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According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional, Learning ( CASEL), social-emotional learning (SEL) is "the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions."

Self-awareness and self-management are two of the five components that make up CASEL's model of SEL.

Self-Awareness is simply the ability to be aware of one's inner life -one's emotions, thoughts, behaviors, values, preferences, goals, strengths, challenges, attitudes, mindsets, and so forth-and how these elements impact behavior and choices.

A new teacher who is self-aware notices his fearful emotional response on his first day of teaching. He feels his heart beat faster and his stomach clench as he worries about making a good first impression on students. He wants to run out the door before the students enter the classroom, but then recognizes that this behavior is a result of his emotions and thoughts running amok, and he accepts that these reactions can occur when he experiences anxiety.

Skills that develop self-awareness include:

Labeling and recognizing one's emotions

Identifying what triggers own emotions

Analyzing emotions and how they affect others

Understanding the relationship between one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors

Recognizing one's needs, values, judgments, and biases

Identifying personal strengths and areas for growth

Practicing self-compassion

Cultivating self-confidence, positive self-regard, a "growth" mindset, and optimism

Self-management is the ability to navigate and shift one's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in a healthy way in order to make decisions and reach goals that benefit oneself and others.

A new teacher who was anxious about her first year of teaching remembered learning from her mentor that when she felt the terror of facing her students for the first time, she could change how she felt by thinking differently about the situation. So, instead of dreading her new profession, this teacher decided to look at it as an adventure-one that might bring her supportive colleagues, wonderful students, and exciting opportunities.

Self-management skills include:

Regulating and expressing one's emotions thoughtfully

Demonstrating perseverance and resilience to overcome obstacles

Sustaining healthy boundaries

Applying strategies to reduce personal and interpersonal stress

Setting and monitoring short-term and long-term goals

Advocating for oneself and one's needs

Maintaining attention

Using feedback constructively

Ultimately, self-awareness and self-management are closely linked. For example, being able to stop and calm down when one is upset (self-management), requires skills like recognizing and labeling the emotions that one is feeling and considering how they might be affecting one's behavior choices (self-awareness).
For a deeper dive into the science and practical school-based examples of this science in action, click on the following topics:
SEL for Adults: The Basics of Emotion
SEL for Adults: Emotions and Culture
SEL for Adults: Emotion Regulation

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SEL for Adults: Self-Awareness and Self-Management | Greater Good In Education

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According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional, Learning ( CASEL), social-emotional learning (SEL) is "the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions."

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The teacher sits in front of the online staff survey and ponders the question facing her on the screen.

"Are you happy at work?"

She's not sure. She's happy, but is she happy enough? Maybe she's just happy because it's Week B and she's got a double free period this afternoon.

What do we mean by happiness?

Happiness isn't a particularly easy concept to measure. Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology at the University of Manchester, advises that talking about happiness isn't particularly helpful.

"You can feel happy today, but sad tomorrow," he says. "It's not a very reliable measure - it's too transitory as a concept."

Instead, Cooper continues, we need to measure wellbeing using a different term: contentment.

"What we measure is contentment, that is wellbeing. And we need to understand what enhances our contentment and what depletes it."

He says that by measuring the contentment of their staff, leaders will be able to get into the mechanics of what improves wellbeing in their schools.

How do you measure feelings?

In order to have some kind of accuracy in your staff wellbeing surveys, Cooper says, the important thing is to look at what the variables are.

"It's a complex process but wellbeing is very measurable," says Cooper. "When schools measure wellbeing among their staff, they should look at three areas: their teacher's job satisfaction, physical health and mental wellbeing.

"Once you've got that, then you can look at the precursor factors: what are the sources causing a lack of wellbeing? This involves asking teachers about how they are managed, working hours, job clarity and so on. You want to find out what underpins the lack of wellbeing, and you want to find out what makes the difference between a good day at work and a bad day at work.

"It's often because they don't feel they have good work-life balance and they don't feel valued."

What to do with the data?

Once you know what's making your teachers unhappy, then surely you can easily solve it? Not always. Ceri Stokes, senior teacher at Kimbolton School in Cambridgeshire, believes schools need to keep in mind that not everyone finds happiness in the same things.

"We have to remember that we are dealing with adults, not children. 'Forced relaxing' is never going to work. We should always give staff the opportunity to opt in or out," she explains.

"It's a good idea for staff to instigate their own initiatives, like buddy boxes, staff cricket, staff social events. We let staff organise these and the senior leadership team may join in, but again this is up to the SLT."

Take the judgement out of wellbeing

Including or excluding groups of people on the basis of our own pre-judgements as to what they will or won't enjoy isn't helpful, advises Stokes. Instead, she recommends we keep an open mind.

"We also have to remember that everyone's life is different.

"Some parents want to leave as soon as they can to pick up their children, so staying behind after school to do yoga together is never going to be their top priority. However, some parents might want to use this as their own 'me time' and opt in. We cannot and should not judge people."

Speaking truth to power

Stokes warns of a common problem when trying to gauge true feelings from your teachers: it's not always easy to tell the truth to someone in a more powerful position than you.

You can ask teachers to tell you what is depleting their contentment levels, but will you get an honest answer?

"The problem of giving honest feedback isn't just attached to someone in a senior post. It could be difficult if you're being asked the opinion by someone who has been at the school longer or is older than you. Or someone that you respect, or even if it is someone you don't respect," explains Stokes.

"In order to elicit honest responses from staff, schools must ensure that they're giving them the opportunity to speak without fear of judgement or repercussions."
Getting honest feedback from your teachers can help you create a better teaching and learning environment. Find out how our Staff Pulse product can help put you in touch with your team.

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Grainne Hallahan looks at some of the problems schools face when trying to assess contentment levels among staff The teacher sits in front of the online staff survey and ponders the question facing her on the screen. "Are you happy at work?" She's not sure. She's happy, but is she happy enough?

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Australian Council for Educational Research - ACER

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In their Teacher article Pastoral care: A 10-step plan, Leanne Lester and Donna Cross discuss the need for schools to carry out regular reviews of pastoral care policies, program and practices. Here, they look in greater depth at Stage 2 - reviewing staff wellbeing.

The aim of pastoral care is to create a caring school community which effectively meets the academic and social and emotional development needs of both students and staff. A focus on staff wellbeing also promotes and supports students' wellbeing.

Developing young people's academic, social and emotional capabilities is highly dependent on skilled, competent, and dedicated school staff. Providing emotional support to students, in addition to their responsibilities as educators, can intensify the burden on school staff, with school leadership and teaching consistently associated with experiencing higher levels of work-related stress than those in other occupations. Chronic levels of work stress and burn-out are associated with physical, emotional and mental health complaints, absenteeism, low job satisfaction and attrition (Naghieh et al, 2013; Milfont et al, 2008; Stansfeld & Candy, 2006).

