“Het zal wel misgaan.” “Het had allemaal anders kunnen lopen.” “Anderen hebben het makkelijker.” Voor veel mensen zijn dit geen incidentele gedachten, maar een dagelijkse soundtrack. En hoewel een beetje pessimisme menselijk is, kan een voortdurende focus op het negatieve grote gevolgen hebben voor welzijn, gezondheid en zelfs levensverwachting.

Psychologen noemen dat onder meer discounting the positive: positieve ervaringen worden gebagatelliseerd, terwijl teleurstellingen juist veel gewicht krijgen. Een mooie vakantie? “Wacht maar tot het gaat regenen.” Een behaalde mijlpaal? “Dat was gewoon geluk.” Een fijne dag? “Het zal niet lang duren.”

Onderzoek laat zien dat sommige mensen zowel naar het verleden als naar de toekomst kijken door een donkere bril. Zelfs momenten die normaal gesproken vreugde oproepen, zoals een bruiloft of diploma-uitreiking, worden achteraf overschaduwd door zelfkritiek. Niet de mooie herinnering blijft hangen, maar die ene ongemakkelijke opmerking of vermeende fout.

Dat patroon kan meer doen dan alleen het humeur beïnvloeden. Negatieve gedachten gaan vaak hand in hand met ongezonde gewoonten. Denk aan emotie-eten, roken, overmatig alcoholgebruik of eindeloos scrollen op sociale media. Het gedrag biedt tijdelijk comfort, maar versterkt op de lange termijn vaak juist het gevoel van ontevredenheid.

Volgens gedragsdeskundigen begint verandering met bewustwording. Wanneer ontstaat het ongewenste gedrag? Met wie ben je op dat moment? Welke emotie gaat eraan vooraf? Wie merkt dat een stressvolle werkdag steevast eindigt met een doos cupcakes, heeft al een belangrijke eerste stap gezet.

Vervolgens kan de omgeving helpen. Wie weet dat de verleiding in de bakkerij op de hoek schuilt, kan bewust een andere route kiezen. Kleine aanpassingen maken gezond gedrag makkelijker en ongezond gedrag lastiger.

Misschien is de belangrijkste les wel dat gedachten niet altijd feiten zijn. Een regenbui kan een verpeste ochtend betekenen, maar ook frisse lucht en een leeg park. Het verschil zit niet in de omstandigheden, maar in de manier waarop je ernaar kijkt. En juist daar ligt vaak meer invloed dan gedacht.

Bron: Psychology Today

Kennedy overrides CDC order saying an American who came into contact with hantavirus can self-quarantine

The Trump administration is employing “authoritarian” and “unconstitutional” quarantine measures for at least one person who came into contact with a hantavirus patient, health law experts say.

The mandatory quarantine, reimposed without an offering scientific evidence, reveals how the US might approach future cases of Ebola and other pathogens in the US – and sets a precedent for detaining Americans with no scientific rationale.

It took a long time for the actor to find her groove – then the smash TV spy thriller changed everything. She talks about getting advice from A-listers, speaking her mind, and why she’s switching to theatre

Sandra Oh bursts into a back room at the National Theatre in London with wayward post-rehearsal energy. The 54-year-old, long one of the most stylish actors in Hollywood, is in brown linen, a herringbone jacket and hat and sunglasses, which she removes before collapsing into a chair and throwing her head forward, arms outstretched, hair splayed across the table. “It’s just the fucking process of it,” she groans. “We just finished our first stagger-through, which if anyone is an actor – it’s early days, so the fact we made it through was great. It’s brutal. We started in the Lyttelton, and it’s interesting to be in that space and to hear verse. You can really hear it. It’s not just about volume or speed. It’s not even solely about intention. You learn so much just being in that space, but the big thing is – sorry.” She catches herself. “I’m just marching on.” And she bellows with laughter.

