Are you Positive?
Let's say you want to be more creative with your right brain imagining the next deRosa Preserve or the fascinating 1 minute movies by Rick Mereki and his buddies? Want to be more resilient? Or, are you the type that when the going gets tough, it's safer to stay indoors with Netflix's Return of the Pink Panther and a yummy bowl of natural popcorn doused in truffle butter and sea salt(1). Want to connect more with people, feeling comfortable, trusting and confident with everyone from your neighbor's scary teenage son to your best friend's misogynistic boyfriend? I think most of us want to feel light, happy, comfortable, and confident and all situations as we slip and slide through life. Don't you? I do. In the article "Are You Getting Enough Positivity in Your Diet", Barbara Fredrickson(2) discusses how cultivating positivity can make us more creative, resilient and connected to others. She studies positive emotions and research shows that positive emotions can "reshape who we are, and they build up our useful traits in ways that bring out the best in us, helping us become the best versions of ourselves". And there's more: 1. People are more creative and have wider awareness when they're experiencing positive emotions. 2. We're more resilient and bounce back more quickly from adversity. 3. Kids' academic performance improves. 4. Medical benefits? Doctors make better medical decisions when they're given a bag of candy! 5. Even across groups, positive emotions make us more socially connected, people are more trusting and come to more win-win situations. Fredrickson says that if we increase our daily diet of positive emotions, we can become more resilient, more socially connected versions of ourselves. With practice, we can actually change ourselves down to the cellular level literally altering who we are in the future. Crazy, I know. Enjoy learning more and listening to her here. She is clear that telling yourself to "be positive" without being sincere and genuine is not the approach. She says "toxic insincerity has shown to be corrosive to our own bodies....and for our relationships with other people." We need to create the "mindset" of positivity because positivity brings positive emotions. Here's how: "be open, be appreciative, be curious, be kind, and above all, be real and sincere." Fortunately, Fredrickson has a website (of course) complete with a positivity test and the options of buying her book (of course, again). This is all good news when good news is so hard to come by these days. Sometimes we need some oomph to stay positive. It also might be helpful to start sporting a big bag of candy--a bit for your doctor, landlord, and even your yoga instructor (smile). Who knows where this could lead. (1) Seriously, my friend made this and it was amazing. (2) http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/
are_you_getting_enough_positivity_in_your_diet/ | 