Carmel Cefai and Valeria Cavioni suggest a caring school community promoting staff wellbeing can be achieved through a whole-school approach characterised by three factors: caring and supportive relationships amongst school members; school members being meaningfully and influentially engaged in the school community; and addressing and supporting the emotional wellbeing and education of all school members (Cefai & Cavioni, 2013).

Staff relationships include caring and supportive relationships between colleagues, the school administration, students and staff where all members feel valued and respected. Some ways staff relationships can be enhanced is through encouraging:

Staff engagement involves being both actively and passively, meaningfully and influentially, engaged in the school community. Engagement can be promoted through:

Addressing and supporting staff emotional wellbeing and education includes the school's provision of support for staff social and emotional needs and development. This can be achieved through:

Staff wellbeing and mental health can be actively promoted through a caring and protective school community combined with personal social and emotional resources (Cefai & Cavioni, 2013). Social and emotional competence enables staff with effective coping and resilience, high social awareness and skills, being able to collaborate with others and engage in decision making, being aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and able to regulate their own emotions, and building healthy relationships (Cefai & Cavioni, 2013; Leithwood & Beatty, 2008; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Experiential professional learning experiences, mindfulness training, enhancing self-efficacy, and mentoring are useful tools in promoting wellbeing (Roeser et al, 2012; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010; Mind Matters, 2012; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004).

Reviewing, monitoring and regular evaluation of a school's pastoral care policies and practices is essential to improve school staff wellbeing (Cefai & Cavioni, 2013). Regularly surveying staff about ways to improve their mental health and wellbeing identifies strengths and improvements to objectively determine targets for intervention. A plan of action can then be developed collaboratively with all school staff, or a representative sample of staff, who prioritise targets for intervention, and ways for monitoring and evaluating the action plan.
References
Cefai, C., & Cavioni, V. (2013). Social and emotional education in primary school: Integrating theory and research into practice. Springer Science & Business Media.

Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of educational research, 79(1), 491-525.

Leithwood, K., & Beatty, B. (Eds.). (2007). Leading with teacher emotions in mind. Corwin Press.

Milfont, T. L., Denny, S., Ameratunga, S., Robinson, E., & Merry, S. (2008). Burnout and wellbeing: Testing the Copenhagen burnout inventory in New Zealand teachers. Social indicators research, 89(1), 169-177.

Mind Matters (2012). Whole School Matters. Commonwealth of Australia.

Naghieh, A., Montgomery, P., Bonell, C., Thompson, M., & Aber, J. (2013). Organisational interventions for improving wellbeing and reducing work-related stress in teachers. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 4.

Roeser, R. W., Skinner, E., Beers, J., & Jennings, P. A. (2012). Mindfulness training and teachers' professional development: An emerging area of research and practice. Child Development Perspectives, 6(2), 167-173.

Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2010). Teacher self-efficacy and teacher burnout: A study of relations. Teaching and teacher education, 26(4), 1059-1069.

Smith, T. M., & Ingersoll, R. M. (2004). What are the effects of induction and mentoring on beginning teacher turnover?. American educational research journal, 41(3), 681-714.

Stansfeld, S., & Candy, B. (2006). Psychosocial work environment and mental health-a meta-analytic review. Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health, 32(6), 443-462.

In their Teacher article Pastoral care: A 10-step plan, Leanne Lester and Donna Cross discuss the need for schools to carry out regular reviews of pastoral care policies, program and practices. Here, they look in greater depth at Stage 2 - reviewing staff wellbeing.

The aim of pastoral care is to create a caring school community which effectively meets the academic and social and emotional development needs of both students and staff. A focus on staff wellbeing also promotes and supports students' wellbeing.

Developing young people's academic, social and emotional capabilities is highly dependent on skilled, competent, and dedicated school staff. Providing emotional support to students, in addition to their responsibilities as educators, can intensify the burden on school staff, with school leadership and teaching consistently associated with experiencing higher levels of work-related stress than those in other occupations. Chronic levels of work stress and burn-out are associated with physical, emotional and mental health complaints, absenteeism, low job satisfaction and attrition (Naghieh et al, 2013; Milfont et al, 2008; Stansfeld & Candy, 2006).

Carmel Cefai and Valeria Cavioni suggest a caring school community promoting staff wellbeing can be achieved through a whole-school approach characterised by three factors: caring and supportive relationships amongst school members; school members being meaningfully and influentially engaged in the school community; and addressing and supporting the emotional wellbeing and education of all school members (Cefai & Cavioni, 2013).

Staff relationships include caring and supportive relationships between colleagues, the school administration, students and staff where all members feel valued and respected. Some ways staff relationships can be enhanced is through encouraging:

Staff engagement involves being both actively and passively, meaningfully and influentially, engaged in the school community. Engagement can be promoted through:

Addressing and supporting staff emotional wellbeing and education includes the school's provision of support for staff social and emotional needs and development. This can be achieved through:

Staff wellbeing and mental health can be actively promoted through a caring and protective school community combined with personal social and emotional resources (Cefai & Cavioni, 2013). Social and emotional competence enables staff with effective coping and resilience, high social awareness and skills, being able to collaborate with others and engage in decision making, being aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and able to regulate their own emotions, and building healthy relationships (Cefai & Cavioni, 2013; Leithwood & Beatty, 2008; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Experiential professional learning experiences, mindfulness training, enhancing self-efficacy, and mentoring are useful tools in promoting wellbeing (Roeser et al, 2012; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010; Mind Matters, 2012; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004).

Reviewing, monitoring and regular evaluation of a school's pastoral care policies and practices is essential to improve school staff wellbeing (Cefai & Cavioni, 2013). Regularly surveying staff about ways to improve their mental health and wellbeing identifies strengths and improvements to objectively determine targets for intervention. A plan of action can then be developed collaboratively with all school staff, or a representative sample of staff, who prioritise targets for intervention, and ways for monitoring and evaluating the action plan.
References
Cefai, C., & Cavioni, V. (2013). Social and emotional education in primary school: Integrating theory and research into practice. Springer Science & Business Media.

Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of educational research, 79(1), 491-525.

Leithwood, K., & Beatty, B. (Eds.). (2007). Leading with teacher emotions in mind. Corwin Press.

Milfont, T. L., Denny, S., Ameratunga, S., Robinson, E., & Merry, S. (2008). Burnout and wellbeing: Testing the Copenhagen burnout inventory in New Zealand teachers. Social indicators research, 89(1), 169-177.

Mind Matters (2012). Whole School Matters. Commonwealth of Australia.

Naghieh, A., Montgomery, P., Bonell, C., Thompson, M., & Aber, J. (2013). Organisational interventions for improving wellbeing and reducing work-related stress in teachers. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 4.

Roeser, R. W., Skinner, E., Beers, J., & Jennings, P. A. (2012). Mindfulness training and teachers' professional development: An emerging area of research and practice. Child Development Perspectives, 6(2), 167-173.

Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2010). Teacher self-efficacy and teacher burnout: A study of relations. Teaching and teacher education, 26(4), 1059-1069.