Oh has been in London for just over a month rehearsing her role as Alice in a modern reimagining of Molière’s Le Misanthrope. It’s a happy return; eight years ago, she was in the capital to film the first of four series of the hit show Killing Eve, which became a phenomenon and changed her life as an actor for ever. Oh played Eve Polastri, the shambolic but brilliant British intelligence agent, who, along with Jodi Comer’s Villanelle, made for one of the best spy capers of recent years. Now, she is playing a novelist – gender-flipped from the 17th-century original, in an adaptation by Martin Crimp – who is fed up with the flattery and dishonesty of the people around her. It’s a deliberate pivot to theatre; last summer, she appeared as Olivia in a starry production of Twelfth Night at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, New York. In the autumn, she made her debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in a production of Donizetti’s comic opera La Fille du Régiment. Unlike the sometimes fraught me-me-meism of screen work, says Oh, working in theatre in general and at the National in particular “is a collaborative thing” – not least, she adds drily, because no one does it for the money. “Everyone has to bring their best and most open selves. And everyone else loves watching everyone succeed.”

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Group F is shaping up to be one of the most competitive at the 2026 World Cup with Japan, the Netherlands and Sweden all talented enough to make a deep run. The second round of group games could reveal whether or not that is realistic. The stakes are high.

Japan and the Netherlands started their World Cup campaigns by sharing the spoils, but both teams could do with a win in their second game to be sure of their place in the last 32. They may have to demonstrate more ambition than they did in their opener.

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The goalkeeper discusses being bullied by 35-year-olds in the English fifth tier, winning the Premier League and competition in the Spain squad

“No, no, there’s someone else,” David Raya says, leaping out of his chair at Spain’s training camp in Chattanooga, Tennessee, pulling his phone from the wash bag sitting on the floor and starting to scroll. Ah, look, here it is,” he says eventually, reading from the screen: “‘… the goalkeeper, who played in yesterday’s match, was at Southport on loan from Oxford United…’ Yeah, Max Crocombe. I think that is right”

And so then there were four, another name to add to the list. Peter Withe, Stan Mortensen, him, and now New Zealand’s No 1: the men who played for Southport and went to a World Cup.

We’re both addicted to our screens. But at least we’re watching together – it’s dystopian bonding for the modern age

Try as I might, I think there’s no saving my son from modern technology. It’s ubiquitous, seductive and deeply ingrained in every aspect of middle-class life. Worse yet, I’m also addicted. When do I not have my iPhone out, desperately scrolling through a suite of apps, hoping they’ll offer me some manner of comfort from the security of my living room couch? Hours go by as I’m practically begging someone to notice me on Instagram, while he’s skipping from brainrot videos to basketball tutorials on our internet-connected TV. Ten years ago, I might have witnessed a scene like that and thought it was a sign of the end times. We’ve lost our way so much as a culture that a parent and a child can be simultaneously subsumed by screens, barely noticing the other person. But at some point, everyone realizes that the battle is lost. This is just how it is.

In spite of that grim diagnosis, Keir Starmer – who turned snatching defeat from the jaws of victory his personal brand – has made this losing battle a signature issue. This week, the British prime minister announced a comprehensive ban on social media for children under the age of 16. That includes Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, Snapchat and YouTube (though not the kids’ version). The ban is modeled on one currently deployed in Australia, which has holes wide enough to drive a fleet of vintage Sherman tanks through. Teenagers in Australia are finding ways around their ban already, and of course they are. When I was 15, if I wanted a six-pack of Budweiser or some of those tiny airplane liquor bottles, I could figure it out.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Some said Britain’s departure would bring down the union, but countries are still queueing to join

On the night of 23 June 2016, a storm broke out over Brussels. Rain poured and lightning flashed over the European Union headquarters. The next day dawned grey and calm, but the political weather was raging. Britain had voted to leave the EU.

Nigel Farage, then leader of the UK Independence party (Ukip), declared the EU “finished” and “dead”. France’s Marine Le Pen, the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders and Italy’s Matteo Salvini were among the far-right leaders who called for their countries to have a referendum.

