Having been involved with interactive software for sometime, I have come to realise that by observing my thoughts and feelings in the moment (when my choices are still fluid), rather than in retrospect (where my choices have been made) I am able to make better choices and take better actions than I otherwise might take. From experience I have found even a momentary break in the often automatic sequence of trigger > emotion > cognition > action, can bring significant advantages.

Chatbot’s are the latest iteration of interactive software. They allow often complex processes to be performed simply over a wide range of devices, and perform a series of functions. In this instance, our bot performs two.

The first function for our bot requires the user to simply run it whenever they experience a moment of gratitude. The bot encourages them to not only look for “massive” moments of gratitude, but also look for equally important moments in “mundane” or “miserable” moments. These last two situations are key in helping the user learn and practice positive coping strategies.

Research identifies that journaling for five minutes a day can enhance our long-term happiness by over 10%. Chatbot’s not only enable in the moment journaling , but optionally email the session to the user so it can be saved in a form resembling a traditional retrospective gratitude journal.  This is key in helping them build a evidence base of improvement and successes. The bot session is then deleted from the platform.