Immerse yourself in these 7 Positive Emotions!

How often do you experience…

Pride? Inspiration? Gratitude? Hope? Joy? Awe? Love?

I ‘m talking about daily doses…not, every now and then, or, once in a looong while!

What can you do daily to experience these powerful positive emotions and savour the embodied sensations that come along?

Heart-warming, uplifting, softhearted, fuzzy…

One way is to purposefully seek out, even create for yourself experiences that produce these positive emotions and stay with the felt sensations that arise for at least 20 to 30 seconds for full neurological integration to occur.  As the famous psychologist Rick Hanson, Ph.D., prompts us, “Take in the Good”.

Research by Marc Lewis at the University of Toronto has shown that the longer that something is held in awareness and the more emotionally stimulating it is, the more neurons fire and therefore wire together (Hebb’s Law) and the stronger the trace in memory.

And that, is the very essence of Neuroplasticity, the core basis of any habit formation, good or bad.

By fully embodying the sensations, with intention and attention, the felt experience eventually becomes hard wired into your nervous system.

Needless to say, repetition is pivotal to further reinforce the shift made at the level of neurobiology.

Curious about how you can grow the good habit of immersing yourself in these 7 positive emotions?

Here are some simple micro practices that you can easily incorporate in your daily routine for inner well-being:

Pride

take a moment and pause to acknowledge your talents, skills and strengths and increase your sense of self-worth by giving yourself credit for something you had to put extra effort into achieving it!

Inspiration

make a mental note of a person, an animation character, a superhero, whomever you admire for a certain positive quality i.e. Malala Yousafzai or Nelson Mandela for courage, and recall them in your mind’s eye to connect, both emotionally and physically, with the desired quality, not only in times of need (a must!) but in times of ease as well, for greater neural integration :)

Gratitude

thank someone daily for something s/he does for you that you otherwise take for granted: it could be something as simple as a smile they share or a door that one holds for you open! Go the extra mile by handing out a hand-written thank you note!

Hope

find a little good in every situation, especially when the situation is (or, is perceived as) a negative one! Didn’t nail the interview? Acknowledge the fact that you became a little wiser regarding what to do (or, not!) next time and build on that!

Joy

let the hearty laughter of a child, a funny grimace of a puppy or even a silly joke by your co-worker lighten your heart and appeal to your sense of playfulness and aliveness!

Awe

let nature, art, music, literature, movies, whatever challenges your usual way of seeing the world, give you goose-bumps, make your jaw drop or leave you wonderstruck! Look up at the sky in the morning or gaze at the stars at night and notice the vastness and beauty that surrounds you every day and that often goes unnoticed and unappreciated!

Love

stand in front of a mirror, softly gaze in your very own eyes and send huge waves of unconditional acceptance and warmth to yourself, yep, yourself! (ok, I’ll admit this is not the easiest micro practice to integrate, but trust me, the payoffs are priceless! Plus, you are sooooo worth it!

I invite you to come up with your very own micro practices, if this list doesn’t work for you. Stay curious and discover what bests resonates with your way of being.

Commit to building yourself a positive emotions toolkit to draw upon in times of ease and times of need as well. Bear in mind that, positive emotions can act as an antidote to negative experiences by undoing the lingering effects of negative emotions, according to research by Barbara Fredrickson. Now, isn't that great news?

All emotions are welcome; just make sure positive ones outweigh negative ones for long term inner well-being!

Immerse yourself in these 7 positive emotions as often as you can, and marvel (now, that’s an 8th positive emotion!) at how people around you just might reflect back your positive vibes!

You’ve got this. Trust yourself. I trust you!