Smith, T. M., & Ingersoll, R. M. (2004). What are the effects of induction and mentoring on beginning teacher turnover?. American educational research journal, 41(3), 681-714.

Stansfeld, S., & Candy, B. (2006). Psychosocial work environment and mental health-a meta-analytic review. Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health, 32(6), 443-462.

How often do you review, monitor and evaluate your school's pastoral care policies?

Does your school have a staff wellbeing policy? What support networks and programs are in place for staff?

As a school leader, how often do you seek staff input and engagement on the topic of staff wellbeing and mental health?

How often do you review, monitor and evaluate your school's pastoral care policies?

Does your school have a staff wellbeing policy? What support networks and programs are in place for staff?

As a school leader, how often do you seek staff input and engagement on the topic of staff wellbeing and mental health?

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Pastoral care: Reviewing staff wellbeing

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In an earlier Teacher article, Leanne Lester and Donna Cross discuss the need for schools to carry out regular reviews of pastoral care policies, program and practices. Here, they look in greater depth at Stage 2 - reviewing staff wellbeing.

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C10_M05_AU2018 Career and Professional Wellbeing

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Pupil wellbeing - Teacher wellbeing: Two sides of the same coin

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Pupil wellbeing - Teacher wellbeing: Two sides of the same coin

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by Sue Roffey

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Teacher Wellness: 5 Lessons from Happy Teachers

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Teacher Wellness: 5 Lessons from Happy Teachers

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Great teachers are happy teachers! Happy teachers feel confident, energized, and purposeful. They face new challenges with curiosity and resiliency. People who are genuinely happy also tend to be physically healthier and have healthier relationships. But what happens when you don't feel happy? Teaching is joyful, but it is also hard. Take a few minutes now to learn how to foster happiness each day with these helpful tips. You deserve it!

Psychologists who study happiness have shown we can actually create happiness by making it a habit in our lives. How exactly can we do this? We can choose to live joyfully each day: dash negative reactions such as resentment, anger, and pessimism and foster positive emotions, such as empathy, serenity, and gratitude. It's true! You can train your brain to see the good in each situation and make happiness a way of life. Feeling a little skeptical? Paul Murphy, author of Happy Teacher: A Scientific Approach to Being Happier in The Classroom asserts that the latest studies show approximately 50 percent of overall well-being is hereditary, while another 10 percent is situational. The remaining 40 percent is entirely in our control . So take this bright bit of news and embrace some joyful habits today.
1. They Unplug
Happy people know how to take time for themselves and leave work and technology on the shelf - even if just for a few precious hours a day.

If you have a hard time taking time for yourself, find an accountability partner at work. Agree that a few times a week, you'll push each other out the door at the end of the day and encourage each other to relax, move, shop - whatever brings you joy!
2. They Let Go of Clutter
Happy people tend to focus less on "things" and know when to let things go. We may not realize it, but organizing and storing "stuff" can be emotionally draining. So free yourself! Shannon Kaiser, author of Find Your Happy: An Inspirational Guide to Living Life to Its Fullest explains it this way: "the importance of downsizing is significant. Whenever you take a stand to unclutter your life and downsize, you are sending a loud and clear message to the universe that you will remove unwanted things from your life. It may seem silly, but when you clear out space you have more room to play, laugh, love and live."

In your classroom, de-cluttering can include taking pictures of student projects to keep as examples (rather than storing them all), sharing classroom decorations or displays with other teachers, and keeping items in clear bins to avoid the " what is in that box?! " confusion at the start of each school year. My favorite tip? Keep a donation box in your classroom (and at home), that way, anytime you see something you don't need, you have a place to drop it immediately. Then, you have the second joy of contributing these items to others in need.

3. They Give Thanks

Happy people practice gratitude. They take the time to show their appreciation for others and honor the little things each day that bring them joy.

If you have bit more time, support your class in donating or volunteering their talents to a worthy cause. Let your students research and vote on the organization you will support as a class: animals, the environment, education, your local community, etc. This doesn't have to be fancy or time-consuming. You can start with a brightly decorated donation jar to serve as a visual reminder of your commitment to the cause. Instead of using candy or treats as class rewards, you can donate small change and encourage your students to do the same throughout the year.

4. They Get Moving and Breathe

Physical exercise increases strength, improves mental and physical health, and can even make us happier. This is because exercise boosts immunity and our brain's dopamine producti on. So run, lift, jump, play - and get happy!

Add more movement to your day by making it part of your students' routine, too! Just two minutes per class period can give you up to 15 minutes of extra activity each day. When it looks like your class is about to fall asleep (or get out of control), try a movement activity that will get them out of their seats for a moment or two. The "Go Noodle" website is a favorite of the teachers we know!

Another way to boost your mood and keep your students focused is to try out some mindfulness activities! Not sure where to begin? Check out our free Learners Edge webinar: . "Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Steps to Improve Your Focus and Peace of Mind. " In this informative video, you'll learn the benefits of mindfulness and some easy ways to practice it each day
5. They Choose Positivity
When my friend and colleague Barb joined the Learners Edge team, she chatted during her interview about her daughter's upcoming wedding. Her words that stuck with m e were this: "I intend to dance! " And really, that sums up my own quest for happiness. I intend to dance - to live fully with intention. It's the best any of us can do.

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Teacher Wellness: 5 Lessons from Happy Teachers

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Great teachers are happy teachers! Happy teachers feel confident, energized, and purposeful. They face new challenges with curiosity and resiliency. People who are genuinely happy also tend to be physically healthier and have healthier relationships. But what happens when you don't feel happy? Teaching is joyful, but it is also hard.

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How to improve teacher wellbeing

The department WhatsApp group includes everyone in the department and there is an unwritten rule that it should contain no "work chat". People are discouraged from emailing each other (unless it is to share resources or documents) and encouraged to speak in person instead - an approach that saves time and ensures that barriers are not allowed to develop.
Christian Pountain is head of RE and director of spirituality at a secondary school in Lancashire

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4 simple ways to improve teacher wellbeing (sponsored)

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The department WhatsApp group includes everyone in the department and there is an unwritten rule that it should contain no "work chat". People are discouraged from emailing each other (unless it is to share resources or documents) and encouraged to speak in person instead - an approach that saves time and ensures that barriers are not allowed to develop.

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Improving teacher happiness_and well-being resource guide

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Improving teacher happiness_and well-being resource guide

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meditation "modern meditation" mindfulness "mindfulness meditation" "meditation app" "mindfulness app" calm clarity contentment "kids meditation" "youth meditation"

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Smiling mind is modern meditation for everyone. It is a unique web and app-based program developed by psychologists and educators to help bring balance to pe...

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The pursuit of happiness is one that humans have been working toward since the beginning of time.

Yet the concept of "happiness" is often hard to accurately define.

Living the good life, flourishing, self-actualization, joy, and purpose are words that come to mind with happiness. Is it possible to experience any of these in the middle of a chaotic world and negative circumstances? Can we learn to grow or find skills that lead to this "good life?"

