Over the past few years, many researchers have found new and scientifically proven ways to increase positive emotions and wellbeing. From Martin Seligman to Barb Fredrickson, Jon Kabat-Zinn to Amy Cuddy: all have discovered and shared a variety of practices increase the level of wellbeing and positivity in your life. The six techniques described below all require a certain amount of practice, but have all been shown to have a positive impact on our emotions. Depending on your preferences, you might find some techniques suit you more than others. See which one resonates most with you, and give it a try!
- “Three blessings exercise”. This classic gratitude exercise recommended by Seligman (2011) in his book “Flourish”. The idea is a simple journaling exercise. Every day, at the end of the day, write about 3 things – large or small – that went well, and why they went well. We can all benefit from reflecting on what went well each day, and this technique has even been shown to improve symptoms of depression over a timeframe of a few months.
- Mindfulness: Experiencing and savouring the moment is a powerful way of connecting with our inner selves in a positive way. While its origins can be found in ancient Buddhism, it has found its way into modern life thanks to various advocates such as Job Kabat-Zinn. For example, Berkeley University’s “Greater Good” website has an excellent overview over its advantages and techniques such as mindful breathing and the body-scan.
- Loving-Kindness Meditation: In Love 2.0, Barbara Fredrickson describes how increasing micro-moments of love in your life – including compassion towards yourself – can increase your health, vitality and wellbeing. You can find simple guided meditations on Fredrickson’s website.
- Resilience: How we interpret the world around us has an influence on our subjective wellbeing. Developing skills to deal with adversity helps us become more resilient and positive. Reivich and Shatté (2002) describe a sequence of steps you can take to examine negative events, including identifying the type of emotion experienced, any thinking traps preventing us from seeing the bigger picture, putting our negative thoughts into perspective and taking positive action.
- Create positive experiences. It has been shown that experiences, and especially sharing positive experiences with others have a much more lasting impact on our emotions. In a similar vein, helping others can generate positive emotions as well – whether it is helping out a colleague, friend or neighbor at short notice, or volunteering regularly.
- Posture & presence. When you are in immediate need of positive emotions, paying attention to your body language and adjusting it accordingly can be beneficial. Amy Cuddy’s new book “Presence” (2016) and her 2012 Ted talk, “Your body language shapes who you are” explains how our posture affects our emotions, and she shares “power poses” to quickly change your frame of mind and build confidence.
What other practices are you familiar with? I would love to add to the list – let me know in the comments section below!
Have a great day!
References:
Cuddy, Amy (2016): Presence. London: Orion Books
Fredrickson, B.L. (2013): Love 2.0. New York: Hudson Street Press
Reivich, K. and Shatté, A. (2002) The Resilience Factor: 7 essential skills for overcoming life’s inevitable obstacles. New York: Three Rivers Press
Seligmann, M. (2011): Flourish. New York: Free Press.
