03 Nov How To Turn Negative Emotions Into Your Greatest Advantage
Here’s an informative article that appeared in the Huffington Post, How To Turn Negative Emotions Into Your Greatest Advantage:
In our relentless pursuit of happiness, it’s easy to shove aside, make light of, or otherwise evade negative emotions. But the truth is that unpleasant feelings are not only inevitable, they can also play a key role in health and well-being.
A small study from Olin University published earlier this year showed that being comfortable experiencing and expressing mixed emotions was a predictor of improvements in well-being, while ignoring or evading negative feelings was not associated with boosts in well-being.
“We found that those participants who were making meaning out of their experiences with a mixture of happiness and sadness actually showed increases in their psychological well-being, compared to people who were just reporting sadness, just reporting happiness, or some other mixture of emotions,” Jonathan Adler, Olin assistant professor of psychology and one of the study’s authors, told HuffPost Live. “It seems that there is something to be gained for your mental health in taking both the good and the bad together.”
When we allow our negative emotions to become a source of shame or guilt, we could inadvertently be making those feelings worse and missing out on their benefits. And paradoxically, negative emotions can be a powerful catalyst for positive experiences and realizations, if we respond to them well. Here are six negative emotions worth embracing.
1. Anger can be fueled into creativity.
2. Struggling with adversity can profoundly alter your perspective.
3. Working through shame can help you cultivate compassion.
4. Pessimism can make you more productive.
5. Envy can spur you to become better.
6. Loss can lead to gratitude
For much more on each of these negative emotions and how they can be turned into positives, check out the complete source article.
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