Positive psychology takes you through the countryside of pleasure and gratification, up into the high country of strength and virtue, and finally to the peaks of lasting fulfillment, meaning and purpose.

Seligman, 2002

This article will outline the PERMA+ model and the theory of wellbeing, and provide practical ways to apply its components in your private practice or personal life.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Happiness & Subjective Wellbeing Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients identify sources of authentic happiness and strategies to boost wellbeing.

What Is Seligman's PERMA+ Model?

Abraham Maslow (1962) was one of the first in the field of psychology to describe "wellbeing," with his characteristics of a self-actualized person. The description of self-actualization is a foreshadowing of the PERMA model, which outlines the characteristics of a flourishing individual and Wellbeing Theory (WBT).

In 1998, Dr. Martin Seligman used his inaugural address as the incoming president of the American Psychological Association to shift the focus from mental illness and pathology to studying what is good and positive in life. From this point in time, theories and research examined positive psychology interventions that help make life worth living and how to define, quantify, and create wellbeing (Rusk & Waters, 2015).

In developing a theory to address this, Seligman (2012) selected five components that people pursue because they are intrinsically motivating and they contribute to wellbeing. These elements are pursued for their own sake and are defined and measured independently of each other (Seligman, 2012).

Additionally, the five components include both eudaimonic and hedonic components, setting WBT apart from other theories of wellbeing.

These five elements or components (PERMA; Seligman, 2012) are

Positive emotion

Engagement

Relationships

Meaning

Accomplishments

The PERMA model makes up WBT, where each dimension works in concert to give rise to a higher order construct that predicts the flourishing of groups, communities, organizations, and nations (Forgeard, Jayawickreme, Kern, & Seligman, 2011).

Research has shown significant positive associations between each of the PERMA components and physical health, vitality, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and commitment within organizations (Kern, Waters, Alder, & White, 2014).

PERMA is also a better predictor of psychological distress than previous reports of distress (Forgeard et al., 2011). This means that proactively working on the components of PERMA not only increases aspects of wellbeing, but also decreases psychological distress.

Watch this video where Seligman discusses the PERMA model.

P - Positive Emotion

Positive emotion is much more than mere ' happiness.'

Positive emotions include hope, interest, joy, love, compassion, pride, amusement, and gratitude.

Positive emotions are a prime indicator of flourishing, and they can be cultivated or learned to improve wellbeing (Fredrickson, 2001).

When individuals can explore, savor, and integrate positive emotions into daily life (and visualizations of future life), it improves habitual thinking and acting. Positive emotions can undo the harmful effects of negative emotions and promote resilience (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004).

Increasing positive emotions helps individuals build physical, intellectual, psychological, and social resources that lead to this resilience and overall wellbeing.

Ways to build positive emotion may include:

Spend time with people you care about (Kok et al., 2013).

Do hobbies and creative activities that you enjoy (Conner et al., 2018).

Listen to uplifting or inspirational music (Juslin & Sakka, 2019).

Reflect on things you are grateful for and what is going well in your life (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

E - Engagement

According to Seligman (2012), engagement is "being one with the music." It is in line with Csikszentmihalyi's (1989) concept of "flow." Flow includes the loss of self-consciousness and complete absorption in an activity. In other words, it is living in the present moment and focusing entirely on the task at hand.

Flow, or this concept of engagement, occurs when the perfect combination of challenge and skill/strength is found (Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989).

People are more likely to experience flow when they use their top character strengths. Research on engagement has found that individuals who try to use their strengths in new ways each day for a week were happier and less depressed after six months (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005).

The concept of engagement is something much more powerful than simply "being happy," but happiness is one of the many byproducts of engagement.

Ways to increase engagement:

Participate in activities that you really love, where you lose track of time when you do them (Bonaiuto et al., 2016).

Practice living in the moment, even during daily activities or mundane tasks (Belitz & Lundstrom, 1998).

Spend time in nature, watching, listening, and observing what happens around you (Petersen et al., 2021).

Identify and learn about your character strengths, and do things that you excel at (Lai et al., 2018).

R - Positive Relationships

Relationships encompass all the various interactions individuals have with partners, friends, family members, colleagues, bosses/mentors/supervisors, and their community at large.

Relationships in the PERMA model refer to feeling supported, loved, and valued by others. Relationships are included in the model based on the idea that humans are inherently social creatures (Seligman, 2012). There is evidence of this everywhere, but social connections become particularly important as we age.

The social environment has been found to play a critical role in preventing cognitive decline, and strong social networks contribute to better physical health among older adults (Siedlecki et al., 2014).

Many people have a goal of improving relationships with those they are closest to. Research has demonstrated that sharing good news or celebrating success fosters strong bonds and better relationships (Siedlecki et al., 2014). Additionally, responding enthusiastically to others, particularly in close or intimate relationships, increases intimacy, wellbeing, and satisfaction.

How to build relationships:

Join a class or group that interests you.

Ask questions of the people you don't know well to find out more about them.

Create friendships with people you are acquainted with.

Get in touch with people you have not spoken to or connected with in a while.

M - Meaning

Another intrinsic human quality is the search for meaning and the need to have a sense of value and worth. Seligman (2012) discussed meaning as belonging and/or serving something greater than ourselves. Having a purpose in life helps individuals focus on what is really important in the face of significant challenge or adversity.

Having meaning or purpose in life is different for everyone. Meaning may be pursued through a profession, a social or political cause, a creative endeavor, or a religious/spiritual belief. It may be found in a career or through extracurricular, volunteer, or community activities.

A sense of meaning is guided by personal values, and people who report having purpose in life live longer and have greater life satisfaction and fewer health problems (Kashdan et al., 2009).

Ways to build meaning:

Get involved in a cause or organization that matters to you (Tang et al., 2022).

Try new, creative activities to find things you connect with.

Think about how you can use your passions to help others.

Spend quality time with people you care about.

A - Accomplishments/Achievements

Accomplishment in PERMA is also known as achievement, mastery, or competence.

A sense of accomplishment is a result of working toward and reaching goals, mastering an endeavor, and having self-motivation to finish what you set out to do. This contributes to wellbeing because individuals can look at their lives with a sense of pride (Seligman, 2012).

Accomplishment includes the concepts of perseverance and having a passion to attain goals. But flourishing and wellbeing come when accomplishment is tied to striving toward things with an internal motivation or working toward something just for the sake of the pursuit and improvement (Quinn, 2018).

Achieving intrinsic goals (such as growth and connection) leads to larger gains in wellbeing than external goals such as money or fame (Seligman, 2013).

Ways to build accomplishment:

Set goals that are SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound (Falecki et al., 2018).

Reflect on past successes.

Look for creative ways to celebrate your achievements.

The Plus (+) in PERMA

Yet happiness goes beyond just these five elements, and the + can include other important areas we well, such as optimism, nutrition, physical activity and sleep. These are areas equally important to mental wellbeing.

