The importance of looking at the glass ‘half full’ — even when you’re feeling downbeat

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Actress/producer Goldie Hawn, recipient of the Cinema Icon Award, attends the CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards

“So if you look at the potential of that glass half full and think about it for a minute. It would change the way your brain fires — and neurons that fire together, wire together,” she explained.

“So the more you look at the glass half full, the happier you’ll be.”

Over the weekend, the actress was in Dubai to highlight the work of her non-profit organization MindUP, a learning and teaching framework which offers support to children across the globe, when it comes to social-emotional learning and mindful awareness.

The World Health Organization estimates that between 10 to 20 percent of children and adolescents experience mental illness, with half of all mental disorders starting around the age of 14. The United Nations agency has stated in the past, back in 2001, that one in four people worldwide will be affected by a mental or neurological disorder at some point over the course of their life.

On Saturday, the Global Happiness Council (GHC) meantime stated that while mental illness was one of the major sources of unhappiness, reducing it could elevate global happiness levels. In the report, GHC researchers suggested that the net cost of treating mental disorders would be negative.