The Value of Thinking and Feeling Positive

[Guest guest]

Thinking and emotion go hand in hand. A negative mood activates

negative thinking and a positive mood activates positive thinking.

Does it matter if you are in a negative mood thinking negative

thoughts or in a positive mood thinking positive thoughts? Is one

better than the other? What is the advantage in thinking and feeling

positive?

Emotions Have Evolutionary Value

Negative emotions have evolutionary value. Negative emotions like

fear, loss, and aggression activate the flight or fight response. When

we experience negative emotions, we have a feeling of aversion, which

sets us on course to identify what is wrong and eliminate it. Negative

emotions and thinking are associated with a survival alert that

activates a reaction to fight, flight or conserve - each reaction with

obvious evolutionary value.

Positive emotions also have evolutionary advantage. They " broaden and

build. " Experiencing positive emotions increases our survival chances

because positive emotions broaden our intellectual, physical, and

social resources and build reserves for us to draw upon.

Experiencing positive emotions increases our drive for exploration and

discovery and provides the basis for positive social interactions.

When we experience positive emotions, we become more tolerant,

expansive, and creative. The more positive emotion we experience the

more open to new ideas and new experiences we become.

Negative emotions narrow our perspective to focus only on the

immediate threat. When negative emotions are experienced, we withdraw,

freeze, or protect. When we experience positive emotions, we feel safe

and engage in active, playful exploration, and discovery. Negative

emotions contract and positive emotions expand.

Positive emotions form the experiential foundation for mentally

healthy people. Positive emotions provide a foundation for growth and

exploration and build the intellectual, social, and physical capital

for further growth and development.

When we experience negative emotions, they tell us to deal with what

is wrong and eliminate it. When we experience positive emotions, we

start looking for the virtues of what is happening. We become

constructive, generous, un-defensive, and open to seeing possibilities.

Experiencing positive emotions gives us an entirely different way of

thinking from a negative mood. A negative mood makes us attentive to

threats in our environment and focuses our thoughts on protection. A

positive mood moves us into thoughts about growth and development,

exploration and discovery.

Positive Emotions Build Resources and Capital for the Future

Positive emotions build the resources and capital that will become the

basis for growth and development in years to come. When we feel and

think positive, we reach outward and broaden our resources through

exploration and discovery. We are more creative, think quicker, and do

not succumb to premature closure or other forms of superficial

intellectual processing.

Depressed people experience what is called a " downward spiral " of

negative emotions. Depressed emotions call forth negative memories

that feed more negative thoughts, that feed more negative memories,

that feed more depressed emotions. Breaking this downward spiral is

crucial to stopping the depression.

Psychologists have found what they call an upward spiral of positive

emotion. Positive emotions produce a different way of thinking and

acting. The thinking becomes creative and broad-minded, and the

actions become adventurous and exploratory. This increased creativity

and exploration results in greater expansion.

Often negative emotions and thinking are taken more seriously because

traditionally they have been believed to be the evolutionary backbone

of human motivation. It was believed that people are motivated

primarily to avoid experiencing negative emotions and that positive

motivation was merely superficial.

But positive emotions are just as real, authentic and important as

negative emotions and are equally important for development, growth,

and success.

Positive Emotions Lead to More Successful Interactions in the World

Experiencing more positive emotion results in more friendships,

stronger love, better physical health, and more successful

interactions in the world accompanied by a sense of mastery. Growth,

positive development, and creative and successful interactions in the

world (i.e. mental health) may have their foundations in the

experience of positive emotions and thinking.

Happy people view themselves subjectively as more successful in the

world. Happy people remember more good events than actually happened

and forget more of the bad events that happened Happy people see

success as lasting, personal and pervasive and failure as impersonal,

temporary and specific. Happy people may lose a bit of realism but

this does not lock them into ineffective functioning. Happy people are

more likely to switch tactics when involved in a task that appears to

be failing. In the normal course of events, happy people rely on their

tried and true positive past experiences while less happy people are

more skeptical. However, when events are threatening, happy people,

more readily than less happy people, switch tactics and adopt a

skeptical and analytical frame of mind. Happy people can deal better

with adversity.

Happier people are markedly more satisfied with their jobs than less

happy people. Happiness inceases productivity and results in higher

income. Happiness also makes gainful employment and higher income more

likely. Both adults and children who are in a good mood select higher

goals, perform better, and persist longer on a variety of tasks.

Happy People Are Healthier

Positive emotions result in better physical health. Positive emotions

are predictive of health and longevity and protect people from the

wear and tear of aging. Positive emotions strongly predict who lives

longer, who dies earlier, and who will become disabled. Happy people

are more likely to seek out and make use of health risk information.

Happy people have better health habits, lower blood pressure, and

stronger immune systems than less happy people. They endure pain

better and take more health and safety precautions when threatened.

Positive emotions and thinking prolong life and improve health.

Happy People Are More Connected With Others

Very happy people differ markedly from average people and from unhappy

people in one principle way - a rich and fulfilling social life and

more secure relationships. Happy people have more close and casual

friends, are more likely to be married, and are more involved in group

activities than unhappy people. Happy people are also more altruistic.

When we are in a good mood we are less focused on ourselves, we like

others more and we want to be kinder and share our good fortune with

others. However, when we are experiencing negative emotions and

thinking we become distrustful, turn inward and become defensive about

our own needs.

Focusing on Positive Emotions

Positive emotions undo negative emotions and reduce the negative

physical and psychological stresses of negative experiences. Negative

emotions tell you that you are facing a win-loss encounter and need to

take steps to engage with the obstacles. Positive emotions and

thinking tell you that you are in a potential win-win situation.

Positive emotions and thinking guide you to be more expansive,

tolerant, and creative and maximize the social, intellectual, and

physical benefits of the situation. Positive emotions and thoughts

provide both the fuel and the raw material for experiencing more

growth and development, more exploration and discovery, more mastery

and successful interactions in the world. So, yes, there is a great

deal of value in feeling good and positive thinking. Go for it!

http://thebest-motivator.blogspot.com