Optimism

Optimism is a positive emotion critical to building resilience and wellbeing. Optimism is the belief that life will have more good outcomes than bad. People who are optimistic are more likely to be resilient to stressful life events (Carver, Scheier, & Segerstrom, 2010).

Optimistic people tend to live longer, have better postoperative outcomes and lower levels of depression, and adjust better to college life (Carver et al., 2010).

Encouraging youth to become more resilient would build help in establishing a more optimistic outlook on life. Our article, How to Build Resilience in Children, as well as Teaching Resilience in Schools, are great starting points to have youth who are optimistic, resilient, and can handle life's stressful events better.

Physical activity

Physical activity has been linked to wellbeing in numerous ways. Negative emotions are associated with an increased risk of physical disease and poor health habits, and people with mental illness are more likely to be physically inactive (Hyde, Maher, & Elavsky, 2013).

There are obvious physical benefits to being active, but increasing movement or activity also decreases symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness and improves mental focus and clarity (Hyde et al., 2013).

Read our article on Cognitive Health, to understand the connection between exercise and mental wellbeing.

Nutrition

Poor nutrition leads to physical health problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer, but there is significant research demonstrating a relationship between diet and mental health (Stranges, Samaraweera, Taggart, Kandala, & Stewart-Brown, 2014).

Eating a balanced diet rich in vegetables and nutrients (and limiting processed or sugary foods) has been associated with wellbeing. High levels of wellbeing were reported by individuals who ate more fruits and vegetables (Stranges et al., 2014). A review of research on children and adolescents found that a poor diet (high levels of saturated fat, refined carbohydrates, and processed foods) was linked to poorer mental health (O'Neil et al., 2014).

So what should we eat? There are many "super foods" found in nature, such as berries, cruciferous vegetables, avocados, nuts, and seeds. A Mediterranean diet that is high in vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, beans, cereals, grains, fish, and unsaturated fats has been shown to reduce depression symptoms and provides an array of physical health benefits (Parletta et al., 2017).

Sleep

Neuroimaging and neurochemistry research suggests that good sleep hygiene fosters mental and emotional resilience, and sleep deprivation leads to negative thinking and emotional vulnerability (Harvard Medical School, 2019). Further, sleep problems are more likely to affect people with psychiatric disorders and may increase the risk of developing mental illness.

Particularly, insomnia increases the risk of developing depression.

Getting seven to nine hours of quality sleep during the same hours every night is recommended (Harvard Medical School, 2019). Lifestyle changes such as avoiding caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol; getting physical activity; decreasing screen time; and using the bedroom only for sleep and sex can improve sleep quality.

Relaxation techniques and cognitive behavioral techniques to reduce stress and anxiety can also be effective ways to improve sleep and overall wellbeing.

Training in PERMA+: 3 Options

Positive psychology and the science of wellbeing has become a popular area of research and practice.

Training in PERMA can be helpful for improving performance, building resilience, and increasing success and life satisfaction. Here are three options for obtaining training in PERMA.

The Penn Resilience Program and PERMA workshops

The Penn Resilience Program and PERMA workshops are evidence-based training options that strive to build resilience, wellbeing, and optimism. The workshops are designed to offer practical skills for individuals, teams, and organizations that reduce mental health issues and improve quality of life.

The SAHMRI Wellbeing and Resilience Centre

The Wellbeing and Resilience Centre aims to decrease mental illness by improving mental health and wellbeing. With the understanding that wellbeing is multi-dimensional, PERMA+ is the foundation used to train leaders how to deliver skills and interventions to the community.

The Science of Happiness Course

Offered through UC Berkeley, the Science of Happiness Course, with an optional certificate, focuses on all aspects of PERMA without actually focusing on the acronym.

The course discusses research on happiness (positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievements) and provides practical activities to improve and measure individual happiness and wellbeing.

3 PERMA+ Activities & Interventions

PERMA activities and interventions are applicable to individuals suffering from mental health disorders as well as those who simply want to improve levels of flourishing. The following interventions can be implemented during any point in a treatment program or as standalone activities to increase wellbeing.

1. Your character strengths

Find your character strengths using the VIA Survey. Much of the research on PERMA uses the assessment of these 24 character strengths.

Learning your unique character strengths can help guide you into meaningful activities (engagement) and work (accomplishment).

2. Track and measure success

This worksheet helps clients set goals and track progress. Often, we take the first step in setting goals but do not take the time to reflect on the emotions elicited when we have achieved them.

3. Gratitude journal

One of the most common activities mentioned throughout research on flourishing and wellbeing is the impact of gratitude. This article about creating a Gratitude Journal provides comprehensive background information and specific details and activities to implement a gratitude journal or routine into daily life.

4 Helpful Questionnaires and Questions to Ask

Questionnaires and assessments are useful tools in positive psychology.

Not only do they provide a way to measure wellbeing, but they are another way to track the effectiveness of interventions and therapeutic techniques.

The following assessments can also offer ideas for specific or individual questions that help clients gain insight and self-awareness.

1. PERMA Profiler

The PERMA Profiler is an extensive questionnaire from the University of Pennsylvania that assesses each of Seligman's (2012) components of wellbeing or flourishing.

This can be an excellent resource to assess clients as they progress through therapy, coaching, or interventions in positive psychology or counseling.

2. The Workplace PERMA Profile

The Workplace PERMA Profile is created by the same authors as the individual PERMA Profiler, but it is designed to assess groups and organizations.

Leaders can use this to assess workers or teams and improve wellbeing in the environment, which will lead to better performance.

3. PURPOSE+ PERMA Profiler

This PURPOSE+ PERMA Profiler is a quick online assessment that asks relevant questions related to each component of PERMA.

It is a fast and efficient way to assess and compare levels of wellbeing. It will email the results directly to you and compares your PERMA scores with other people in the same demographic. The questions asked in the short survey also provide a great starting point for therapy, coaching, or consulting.

4. The Flourishing Scale

The Flourishing Scale asks participants to rate themselves on specific areas of wellbeing. Flourishing is one of the most important components of resilience and wellbeing.

This scale can be used as a tool for motivational interviewing to inspire ideas for self-improvement, or it can be used as an assessment to track progress. The full description of the scale, with scoring, can be accessed in the Positive Psychology Toolkit©.

PositivePsychology.com's Relevant Resources

Our Positive Psychology Toolkit© provides a wealth of resources that cover the full range of components from Wellbeing Theory and PERMA. The assessments, exercises, and activities can be implemented and integrated into any stage of therapy or as standalone activities.

1. Strengths for Altruism

The Strengths for Altruism worksheet, available in the Toolkit, is helpful once an individual has identified their strengths. We all have strengths and have a choice of what we do with them. Using strengths in an altruistic way can promote engagement, relationship, and meaning.

2. Gratitude Letter

Creating a Gratitude Letter is one of the most effective exercises used in the PERMA model. Just like the gratitude journal mentioned earlier, fostering gratitude can significantly improve all aspects of PERMA (positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment). To make the letter specific to Wellbeing Theory, gratitude can be targeted to each of the five areas.

