We all want to live a good life, which is totally normal.
But for many of us living a good life sounds like something having a miracle.
And why should not ?
No matter how hard we try, there might be days where feeling good is tough. These are the days when problems remain out of our control and experiencing sadness and even anxiety is normal.
If this sadness and anxiety remain for a while, it will be easy for us to revert back to normal life as soon as a stressor gets removed.
But the real problem is when a stressor persist for prolong period and so does the sadness and anxiety too. And when we are unable to remove a stressor completely, eventually negative emotions overtake that can have a detrimental impact on day to day life.
Then what can we do at an individual level to address this issue?
Is there anything we can do to handle the stressor and boost our mental well-being?
The answer is yes.
Definitely, one thing we all can do for our mental wellness is cultivating positive emotions.
Does it means to “always stay positive” ?
No, definitely not.
Here I am not saying “to stay positive” or “always look at the bright side of the situation”. In fact, I am not saying that to train your mind for positive thinking only. Because I know motivation from such quotes remain for a while and it’s completely impossible to stay positive for our whole life.
Instead, we need some concert methodology that regulates our emotions and flourishes our mental health for long-term.
So, what does it means to cultivate positive emotions ?
We often think of emotions as impossible to control, but we actually have more of a choice when it comes to our emotions.
Do you want to know more?
Also Check : Navigating A World Of Emotions
Let’s dive right into point.
Understanding positive emotions
In psychology, positive emotions make us feel good irrespective of reason or cause. We typically find these emotions as pleasurable to experience.
Positive emotions are not simply “happy feelings” that gives momentary pleasure. In fact, the list of positive emotions that people experience is nearly endless.
Joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, elevation, altruism, satisfaction, relief, affection, cheerfulness, confidence, admiration, enthusiasm, eagerness, euphoria, contentment, enjoyment, optimism, happiness and love and list goes on.
Need of positive emotions
Though we will not be able to achieve lasting happiness, positive emotions often provide the foundation for meaningful moments that make life worth living.
But how exactly is positive emotion contribute to meaningful life and mental well-being?
According to Psychologist Barbara L Fredrickson’s The broaden – and – build theory of positive emotions,
“The key proposition is that broaden an individual’s momentary thought-action repertoire : joy sparks the urge to play, interest sparks the urge to explore, contentment sparks the urge to savour and integrate, and love sparks a recurring cycle of each of these urges within safe, close relationships.”
In short, aside from feeling good, positive emotions boost awareness and allow us for creative thoughts and actions. The broadening of our scope permits us to play, to learn, and to acquire lasting knowledge and skills that help to improve our life.
This results in increased self-efficacy. More specifically, these experiences promote us to get engage with our environment and partake in activities, which give us an opportunity to explore novel objects, people or situations.
You see positive emotions serve as markers of flourishing and optimal well-being.
Experiencing consistent positive emotions automatically reduce the intensity of negative thoughts, thus help to build resilience and promot emotional regulation. It encourages an individual more accurately on decision making tasks contributing to a strong sense of meaning and fulfillment and life’s satisfaction.
In short, positive emotions cultivate optimism and hope for future.
When we experience positive emotions, we experience a broadening of perspective that helps us to build strong social connections. This results in better relationships.
When we experience positive emotions, we generally get engage in action that align with our values, and our experience seems to meet our needs. For instance, when some activity makes us feel happy, we move towards activities that make us feel joyful and do more of it, helping us further satisfy our needs.
In conclusion, the ability to experience positive emotions is a fundamental strength necessary for human flourishing.
Don’t you think positive emotions are worth cultivating, as a mean to achieve good mental health?
Easier to say than done but the next question is, how to cultivate positive emotions?
Well there is no scientifically proven method to cultivate consistent positive emotions, but there are ways to instill them in our life.
Practicing mindfulness, expressing gratitude, reframing our thoughts, recognizing our strengths, savoring good moments, engaging in an act of kindness, and compassion all helps to cultivate positive feelings.
While this is impressive enough on its own, practicing these methods is uplifting and inspiring.
One of the most impactful and influential outcomes of practicing these methods is that it gives more well-defined idea of what “the good life” is.
As we work on increasing our positive emotions, we might notice that we feel happier, more accomplished, and more energetic.
Also Check : Staying In Tune With Emotional Well-being
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