Gratitude doesn’t erase a bad week. It just makes sure the bad week isn’t the only thing you saw.

Gratitude is not correction fluid. A bad week stays bad, and pretending otherwise is the version of this that makes people distrust the whole idea. What it does is widen the frame, so the week contains the bad thing and a few other things too, instead of being made entirely of one. Both sets of facts are true, and only one of them was getting any attention.

In the middle of a rough stretch, do not try to feel better. Just add one accurate good thing to the list each day. The bad week keeps its place and stops being the only tenant.