Savoring the Positive

"Over time, positivity literally brings out the best in you."~ Barbara Frederickson, author of Positivity

Recently, I was preparing for a presentation entitled, "Uncovering Your Strengths". In researching the business case for a strengths-based approach, I came across the work of Barbara Frederickson. In her book, Positivity, she describes the research on the benefits of positive emotions. If we notice and cultivate positive moments in our days, over time we will increase our health, our relationships, and our resilience. And it is important to note, this only works if you are truly experiencing the positive emotion. Faked positivity is actually harmful to your health. And being positive without negative is not real and it does not reap the benefits of true positive emotions. Frederickson explores: awe, inspiration, gratitude, interest, pride, hope, serenity, amusement, joy and love. When I was telling my husband about what I was learning, he said in the most gentle way, do you think you are at the healthy ratio? (3:1 is the tipping point; 13:1 is too much positivity). Of course, he was right. I have a deeply ingrained pattern of judging, critiquing and moving too fast. I took the online test and found I was with the 80%. This meant I was below the tipping point. My first score was 2.4:1. My second 2:1. Then yesterday I aced it - scoring 9:1. The test score reflected my experience of yesterday. I took my time to do a few nice things for myself. I savored the sun and beauty of my home. I relished the time I had with friends. A great way to spend a day. Now I need to learn how to do that when I am overcommited. I know I can with some time and practice.

By opening our hearts and minds, positive emotions allow us to discover and build new skills, new ties, new knowledge and new ways of being." ~ Barbara Frederickson

"And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -Anaïs Nin

In response to last week's question of the week - What is the risk to blossom? I received the following reflection from Joanne (aka Chuckie) Books: Subject line on the email read: Boy do I know risk. Can’t sleep. Now your reflection Q is waking me up even more! Heres my first thought - Risk is turning yourself inside out - because the tightness is not longer bearable. The risk to blossom can be HUGE and painful for a what seems like a very long time - but there is a blossom. And, when you feel the leaves moving outward towards the sun, you feel with all your senses, alive. But while you are blossoming, there are polarities - in one single moment you feel sadness and grieving and joy and hope. Life is full of many hues and tones - it’s not black and white. I am painting my living room grey.