3. Build an Emotions Portfolio

This free Emotions Portfolio tool is a great resource to help clients build a database or toolbox of positive emotions. Hope, gratitude, awe, joy, and inspiration are positive emotions that have been linked to wellbeing and are explored here.

4. 17 Happiness Exercises

If you're looking for more science-based ways to help others develop strategies to boost their wellbeing, this collection contains 17 validated happiness and wellbeing exercises. Use them to help others pursue authentic happiness and work toward a life filled with purpose and meaning.

A Take-Home Message

We all want to experience a higher level of wellbeing and "flourish" in life. The PERMA+ model is an evidence-based approach to improve "happiness" and decrease anxiety, depression, and stress.

Many activities can be used to systematically increase positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement (PERMA). The good thing is that the areas of PERMA can be mutually exclusive, but in most ways, they are not. For example, by using mindfulness exercises to increase engagement, one will probably also experience more positive emotion and meaning in life.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Happiness Exercises for free.

[Reviewer's update:

Citations of new research have been added where appropriate.]

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The PERMA Model: Your Scientific Theory of Happiness

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Martin Seligman's PERMA model was designed as a theoretical understanding of achieving happiness. What is PERMA and how do you apply it?

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On aeroplanes, in the event of a loss of cabin pressure, adults are advised to place the oxygen mask on themselves first before helping children. It's advice that the mental health services have adopted to explain why the initial step towards helping someone with mental health concerns is to ensure that your own needs have been taken care of first.

The mental health of children in schools has been a concern for some time. Referrals to the Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Services or Healthy Young Minds (previously known as CAMHS) have increased by a third in three years.

However, if the teachers in charge of these students aren't having their own mental health needs catered for, they are unlikely to be able to provide the level of support these children need in the classroom.

When teachers suffer, so do their students

A study into depression in teachers was conducted by McLean and Connor in 2015, which went on to look at the subsequent impact on students' test results. The study found that teachers who were experiencing symptoms of depression negatively impacted the students' mathematical scores.

Outside of education, other studies have shown a clear relationship between depression and productivity. A 2011 study discovered how employees who were experiencing symptoms of depression subsequently suffered from a loss of productivity at work and even minor levels of depression resulted in a reduced output.

So, how many teachers are depressed? How much of a problem is teacher wellbeing?

Leading expert on child and adolescent psychiatry Professor Tamsin Ford recently conducted a trial looking at teacher classroom management, and found "shockingly high" levels of depression in teachers.

"We were measuring teacher mental health and we found really high rates of depression and stress. That is the second trial to find these results. They were not in the clinical range, but definitely higher than the population norm.

"I think we need to look after our teacher workforce much better than we do," she explains.

Leaders need to listen

But how exactly can schools do that? Patrick Ottley-O'Connor, executive principal at North Liverpool Academy, Northern Schools Trust, believes the solution is relatively simple: listen to your staff.

"You have to listen to your staff," he advises, "and then work with them to find solutions to their problems. I survey my staff three times in an academic year, and I ask them: 'What is the best thing about this school?' but also 'What do you want me to change?'

"The things that come up through these surveys can really surprise you. At one of my schools we surveyed the staff and found that this beautiful big open space that was being used to teach languages was a huge cause of teacher stress and unhappiness.

"So, we put walls up. It was that simple. In the next survey, the feedback I got was that this was the best improvement to staff wellbeing."

Does wellbeing come at a cost?

There is an assumption that improving wellbeing means reducing workload or finding more room in already stretched budgets. But Ottley-O'Connor believes that, by taking on feedback, you can find a balance between genuine staff concerns and maintaining quality of education.

"We need teachers who have a good work-life balance and good levels of wellbeing for learning to take place in the first place. But we look at what we need to achieve, and still have children and their learning at the forefront of our mind.

"If teachers all feed back that the current marking policy is too onerous then, yes, we're going to look at it, but it requires a dialogue to happen."

Essentially, there will be times when you need to compromise, times you need to scrap something and occasions when you simply have to say something has to stay, but offer something different in return.

'Wellbeing isn't fruit on a Friday'

What you must avoid, says Ottley-O'Connor, is superficial token gestures. "Wellbeing doesn't mean organising one-off events or putting fruit in the staffroom on a Friday; all of those things are nice, but they're just 'stuff'."

If you really want to bring people together, Ottley-O'Connor believes you need systems in place to make it happen. "Part of what makes the school day so difficult for some teachers is how isolating it can be.

"If you're a music teacher working on one side of the school, you can go a whole day without speaking to any other staff members. We have scheduled weekly meetings where we celebrate moments of the week that staff feel proud of or have made them happy.

"We also have a system where staff can nominate others as 'mental health and wellbeing champions' and share stories of when people have shown kindness to each other.

"It becomes a series of random acts of kindness, and this then becomes our normal behaviour at work.

"What we're working towards is trickle-down happiness."

Want to gain a greater understanding of how your staff are feeling? Staff Pulse enables you to understand and act on issues that are affecting your teacher. Find out more about Staff Pulse.

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Why happy staff make for happy kids and better results

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On aeroplanes, in the event of a loss of cabin pressure, adults are advised to place the oxygen mask on themselves first before helping children. It's advice that the mental health services have adopted to explain why the initial step towards helping someone with mental health concerns is to ensure that your own needs have been taken care of first.

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Penn University: Authentic Happiness

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The questionnaires on Authentic Happiness measure character strengths and different aspects of happiness and well-being. It's free to take our questionnaires, but you'll first need to register.

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21 Mindfulness Exercises & Activities For Adults (+ PDF)

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Mindfulness exercises for adults and practitioners to learn more about it.

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Happy, healthy people are more effective teachers and more productive members of society. Yet, an increasing number of teachers are suffering stress-related illness and burnout. Some of these educators struggle through at a reduced capacity, but quite a lot just leave the profession altogether. Many educators put everyone else's health and happiness before their own, because they just want to make a difference. However, it backfires because the external expectations and demands of the job keep increasing regardless of the dwindling reserves of teachers. This podcast aims to facilitate and contribute to the conversation about teacher wellbeing, positive schools and burnout prevention, to inspire and empower educators of all kinds to take back control of their health and happiness by being proactive about their wellbeing, and to give teachers permission to put themselves first, so that they can go on making a difference long into the future.

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Happy, healthy people are more effective teachers and more productive members of society. Yet, an increasing number of teachers are suffering stress-related illness and burnout. Some of these educators struggle through at a reduced capacity, but quite a lot just leave the profession altogether.

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In the third in a series of short videos, UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner talks about the benefits of practicing gratitude. Expressing appreciation is a key component of Keltner's Science of Happiness course, which he has taught to inmates at San Quentin State Prison, among thousands of other students.

