How to experience more positive emotions?

Due to the negativity bias, our minds tend to hang on to negative feelings and experiences. Although they should not be completely ignored, paying attention to positive emotions is extremely beneficial for wellbeing. Positive moments occur more frequently in everyday life, so even though they may lose out to negative feelings in terms of impact, they win in number and frequency.

Overall wellbeing consists of both short-term hedonic (pleasure in the moment) and long-term eudaimonic (meaning, authenticity) happiness. Here are some tips from positive psychology research that can help you increase your wellbeing in various ways:

• Recognize positive emotions. Joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe, love… Pay attention to these positive emotions, and gradually you will learn to notice them more often. Can you add anything to your everyday life that generates these feelings?
• Create a list of joy boosters. Identify small, quick things that make you smile and are good for you. Make a list you can return to when you need the extra energy or joy.
• Notice the good. Practice recognizing and appreciating small moments of joy, whether it’s a ray of sunlight, a delicious cup of coffee, or a friendly smile. Notice when something works in your favor – for example, traffic lights turn green just as you arrive at an intersection!
• Practice gratitude. For example, keep a gratitude journal to help you focus things that make you feel positive emotions. What are you grateful for right now? How does gratitude feel in your body?
• Positive reminiscence. Recall pleasant moments by looking at photos, telling stories about them, or writing them down. What happy memories come to mind when you look around your home?
• Do good for others. This is one of the most effective ways to lift your mood and increase your sense of meaning. Challenge yourself to do something good for other people or a cause important to you every day this week!
• Practice sympathetic joy. Practice celebrating your friends' joys with them! You can also encourage them to talk more about it, thereby strengthening the memory, the happy moment you’re sharing, and your relationship.
• Use your strengths. Identify your strengths and try to use them more in your everyday life. Using your strengths boosts confidence and a sense of capability, enhances creativity, and improves performance. In what new way could you utilize your strengths at work, studies or in your free time?
• Strengthen social relationships. The quality of your relationships is one of the most significant factors impacting the quality of your life. Ask how others are doing, visit friends, reminisce about shared experiences, or suggest something to do together in the future.
• Practice mindfulness. In the words of Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is the awareness that emerges through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment. By being consciously present, it is also easier to notice positive emotions. Tips for practicing presence.

While some of these tips may seem obvious, it is proven that regular practice can work wonders. Take the one tip that speaks to you the most and try to implement it as often as possible for a week or two and notice any shifts in your mood or wellbeing. Note: The goal is not to force yourself to be joyful all the time, but to train your mind to notice and strengthen the positive emotions in your daily life to support your wellbeing both in the moment and long-term. 

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To learn more, see for example an article about the PERMA model of Positive Psychology developed by Martin Seligman (PERMA = Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment). Martin Seligman (2018): PERMA and the building blocks of well-being, The Journal of Positive Psychology.

Written as part of Aalto University's Oasis of Radical Wellbeing project by Arja Sahlberg, Positive Psychology Practitioner™ and Specialist at Aalto University School of Business.