The benefits of positive psychology are nearly endless. The positivity has the power of teaching us how to change our standpoint, overcome negative thinking and embrace positive affirmations. Also, research suggests that people who regularly show acts of kindness, for example, get a significant boost in well-being. Similarly, a longitudinal study by James H. Fowler and Nicholas A. Christakis showed that happiness is contagious in their study, people with happy partners and friends were more likely to be happy in the future.
Furthermore, giving hugs or showing other signs of affection may improve your overall welfare. How? A study shows that oxytocin, a neurotransmitter and hormone (also known as the “cuddle hormone” or the “love hormone” because it is released when we bond socially or snuggle up) may provoke great empathy, trust, and morality in humans.
The good news is that we can translate many of these and other scientific findings into multiple practices to increase our well-being, contentment, and life joy.
How to Utilize Positive Psychology to Get the Most of Your Life?
Research shows that turning positivity into a way of life cansignificantly boost your life satisfaction and improve your overall well-being. Here are a few tips on how to make positivity your habitual mindset.
- Â Focus on those things that make life most worth living
- Put emphasis on your strengths instead of weakness
- Concentrate on building the best qualities in your life rather than on repairing what’s bad
- Practice positive self-talk
- Feed your subconscious mind with positive affirmations
- Practice mindfulness
- Visualize success
- Be grateful
- Practice mindfulness
- Surround yourself with joy, inspiration and love.
The two critical positive psychology interventions you can integrate into your daily life include mindfulness meditation and gratitude.
- Mindfulness and PositivityMindfulness meditation is a focus on the present moment. You can achieve mindfulness through directing your attention towards your existing feelings, thoughts, and experiences with acceptance and non-judgment. Being mindful in your thoughts, feelings, and activities will help you appreciate life a lot more.
The extensive research has proved that mindfulness meditation is one of the most powerful ways to promote mental health and overall well-being. Mindfulness can reduce stress and rumination. In addition, research showed that mindfulness can improve your cognitive flexibility and boost your ability to focus. Also, mindfulness exercise can improve your emotional intelligence by enhancing your emotional control and increasing your emotional awareness.
- The Power of GratitudeAccording to the research by Robert Emmons, Ph.D., the world’s leading expert on gratitude, gratefulness can help you have better health, more happiness, and stronger interpersonal relationships. Through his research, Robert Emmons shows how writing a gratitude journal and turning this activity into your daily habit can improve your health and life quality. Moreover, writing down your blessings regularly can boost your immune system and increase your lifespan.
All you need to do is to habitually think of all those things that conjure the feelings of appreciation and happiness and write them down. Then enjoy the benefits of gratitude on your life.
Gratitude can Rewire Your Brain
Scientific research has proved that gratitude may rewire your brain to be more sensitive to experiencing appreciation. In other words, expressing gratitude makes it easier to notice and count our blessings. One study showed that when people feel more grateful, their brain shows greater neural sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex. This is the brain’s center responsible for learning and decision-making.
In addition, study participants report that gratefulness generates a feeling of social bonding and helps them relax. More importantly, these positive effects gratitude had on the brain were observed three months after the study.
Gratitude Helps Ease Anxiety and Depression
A large body of research also showed that gratitude can boost optimism and increase mood. Researchers believe that gratitude can ease depression because the positive thoughts of appreciation can change our negative thinking patterns into positive ones, successively triggering a rush of neurotransmitters known as “hormones of happiness” – dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.
Therefore, making these positive thoughts a part of your daily routine is vital in coping with depression. Moreover, gratefulness can improve your self-esteem and increase mental resilience in stressful situations.
Gratitude helps You Build Stronger Interpersonal Connections
Thankfulness directed to other people, research shows, can improve our connections with others and help us build stronger, meaningful relationships.in other words, gratitude nurtures your relationships. Studies suggest that our gratitude often motivates us to bond with people who have done something good for us.
Furthermore, gratefulness can motivate you to turn towards your partner’s emotional bids for connection more often, which will significantly improve your relationship. And having good relationships is highly correlated with our mental and physical health, and even longevity, the scientists say.
Practicing gratitude can help you reprogram both your conscious and subconscious mind to be more positive and attract positive opportunities and outcomes to your life, New Day Vitality in Westchester NY is happy to help you practice more gratitude and have more fulfilling positive life.
Namaste
