How to create positive emotions

To be happy, you need to experience three times as many positive emotions as negative emotions (or more).  What amazes me is how simple it can be to create a positive emotion.  These include things like joy, awe, compassion, amusement, hope and love.  (Negative emotions are what you’d expect – anger, sadness, hate and anxiety, among others.)

I was reading an experiment by happiness researcher Barbara Fredrickson recently while working on my book on transforming depression into happiness.  She made people feel positive emotions simply by showing them short film clips of a puppy or waves.  I was surprised that this works, because these seem like such bland images.

Obviously, to get to the magic ratio, it makes sense to do as many things as possible to create positive emotions.  Here are a few of the things I’ve found that work:

• ·         Writing down the good things that happen each day or week – reliving them gives me a lift
• ·         Watching youtube clips or TV programmes that amuse or inspire me, like America’s Funniest Home Videos or Saturday Night Live.  As I write this I’m smiling over a heart-warming story on Luke Gamble’s Vet Adventures about a young street kid caught illegally selling puppies who was caught and given a job at an animal shelter which helped him get his life together
• ·        Getting out in nature and savouring the beauty
• ·         Playing ball with my dog (the non-lazy one who actually likes to chase balls!)
• ·         Meeting friends for a walk or coffee
• ·         Exercise
• ·         Doing something I get lost in, like writing, and
• ·         Cooking – not fun for everyone I know, but I love trying out new recipes, whether they work or not!

If you keep a note of the things that lift your emotions, you’ll quite soon have a good idea of what to build into your life to increase your good feelings.  The other part of getting the magic ratio is decreasing negative emotions – more on that in another post!

What lifts your spirits?  I’d love to hear.