← Techniques

Pleasant Events Calendar

Pleasant Events Calendar
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
🛡️ Mastery 🧠 Cognition

Over the course of one week the client records each day one pleasant event: what happened, what thoughts, feelings, and body sensations were present at that moment. The technique builds the skill of noticing the good in real time, not retrospectively. In depression a person tends to filter out positive experience — the diary trains the opposite skill.

Step-by-step guide

  1. Every day choose one pleasant event (of any size: a cup of coffee, a stranger's smile, a minute of silence).
  2. Record what happened, as concretely as possible.
  3. Record the thoughts that were present at that moment.
  4. Record the feelings (emotions).
  5. Record the body sensations linked to the event.
  6. At the next session discuss: what you noticed, what was hard to notice.

When to use

  • Homework for week 2 of MBCT
  • When the client says "there is nothing good in my life" — as a hypothesis test
  • To develop attention to positive experience (a counterweight to the depressive filter)

Key phrases

Do not look for grand events. A cup of hot tea — fits.
Your task is to notice the pleasant right when it is happening, not to recall it in the evening.
Write down what you feel in the body when something pleasant is happening.

Follow-up questions

What did you manage to notice this week?
Was it hard to find pleasant events? What got in the way?
How was the experience of the event different when you noticed it mindfully?

Warnings

  • ⚠️ "I had nothing pleasant": most likely the events were there but attention was busy with the negative — discuss without judgment
  • ⚠️ Confusing thoughts with feelings: help to distinguish them with an example
  • ⚠️ The client fills in the whole week retrospectively on Sunday evening: remind of the value of "in the moment"

Source: Segal, Williams, Teasdale (2013), Chapter 8; Handout 5.4 "Pleasant Events Calendar"

diary pleasant events attention homework behavior

Similar techniques

ACT
ACT Matrix
ACT Matrix
Kevin Polk's four-quadrant model that makes the client's movements visible. The horizontal axis is t…
PST
ADAPT — Attitude–Define–Alternatives–Predict–Try
ADAPT — Attitude–Define–Alternatives–Predict–Try
A Problem-Solving Therapy technique focused on adapt — attitude–define–alternatives–predict–try. It …
MI
Affirming Change Talk (EARS)
Affirming Change Talk (EARS)
EARS is the strategy for working with change talk once heard: Elaborating, Affirming, Reflecting, Su…
Kids' Skills
Agreeing on the Skill to Learn
Agreeing on the Skill to Learn
A Kids' Skills intervention: Agreeing on the Skill to Learn. It turns a child's difficulty into a le…
REBT
Anti-Awfulizing / De-Catastrophizing
Anti-Awfulizing / De-Catastrophizing
A specialized form of disputing aimed at the belief "this is awful" (awfulizing). Ellis argued that …
Adlerian
Anti-Suggestion Technique
Anti-Suggestion Technique
When a client systematically devalues their successes or sabotages progress, the therapist predicts …
Materials are informational and educational and summarize publicly available scientific sources. They are not medical or psychological advice, are not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment, and do not replace consultation with a qualified professional.