Keltner, who is the faculty director of the campus's Greater Good Science Center, has studied stress, relationships and well-being for 25 years. His videos are designed to keep people feeling calm and resilient in the face of COVID-19, a pandemic that has touched every aspect of our lives and profoundly disrupted our sense of well-being and produced uncertainty and anxiety.

Drawing on insights from the center's Science of Happiness online course, podcast series and magazine, Keltner shares tips on how to manage stress and find meaningful connections while social distancing, completing each video with simple, science-tested practices useful for this moment in time. The videos can also be viewed on YouTube.

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In the third in a series of short videos, UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner talks about the benefits of practicing gratitude. Expressing appreciation is a key component of Keltner's Science of Happiness course, which he has taught to inmates at San Quentin State Prison, among thousands of other students.

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At the end of March, our team at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, along with our colleagues at the Collaborative for Social Emotional and Academic Learning, known as CASEL, launched a survey to unpack the emotional lives of teachers during the COVID-19 crisis.

In the span of just three days, over 5,000 U.S. teachers responded to the survey. We asked them to describe, in their own words, the three most frequent emotions they felt each day.

The five most-mentioned feelings among all teachers were: anxious, fearful, worried, overwhelmed and sad. Anxiety, by far, was the most frequently mentioned emotion.

The reasons educators gave for these stress-related feelings could be divided into two buckets. The first is mostly personal, including a general fear that they or someone in their family would contract COVID-19, the new coronavirus. The second pertains to their stress around managing their own and their families' needs while simultaneously working full-time from home and adapting to new technologies for teaching.

Once distance learning had gone into effect, we heard from one educator who shared:

Given the unexpected new demands our educators are facing, we might assume that how teachers are feeling now is entirely different from the emotions they were experiencing before the pandemic. But is it?

In 2017, our center conducted a similar survey on teachers' emotions. A national sample of over 5,000 educators answered the same questions about how they were feeling.

Back then, the top five emotions were: frustrated, overwhelmed, stressed, tired and happy. The primary source of their frustration and stress pertained to not feeling supported by their administration around challenges related to meeting all of their students' learning needs, high-stakes testing, an ever-changing curriculum and work/life balance.

Our research findings are echoed across a growing body of research on teachers' stress and burnout.

In one study, 85 percent of teachers reported that work-life imbalance was affecting their ability to teach. Other research has shown that at least 30 percent of teachers leave the profession within their first five years of teaching. Like our research, these studies found that the general causes of teacher stress and burnout are related to a lack of strong leadership and a negative climate, as well as increased job demands, especially around testing, addressing challenging student behaviors, a lack of autonomy and decision-making power, and limited-to-no training in social and emotional learning (SEL) to support educators' and students' emotional needs.

So, before the pandemic, America's teachers were already burning out. Add in new expectations of becoming distance learning experts to support uninterrupted learning for all their students and caring for the ever-evolving demands of their families, and it's no surprise that 95 percent of the feelings they reported recently are rooted in anxiety.

We can't control what is happening to us and around us, but we can control how we respond to it.

Emotions Matter

An anonymous teacher who filled out our most recent survey described the balancing act like this:

At the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, we study how emotions drive effective teaching and learning, the decisions educators make, classroom and school climate, and educator well-being. We assert that educators' emotions matter for five primary reasons:

Emotions matter for attention, memory and learning. Positive emotions like joy and curiosity harness attention and promote greater engagement. Emotions like anxiety and fear, especially when prolonged, disrupt concentration and interfere with thinking. Chronic stress, especially when poorly managed, can result in the persistent activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the release of stress hormones like cortisol. Prolonged release of this and other neurochemicals impacts brain structures associated with executive functioning and memory, diminishing our ability to be effective educators and undermining student learning.

Emotions matter for decision-making. When we're overwhelmed and feeling scared and stressed, the areas of our brains responsible for wise decision-making also can become "hijacked." In contrast, the experience of more positive states like joy and interest tend to help people evaluate individuals, places and events more favorably compared to people experiencing more unpleasant emotions. Pleasant emotions also have been shown to enhance mental flexibility and creativity, which are key to navigating the novel and evolving demands of living through a pandemic.

Emotions matter for relationships. How we feel and how we interpret the feelings of others sends signals for other people to either approach or avoid us. Teachers who express anxiety or frustration (e.g. in their facial expressions, body language, vocal tone or behavior) are likely to alienate students, which can impact students' sense of safety in the classroom-and likely at home in a virtual learning environment-thereby having a negative influence on learning. Further, dysregulated emotions can undermine healthy relationships between teachers and parents. For most students, a successful distance learning experience will require a solid partnership between teachers and families.

Emotions matter for health and well-being. How we feel influences our bodies, including physical and mental health. Stress is associated with increased levels of cortisol, which has been shown to lead to both physical and mental health challenges, including depression and weight gain. Both the ability to regulate unpleasant emotions and the experience of more pleasant emotions have been shown to have health benefits, including fostering greater resilience during and after traumatic events.

Emotions matter for performance. Chronic stress among teachers is linked to decreases in teacher motivation and engagement, both of which lead to burnout. Teachers who are burnt out have poorer relationships with students and are also less likely to be positive role models for healthy self-regulation-for their students and their families. It's no surprise that teachers who are burnt out are more likely to leave the profession, which impacts student learning and puts a huge drain on schools.

You get the picture: When educators answer the question about how they feel at school-or, in our most recent study, as an at-home educator-we learn they spend a big part of their workday in a pretty dark place.

Research we and others have conducted has shown two possible protective factors for teachers' emotional well-being. First, teachers with more developed emotion skills tend to report less burnout and greater job satisfaction. These skills include the ability to recognize emotions accurately, understand their causes and consequences, label them precisely, express them comfortably and regulate them effectively. But the challenge is that most teachers have not received a formal education in emotion skills.

Second, teachers who work in a school with an administrator with more developed emotion skills tend to experience fewer negative emotions and more positive emotions. These teachers also are likely to have better-quality relationships with their students. When students have stronger connections with their teachers, they, in turn, are more engaged and committed to learning; they're also more willing to take risks and persist in the face of difficulty.

We need a greater focus on teachers' health and well-being now, so they can thrive through this pandemic and be psychologically ready to return to school after this has passed.

Supporting Educators' Well-Being

We know how anxious teachers (and, really, everyone else) are feeling right now. But have we thought about how we want to feel?

Previously, we asked teachers how they want to feel at school, and they've answered loud and clear. A few of the top hoped-for emotions were: happy, inspired, valued, supported, effective and respected.

The more sensitive we can be to our educators' emotional needs today, the better we'll be able to support them now and when schools reopen. The space between how we feel and how we want to feel presents an opportunity to work together to improve the emotional climate of our homes and schools. The emotional climate is the feelings and emotions a learning space evokes; that space includes both the physical one and the learning climate that is evoked through the interactions between and among educators and students. This can be applied to traditional school settings and to a virtual one.

We need to understand how our teachers want to feel, again, and then support them with what they'll need to experience these feelings.

