My 4-Step Method for Making the Holidays Better
December 22, 2025
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34:53Now PlayingMy 4-Step Method for Making the Holidays Better
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelDoes Christmas never live up to the version you remember from childhood? Or does it bring up painful memories that keep you stuck in the past? Or maybe you’re like I once was, feeling more like a curmudgeon than a bundle of holiday cheer.
In this episode of Office Hours, I explain why the holidays so often surface disappointment, sadness, and annoyance, and what research on memory reveals about why this happens. I share ways to reframe difficult memories, and my Christmas protocol, designed to help quiet the noise, focus on what truly matters, and move through the season with more gratitude and peace.
*Where to find Arthur Brooks:*
• Newsletter
• Email: officehours@arthurbrooks.com
*Timestamps:*
(00:00) Intro
(03:13) Three common holiday mood problems
(04:10) Problem #1: Disappointment
(13:12) Problem #2: Sadness
(18:20) Problem #3: Annoyance
(21:36) Christmas protocol step #1: Start before dawn
(25:00) Christmas protocol step #2: Go for a walk
(26:00) Christmas protocol step #3: Write a gratitude letter
(26:39) Christmas protocol step #4: Give back
(28:32) Q&A: How a sleep schedule affects happiness
(30:21) Q&A: Dealing with burnout as a spiral career type
(31:55) Q&A: How to make close friends later in life
*Referenced:*
• The Happiness Scale
• How to Build a Life
• Remembering the past to imagine the futurethe prospective brain
• Is Nostalgia a Past or FutureOriented Experience? Affective, Behavioral, Social Cognitive, and Neuroscientific Evidence
• Perspectives on episodiclike and episodic memory
• Episodic memoryfrom mind to brain
• Not all emotions are created equalThe negativity bias in socialemotional development
• Attributions, deception, and eventrelated potentialsan investigation of the selfserving bias
• Wellbeing and the anticipation of future positive experiencesThe role of income, social networks, and planning ability
• ...References continued at
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