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Monday, August 3, 2009

Positive Emotions Expand Our Awareness

New research shows that when we experience positive emotions ~ love, joy, serenity, amusement, pride, as examples ~ our awareness expands.

“We literally see more, our peripheral vision is expanded,” says Barbara Frederickson, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina and author of the book Positivity, which is based on her research.

Negative emotions, conversely, can actually shrink our mental capacity and perceptions. According to U.S. News & World Report:
She also finds that people who increase their "daily diet" of positive emotions develop closer connections with others, their resilience and optimism strengthens, and they become less depressed and more satisfied with life, compared with people who do nothing to experience them more frequently.

On average, "we all need at least three positive emotions to lift us up for every negative emotion that drags us down," she says, a "positivity ratio" that arose from work she and a colleague published in 2005. People truly in the "flourishing zone" surpass that mark, although most of us clock in at 2 to 1 or even lower, she says.
"There are multiple ways to raise your ratio," she says, by increasing positive emotions, reducing negative emotions, or both.

There earning to meditate can boost positive emotions, as do a run in the woods, dancing, or reading a new cookbook, as examples.
Evidence suggests that there's a correlation between experiencing positive emotions in life and living longer, says Fredrickson, who encourages people to visit her free website and track their positivity ratio nightly for two weeks to see what their average is. Doing so might help you learn the sources of your positive emotions and the triggers for your negative ones.
"The truth emerging from the science is that feeling good is a wise investment in our future," she says.

Click here for the U.S. News & World Report article.
Click here to test your positivity/negativity ratio on Frederickson's website.


6 comments:

Jason said...

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human being said...

great post... so true!

all through the years i've been teaching, i've witnessed this correlation... i had many students that believed they could never learn English, but through the semester by developing positive thoughts about themselves and what they are studying, they could overcome their inhibition...

and surely you can imagine how uplifting this can be for a teacher to see such a change in her/his students...


your site is one those places that creates positive vibes... through analytical thinkning, positive perspectives, and psychological and spiritual introspection...

i love here so much... that's why i visit it more than many other sites...


thanks for all the good things you share with us...

Gregory LeFever said...

Hello, Human Being: I'm certain that teaching is a profession where you often see the effects of positive and negative emotions and behaviors. Your example is excellent, and I thank you for sharing it.

I am full of gratitude for your comments regarding Quantum Spirit, and I'm so happy you enjoy it. With all of the difficulties occurring in Iran ~ and perhaps in your own life ~ I am honored to provide whatever small amount of solace and comfort I can.

Please take care of yourself, Human Being. There are many people who value you.

human being said...

don't know how to express my gratitude, my dear friend, Gregory...

all your posts (and i read all of them) help me to think in a productive way... what i have always loved to do... to put the pieces of the puzzle of existence together... it's a huge game... also never-ending... but i really enjoy participating in it...


and in this way, i can tolerate all the hardships i'm facing...

and it's very intersting that i found here when i was in a really bad state of mind because of the things happening to the people of my country (they're still continuing) and also because of what happened to me in this virtual world forcing me to abandon my dear blog...
'dear' because it was the 'bridge' connecting me to others... and because it was the 'well' i could yell all my pains into...


so this is me who should thanks you... for being there for all of us...


you are a precious gem in this wolrd that trust and compassion are feared to be lost forever...

namaste!

human being said...

*who should thank you

sorry!

Gregory LeFever said...

Your comment gives me great joy, Human Being. I especially appreciate "... to put the pieces of the puzzle of existence together... it's a huge game... also never-ending..."

I began Quantum Spirit so I could learn how to blog and thus help my wife with her blog. I decided to post items of interest to me, with no great motive, design or purpose. But quite quickly I learned that my mind's "sorting" process was quite expansive ~ with posts related to things from holy books to psychological studies, astronomy to astrology, I Ching to ghosts, meditation to Machu Picchu.

There is a deep, underlying theme to my selection process. But I don't know what it is.

As you know, when I recently considered narrowing the scope of Quantum Spirit, it was your own insightful comment ~ likening my blog to a bookstore you couldn't leave ~ that gave me such joy and encouraged me to continue assembling Quantum Spirit as I had been.

Though I discovered your blog Thus Spake the Crow quite recently, I have studied it quite deeply. There, you've presented considerable wisdom, intelligence and passion in extraordinarily beautiful and poetic language. I realize something personally hurtful to you has made you bury the crow ~ for the time being anyway ~ and I know you are grieving. As you say, it was your "well I could yell all my pains into." The many readers who have followed your words also are grieving for their own loss, as is clear by their comments on Thus Spake the Crow.

Trust and compassion are not lost forever, dear Human Being. They may be elusive at times, but are never far from you ~ as teacher, crow, or human being ~ as all of us know who have read your words.

Never far from you.

Thank you again for your kind comments.

Peace to you, my friend.