Exclusive: While recruits will increase headcount for now, broader adoption of AI could lead to jobs cuts in future

Lloyds Banking Group has launched an AI recruitment drive for 300 tech experts, weeks before its chief executive, Charlie Nunn, unveils a strategic plan for the 261-year old lender.

The bank said it intended the recruits to work on its use and development of agentic AI by September, referring to autonomous artificial intelligence models that can plan and execute tasks with minimal human oversight.

The jurors who found the pro-Palestine activists guilty of criminal damage had no idea their verdict would be treated as a verdict on terrorism

• Geoffrey Robertson KC is founding head of Doughty Street Chambers

In a London court in 1670, a judge, livid with the jury, locked them away for two days without food, water or even a chamber pot. The jury’s offence? Defying the judge’s direction to convict the Quaker William Penn – the future founder of Pennsylvania – charged with preaching sedition in the City of London. The foreman, Edward Bushell, would not yield and, when the matter reached the chief justice of England, he ruled that no juror could be punished for their refusal to convict, entitling a jury to decide according to its conscience, whatever the bench directed. A plaque honours Bushell at the Old Bailey, so jurors on their way inside may contemplate the man who secured their right to acquit.

The legal principle has held for three and a half centuries and, in my 50 years of practice, I have witnessed many juries bring back “sympathy verdicts”, that is, acquittals, because they think a defendant has been oppressively or unfairly prosecuted. But they are not usually reminded by barristers of their right to do so because of the profession’s concern that they should not be urging juries to lay aside the oath they took to decide according to the evidence.

A version of this article was originally published in The Key magazine

Geoffrey Robertson KC is founding head of Doughty Street Chambers and his latest book is World of War Crimes – Eyeless in Gaza and Beyond

The reconstruction of the vaquita, whose numbers barely reach double figures in the wild, is designed to help research and conservation efforts

Scientists have created a digital reconstruction of the world’s most endangered marine mammal, preserving its anatomy in three dimensions to aid research and conservation efforts as the species teeters on the brink of extinction.

The project digitised the skeleton of a female vaquita, a small porpoise found only in Mexico’s northern Gulf of California, using a combination of medical imaging, ultra-high-resolution micro CT scans and photography.

Kyu John has added a photo to the pool:

Wat is er nou leuker dan een of ander dapper postertje voor uw raam te hangen (voor peace, of in casu voor een vluchteling) om u moreel te positioneren aan de juiste kant van de streep: sjonge jonge wat bent u toch voor gelijke rechten voor iedereen en sjonge jonge wat bent u van mening dat iedere vluchteling een veilig thuis moet hebben. Neeeeeheee niet per se een thuis in úw achtertuin of in úw buurt, maar een veilig thuis ergens anders in Nederland! Nou, we zullen u zeggen wat nóg leuker is dan een dapper postertje achter uw raam hangen: de Dag van de Vluchteling vieren! Helemaal bedacht om supergave vluchtelingen in het zonnetje te zetten. Wij kennen ook een paar gave vluchtelingen. Zat voorbeelden van asielzoekers die er wat moois van hebben gemaakt. Dat schreeuwt iedereen dan ook gretig van de daken - en zelfs als ze er nog niets van hebben gemaakt is de wens de vader van de gedachte en zullen ze vast wel een keer gaan apotheken ofzo. Helaas 'ook' ietsje boel voorbeelden van vluchtelingen die er een potje van maken, met in die categorie voornamelijk veel alleenstaande Syriërs, Algerijnen, Marokkanen. Vooral die knakkers uit Syrië kunnen er wat van, maar dat benoemen is in dit land een hele opgave. In dit land VIEREN we vluchtelingen. Tijdens de Dag van de Vluchteling! Iedereen gefeliciteerd. Voor alle criminele Syriërs ligt een prijs klaar op info@dtv.minvenj.nl.

@kedara
Glad it worked for you.