Two for you — take two minutes to live and lead with intention
Episode 3.11
Have you ever wondered what benefits come from positive emotions? Listen to this episode to learn how experiencing positive emotions helps with creativity and resilience both now and in the future.
Resources
- Listen to Barbara Fredrickson’s TED talk on how positive emotions broaden our mind.
- Dig into more research coming out of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab.
- Want to read more of the research? Take a look at Fredrickson’s journal article on the Role of Positive Emotions.
Transcript
Note: Two for You written transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before referencing content in print.
[Lori] Hello and welcome to two for you. So what do you notice about yourself in at times of stress? Do you tunnel in and kind of keep to yourself in reserve? Or do you find that you're able to think beyond and be more creative to find your way out of situations?
So this month we're going to talk to you about Barbara Frederickson's theory that she calls the "Broaden and Build".
[Denise] Barbara Fredrickson did some research on positive emotions and survival. And so that's why we're asking about how do you act when you're faced with adversity or have a challenge? Because what she found is that when you experience positive emotions they tend to trigger a thought, action, response that's also positive.
So for example, if you feel joy, you tend to you want to skip you want to play a little, it's a positive reaction. If you have contentment you want to sit and savor something. And what her research found out is that your mind is broadening.
It's basically having a moment of growth. And during that growth you're experiencing even greater positive emotions that can help you in the build part of the broaden and build.
[Lori] Yes, the build part of it is that tapping into those positive emotions to get that positive affect. Even when we find ourselves in these stressful situations, right? There's something that's going on that is harder to get through.
So the more that we're able to have these positive emotions in our life it builds our positive affect and we can we can tap upon them during stress. So that's the build part and that when we do that they were more able to open our mind instead of being closed and have a closed response to stress.
[Denise] So this month, as you lead and as you go into your communities and work with others, take the time to really experience positive emotions so you can broaden and build your mind as you live and lead with intention.