Although there is a place for every emotion in your life, positive emotions are the most desirable.
We tend to experience positive emotions when thinking about our favorite memories, meeting our biggest goals, and building our most special relationships. In fact, everything you pursue in your life is likely linked to an overall positive emotion. Pursuing things that result in positive feelings is an innately human thing to do.
There are several unhealthy ways to pursue positive emotions, however, and they usually have a net negative consequence. For example, drinking a lot of alcohol will result in positive emotions at first, but the lasting consequences (hangover, dehydration, liver disease, digestive problems, poor skin, etc.) are largely negative.
It’s worth learning how to cultivate positive emotions in a healthy way. Even more so, people who have a positive outlook usually live longer, have fewer illnesses, maintain a lower blood pressure, and are at a reduced risk for heart disease.
In other words, it pays to be happy!
When you know how to cultivate positive emotions in your life, you are able to reap the benefits of improved health, better mental well-being, and overall happiness for years.
Evaluate and Cultivate Positive Emotions
If you’re looking to cultivate more positive emotions in your life, start by identifying the things that already bring you joy. These activities are usually signs that you are on the path to positivity.
For example, you may find that you experience joy while learning to play the piano. Throughout the course of your day, you may find yourself looking forward to practicing piano and feeling excited, energized, and accomplished as you’re learning a new piece of music. Afterward, you have feelings of happiness, excitement, fulfillment, and peace. Use these feelings as indicators that you should continue pursuing this habit.
Physical exercise is almost a universal generator of positive emotions. Although you may feel discomfort while exercising, it ultimately provides your brain with endorphins and a sense of fulfillment while helping you to relieve stress. These feelings are indicators that exercise is a good practice to maintain.
Something like eating ice cream for dinner, on the other hand, may result in positive emotions until you face the negative consequences of those short-term positive emotions (difficulty sleeping, the overconsumption of sugar). In this case, the net consequence is a negative one.
Re-evaluate your practices to be sure they result in a net positive consequence. Pay attention to your overall feelings and how they add to your day.
10 Positive Emotions You Can Access
Although we may not have access to our preferred emotions all the time, it’s important to know that you always have some control over how you feel.
Here is how you can cultivate the top 10 desirable positive emotions:
1. Love /Connection
Initiate, accept, and reciprocate affection in order to create a greater feeling of love in your life. You don’t have to wait for opportunities to feel connection; you can create some of your own. You can reach out to friends, send gifts, or even just send someone a message if you are thinking of them.
2. Gratitude/Appreciation
Many people have discovered the benefits of keeping a gratitude journal. Reflecting daily on the things you are most grateful for helps you find more opportunities throughout your day to be appreciative.
Make a habit of expressing appreciation for others’ service too. The more you celebrate others, the more they will celebrate you in return.
3. Curiosity/Awe
Make learning a lifelong practice. There is such a wealth of knowledge available to you at all times—on your phone’s search engine and in conversations with other people in your life.
Keep asking Who, What, Where, When, How, and Why? Appreciate having knowledge, simply for the sake of better understanding the world around you.
4. Passion/Inspiration:
Pursue what you love to do. What makes you excited to get up in the morning or want to race home after work? What would you do all day if you knew you couldn’t fail? That’s your passion.
Many people think that, in order to pursue their passion, they will need to make dramatic changes in their lives. They think they have to give up their jobs or move across the country to stay true to it. In actuality, you can pursue your passion by spending a little time every day on it and committing to lifelong learning. You don’t have to change your life to pursue your passion, in other words; you simply have to make time to enjoy it.
5. Persistence/Determination:
Determination is a muscle that can be strengthened, so it’s important to never give up on the values and goals that matter to you. When you really have the courage of your conviction and values behind you, persistence is easy. In fact, other people who share your values may be inspired by your persistence to remain true to them. Don’t underestimate how significant that can be.
6. Patience/Flexibility
Going with the flow can be a hard thing to learn, but the rewards come in the form of less stress, flexibility, and contentment.
Having patience could mean you take things less personally and extend more grace to others. You’ll have a much more fun time reaching your goals when you realize there isn’t a rush to get there.
7. Confidence/Conviction
Improve and use your strengths to help build your confidence. With confidence, you sometimes just have to fake it until you make it, but the more you see yourself succeeding and learning, the more your confidence will grow. To begin building confidence today, do something outside your comfort zone to track your growth.
8. Joy/Cheerfulness
Scientists have found that the act of smiling can actually trick your brain into feeling happier. Smiling (even when you don’t feel like it) ultimately assists your brain in releasing more dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins.
9. Vitality/Fit
Consistently optimize your exercise, nutrition, sleep, and relaxation to feel more fit and alive. The time you spend taking care of your body will result in a high return of vitality, health, and happiness.
10. Contribution/Altruism
Giving and putting other people first is a great way to pursue more fulfillment in your life. Keep growing, so you can give more, whether it’s financially, physically, or emotionally.
The Bottom Line
When you know how to cultivate positive emotions in your life, you are able to reap the benefits of improved health, better mental well-being, and overall happiness for years.
Improved happiness and an abundance of positive emotions are possible for you, you just need to work on understanding them. It’s not possible to be happy all the time, but if you learn what brings you joy, you’ll be able to move through the highs and lows of life with ease.
How do you cultivate positivity? What is the next emotion you are going to work on? Let us know in the comments!
Sources:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190412094728.htm