Literature source- Positivity

Science of Positive Thinking

Positive thinking is more than being happy or upbeat. It actually creates real value in your life and helps build skills that last. What is important is to look at the impact of positivity on your work, health and life (Barbara Fredrickson)

Impact of negative emotions:

Negativity narrows your mind and focuses your thoughts to one issue. The impulse you have is to act single mindedly without considering other options. In this article they use an example when a tiger jumps in front of you and you instinctively run. Other options “…seem irrelevant when a tiger is standing right in front of you.”

“…your brain is still programmed to respond to negative emotions in the same way…by shutting off the outside world and limiting the options you see around you.”

Instinct is part of a human being’s nature, and is useful in a ‘fight or flight’ situation. However in modern day society, these circumstances are very seldom met. The environment, studio space and theatre in the professional ballet workplace are generally very safe too.

Emotions like: fear, stress and anger

“Brain closes off from the outside world and focuses on negative emotions.”

Negativity prevents your brain from allowing other surrounding options to be considered or seen. For instance, with specific choreography that a dancer is stressed about, this mentality of negativity towards it could probably describe why they get the common ‘mental blocks.’ The dancer is possibly thinking of the one step that they fear and so they might not concentrate fully on the rest of the piece. Instead the dancer probably focuses too much on being scared, where they can’t accept other alternatives on how to approach these ‘mental blocks’, thus not aiding in improvement towards their performance. This way they are missing out on the opportunity to work on the other sections to their full potential.

Positivity- how it affects the brains

Frederickson’s research- participants shown images and then wrote down their emotions

·      People with positive/neutral images had a lot more emotions to write about.

·      The participants who saw negative images produced only a few emotions

*This shows that with negativity, the brain automatically shuts down into this single-minded state. Positivity on the other hand opens up the mind. This could be a definite approach for dancers to consider when facing any tough challenge!

Broaden and Build Theory

“Positive emotions broaden your state of possibilities and open your mind” This allows a person to build new skills and values which will provide the person with other new aspects in life. This could be very helpful a dancer too, as it is in a dancer’s nature to continue to build their skills and progress.

Whenever there are negative thoughts and emotions, the person blocks out opportunities to build skills for the future, as it seems irrelevant at the time.

How to become more positive:

·      Do anything that sparks joy, contentment and love

·      Do things you know will work for you

·      If trying out something new, do it with an open mind

·      Through experience, you develop a sense of what makes you happy

*Meditation- people who meditate tend to be more positive and build up valuable long-term skills

-Increased mindfulness creates a purpose in life; social support and better health- all promote positive emotions.

*Writing- writing down thoughts and positive ideas promotes positive thinking towards a situation.

*Play time- schedule playtime in your life, or in other words ‘me time’ Promotes feelings of joy and contentment.

- For me I have discovered this by doing yoga. Yoga gives me an hour of me time, to focus solely on my thoughts and body, calming me down to the core and rejuvenating my energies. This brings me utter joy and contentment!

Happiness v.s Success

Successful outcomes create happiness, however often we assume that happiness follows success. The broaden build theory, on the other hand, proves that happiness is necessary in order to build the skills that allow a person to succeed.

“Positive emotions arise in the response to diffuse opportunities rather than narrowly-focused threats (instinct), positive emotions momentarily broaden people’s attention and thinking, enabling them to draw on higher-level connections and a wider range of percepts or ideas.”

*It builds a person’s outlook on personal resources, i.e what you would like to solve:

·      Cognitive- being more mindful to the present

·      Psychological- maintain a sense of mastery over challenges

·      Social- give and receive emotional support

·      Physical- e.g. fight off a cold

Un-intentionally when these personal resources are met then, through frequent experiences of feeling positive, it helps increase a person’s general well being. Having these resources helps to effectively achieve a challenge, becoming successful, healthy and happy

*Another approach to consider towards positivity is to ‘savour it.’ The great thing about savouring and being greatful is that it focuses on positive emotions.

“Nourishing positive emotions and savouring can also protect against negative emotions…” This could be an aspect to consider for the maintenance of emotional resilience.

*I suspect we don’t take feeling good seriously enough…Let’s get serious about feeling good has a certain paradoxical appeal.” (Clear, J. 2013)

Clear, J.  October 2013. The Science of Positive Thinking: How Positive Thoughts Build Your Skills, Boost Your Health, and Improve Your Work, Huffington Post. (online) Avalable at : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-clear/positive-thinking_b_3512202.html