THE UNSEEN POWER OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

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“People who enjoy the sweet fruits of positivity in their lives intuitively understand this simple truth. We all have the power to turn positivity on and off for ourselves.” —Barbara Fredrickson

THINKING MAKES IT SO

After rushing around all day, I was feeling pretty good about my readiness to travel to Washington, DC the next morning. But my optimism quickly turned to dismay at the sight of dripping milk and splinters of glass on every item and surface in the refrigerator due to a glass bottle of milk that had frozen and exploded. I’d certainly had no intention of cleaning every nook and cranny of the refrigerator before my trip. Cleaning would take a couple of hours, and it would be well after midnight before I could finish.

Feeling sorry for myself darkened my mood and made the task difficult and distasteful until I remembered to refocus my thoughts on how enjoyable a sparkling clean refrigerator would be. Twenty minutes later, I was amazed by how much better I felt and how much faster I completed the task.

For me, the experience illustrated positivity researcher Barbara Fredrickson’s findings that “your mild and fleeting pleasant states are far more potent than you think.”

UNDERSTANDING POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

While we may recognize that emotions are associated with feelings, our knowledge about their origins and the way they influence our lives is less well known.

Positive and negative emotions flow from our thinking habits. Researchers characterize emotion as an evolutionary trait that uses thoughts to generate feelings that urge us to act in prescribed ways, such as the impulse to flee when we feel in danger.

Positive and negative emotions impact us in unique ways, and each can be helpful or unhelpful depending on the circumstances. The side-by-side comparisons in the chart below may help us recognize their presence, assess the thinking patterns that generated them, and determine whether they are useful for the situation at hand.

Positive emotions such as joy, hope, and awe are pleasant, energizing, and subtle. They invite us to notice them, yet they are fleeting. Positive emotions expand possibilities, innovation, optimism, and flexibility. They enable us to build new skills and technologies, and they increase well-being in individuals and communities. They also enable successful relationships and the conflict resolution needed for groups to collaborate and thrive.

In contrast, negative emotions such as fear, anger, and irritation are obvious. They grab our attention, feel bad, and tend to be draining and persistent. Negative emotions narrow possibilities, constrain innovation, diminish flexibility, and promote predictable action. Negative emotions are useful in situations of clear and imminent danger that demand immediate and decisive action, such as a speeding car coming toward us, a fire, or needing to pull a child from harm.

TAPPING THE UNSEEN POWER OF OUR EMOTIONS

Situations of imminent danger that demand immediate, decisive action are much rarer today than when we spent most of our time hunting and gathering. Yet we continue to breed unhelpful negative thinking and emotions that constrain our choices and actions and generate more negative situations.

Fortunately, we are not obliged to maintain this practice and can instead generate more positive situations. With expert knowledge and insights from our own experiences, we can learn how to redirect our thinking and generate more useful positive emotions.

First, we must become aware of our knowledge gaps in three areas:

1. We unknowingly create unhelpful emotions through habitual thinking patterns.
2. Paying attention to negative information and experiences distracts us from finding and savoring the inherent goodness in situations, ideas, and events.
3. We are unaware of how critical our thinking and emotions are in determining the level of positivity we experience in our lives.

When these knowledge gaps go unseen, we lose powerful opportunities to direct our thinking, emotions, and life experiences. But once we “see” the power, we can command it and intentionally direct our thoughts and emotions to create the positive circumstances we desire.

A SIMPLE, POWERFUL PLAN FOR ENJOYING POSITIVE OUTCOMES

Drawing inspiration from music, stories, and nature can be uplifting and energizing. Also effective are humor, meditation, interaction with positive people, and positive self-talk. I find that asking myself the question “What pleases me?” throughout the day serves as a simple noticing practice that creates pleasant feelings and keeps my attention on positive events and situations.
 
Barbara Fredrickson offers a simple and effective action plan: “My point is that whether you experience positivity or not depends on how you think. Positive emotions—like all emotions—arise from how you interpret events and ideas as they unfold. They depend on whether … you allow yourself to find the good—and on whether, once you’ve found it, you pump that goodness up and let it grow.”

THE ABILITY TO GENERATE POSITIVE EMOTIONS IS AN ESSENTIAL SKILL

An ability to consistently generate positive emotions is one of the essential skills needed to attain high levels of health. Finding accessible ways to learn and master this skill in our environment of constant distraction and negativity can be a challenge. Fortunately, a good health-building resource that makes learning and mastering this skill exists and can be found in the High Health Network. Taking advantage of this resource is one of the most positive things we can do.

If you or your company wants to transform your lives by capturing the unseen power of positive emotions, contact us to find out more.

Joyce M. Young, MD, MPH
Managing Director, Advanced Wellness Systems
Lead Expert for the High Health Network

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Sincerely,

Your colleagues at Advanced Wellness Systems