Positivity – A tool to overcome life’s challenges!

Maintain positivity to overcome life’s challenges and lead a high quality life. Sounds too good to believe, right?  The normal initial reaction would be that this is yet another fad by the self-help gurus for the weak or for the faint hearted.

Wait.

What I am sharing here is based on scientific research. There are multiple peer reviewed journal articles and publications available on the topic. I would recommend an easy reading book by Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D. titled “Positivity" to understand some of the basics of positivity.

What is positivity? There are multiple definitions. And one among them, according to dictionary.com, is “the state or character of being positive:  a positivity that accepts the world as it is."  To explain a bit more detailed, positivity creates emotions  like joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe, and love that opens our hearts and minds and making us more creative and receptive. It helps us to build new skills, new ties, new knowledge, and new way of being.

Business leaders and researches have increasingly understood the value of positivity and today their focus is on building more positivity in all environments. Politicians increasingly realized the value of positivity and they engage slogans of ‘hope’ in lieu of scarcity and despair. The base of all religions is positivity and hope for a better future. Only people with vested interest teach and encourage negativism and hatred.

Here is an interesting finding in the business world on positivity; negotiators who sincerely displayed positivity were more likely to close deals, get better concessions, and were able to maintain lasting and future business relationships. This is against the conventional thinking, but has been scientifically proven by researchers.

Back to the basics; here are some interesting findings reported by Dr. Fredrickson on positivity.

• Positivity feels good. The sparkle of good feelings awakens your motivation.
• Positivity changes how your mind works. It not only change the content of the mind (from bad to good), but also changes the scope and boundaries of the mind.
• Positivity transforms your future.  Over a period of time, positivity brings the best in you.
• Positivity puts the brakes on negativity. Positivity acts like a reset button and can calm you down and make you resilient to overcome challenges.
• Positivity obeys a tipping point. Beyond this tipping point (positivity ratio of 3:1, for details visit www.positivityratio.com) positivity can provide extra-ordinary outcomes.
• You can increase your positivity. By training and practice you can increase positivity which will provide

We all know that anger kills. This is no new finding; there are ample research results behind it. Insincere positivity kills too. What I mean is that we cannot fake positivity.

True positivity can uniquely revitalize your world view, your mental energy, your relationship and your potential.  Fill your mind with positive energy and the results are there to realize. 

I welcome your feedback and comments.

See you next week!

Regards,

Saju Skaria

SajuSkaria@gmail.com