reduce stress and give you a new lease of life, new research claims. Acknowledging and analyzing what went wrong during prior setbacks gives people insight which helps them cope better in future stressful situations, researchers found. People are often advised to ''look on the bright side' when they fail and move on, but the new study suggests thinking critically about these negative events can actually lead to better outcomes in the future. Instead, researchers at Rutgers University-Newark found that simply thinking about negative events could be used to help people manage stress better, and improve performance in many areas, including therapeutic settings, education and sports. Previous studies have shown that paying close attention to negative events or feelings -- by either meditating or writing about them -- can actually lead to positive outcomes.