We are all very good at making ourselves feel bad. We come by the habit honestly. Think back to learning to spell in grammar school. Our tests come back from the teacher with the errors marked with red checks. A quick review of our formative years probably shows much more attention was paid to our failures, and those times when we fell short of expectations, than to those times that we succeeded, or even excelled. Often, only the top achieversthe best athletes and the brightest scholars are recognized. This leaves the vast majority of us becoming more effective at gaining vital recognition by falling short, than by rising above. The media producers know that bad news draws more attention (and advertisers) than good, so our daily ration of news from radio, TV, computer, and papers is notoriously skewed toward the bad.
In order to play our part in this cultural game of we tend to become very good at sniffing out failures. After all, if we are going to be noticed for our failures, its only fair that learn to notice the failures of ourselves (they might miss one!) and of others. Our senses become finely tuned to locating and focusing on the moments in life that are less than...