In the same survey we conducted at the end of March, we asked teachers to share some reflections about what they need to have greater emotional balance. Responses included time to adjust to the new normal of online learning and ways to make virtual learning fun and engaging. Teachers also expressed a strong need for honesty, respect, kindness, flexibility and patience from their school administrators. Further, they requested more realistic expectations, including boundaries around working around the clock. Among the top requests were strategies to support their own and their students' wellness and resilience.

Building a Charter

Putting our emotional needs in writing has a way of making them real for everyone. It acts as a reminder for those times when we might feel anxious or frustrated or any other uncomfortable feeling. It also serves as a contract between ourselves and our colleagues (and even students and families) to help during moments when we are anything but calm and considerate.

As part of RULER, our center's approach to SEL, thousands of schools across the nation have gone through the process of creating an "Emotional Intelligence Charter" with their faculty and staff with positive results.

The process of building a charter or agreement requires us to be vulnerable, and that can be hard, especially in times like these. And some educators are somewhat self-conscious and apprehensive about the process of asking colleagues how they want to feel. It can be scary. Often, how we want to feel is an indicator of what hasn't been working at our schools. But we've found that when schools have the courage to ask, the benefits outweigh the risks.

Specifically, a charter reflects the agreed-upon feelings and behaviors of the members of a learning community. Here, we describe the process of building a faculty and staff charter. The same process can be applied to the classroom or home environment.

It starts with a deceptively simple question: How do we want to feel as a faculty/staff? A principal or group of teachers can pose the question to the faculty and staff at their school. Once everyone shares their top three or four hoped-for feelings, the goal is to narrow them all down to a "top five" list reflective of the entire faculty.

The second question is: What do we need to do for everyone to feel this way? Here, faculty and staff share specific ideas that would support them in experiencing each of the feelings. The goal is to come up with two or three observable behaviors that are realistic and attainable for each feeling. For example, in order for teachers to feel supported around distance learning, what exactly will everyone agree to do differently so everyone feels supported? If teachers want to feel more valued, what are the specific things schools can do? Perhaps everyone can agree to respond to virtual inquiries in a timely manner.

Once the five feelings and related behaviors are compiled, the charter can be created and distributed to each member of the faculty and staff. In this virtual world of education, be creative about ways to disseminate it to everyone. If your school or district uses a learning management system, perhaps the charter can be "public" there.

Importantly, the charter should be a living document-it will evolve as your learning community does throughout the pandemic. Consider weekly reflections and opportunities for teachers to share ideas based on their hoped-for feelings. For example, if teachers want to feel more engaged, perhaps create opportunities for them to share their best virtual lesson of the week and why it worked so well. Even weekly quotations that remind everyone about the desired feelings can help to sustain a positive climate. And when we are all finally able to return to our schools, it will be important to revisit the charter. How we want to feel and what we need to support our health and well-being is fluid.

We are living through a pandemic that most of us could never have imagined. And, as we've shared, our educators are not in the best emotional shape. Today's teachers, counselors and school leaders are experiencing greater anxiety, stress and burnout than ever before. If we just hope for the best, more and more educators will fall by the wayside. Fortunately, an increasing number of schools are seeing the benefits of SEL, not just for students, but for educators' own skill development.

The time has come for all schools to address the missing link in what will help educators' thrive-a greater focus on all adults' health and well-being. If we want our educators to be successful-both personally and professionally-schools must be places that bring out the best in them.
Marc Brackett, Ph.D., (@marcbrackett) is the Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University. He's also on the board of directors for CASEL and the author of the new book,"Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive." Christina Cipriano, Ph.D., Ed.M., (@drchriscip) is the Director of Research at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a research scientist at the Child Study Center at Yale University.

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Teachers Are Anxious and Overwhelmed. They Need SEL Now More Than Ever. - EdSurge News

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At the end of March, our team at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, along with our colleagues at the Collaborative for Social Emotional and Academic Learning, known as CASEL, launched a survey to unpack the emotional lives of teachers during the COVID-19 crisis. In the span of just three days, over 5,000 U.S.

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What does it take to live a happier life? Learn research-tested strategies that you can put into practice today. Hosted by award-winning psychologist Dacher Keltner. Co-produced by PRX and UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.

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Mastering the Art of Influence for Wellbeing

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C10_M04_AU2018 Mastering the Art of Influence for Wellbeing

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Three invaluable tools to boost your resilience | BBC Ideas

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World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

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Published 17 January 2019

Dr. Kate Brierton is an Independent Clinical Psychologist and school Governor. She recently joined us for a webinar, which looked at the difference strong compassionate relationships can make, and how different emotional states and attachment styles can affect relationship-building. In this article, she shares the qualities needed for building positive relationships, and you can catch up on a recording of the webinar.

Compassion and relationships

A compassionate approach to emotional wellbeing emphasises the importance of human connection for flourishing and thriving. Therefore, it is only natural that high quality relationships between teachers and students are correlated with academic achievement, motivation and behaviour in the classroom. You can discover why relationships are so important and learn more about the evolutionary and neuroscientific roots to compassion by listening to my webinar on the compassionate teacher-student relationship. However, for this blog I'm going to reflect on the qualities of positive relationships - and provide you with practical ideas for building supportive, compassionate relationships with your students.

Early attachment and relationships

The relationship formed between an infant and its main caregiver influences all later relationships. If a caregiver is sensitive and responsive, the infant feels secure in the relationship. However, if caregivers are unable to give appropriate care, the infant may learn that others do not always respond to their needs consistently and they become insecure. This means students of any age may have different ways of relating to you, based on their early experiences. Some may be confident and open when interacting with you; others may appear more anxious or avoidant. Innate temperament can also have an effect; some individuals are naturally more anxious or autonomous. This can make it challenging to relate to every student in the class!

Trust, safety and respect

The aim of building compassionate relationships with students in the classroom is to create an environment of safety, trust and respect. Students flourish when the soothing system in the brain is activated, promoting feelings of belonging and connection. When developing secure relationships with your students, you should aim to be responsive and validating. Does the student feel that you understand their needs? Do you validate and appreciate their contributions? Are you attuned to their emotional state? This does not mean that you must be the student's best friend or accept poor behaviour; students will feel more comfortable with you when practise good boundaries and keep discipline in the classroom. However, being warm, approachable and responsive will help to develop strong relationships.

What are you saying but not saying?

Teachers often carefully consider what they say in the classroom, but how often do you think about what your body language is communicating? The attachment system develops during infancy before language development, so it is very sensitive to non-verbal communication like voice tone, facial expression and body language. Warmth in both voice tone and facial expression can reassure students and help them to see you as approachable. Open, receptive body language, with sensitive use of eye contact (enough to make a student feel recognised, but not too much to make them feel uncomfortable) can go a long way to building positive, trusting relationships.

Top tips from teachers

1. Experienced teachers recommend getting involved in extracurricular activities, like clubs or school trips, so that students get to know you in a more personal sense.

2. Be an authentic role model: don't be afraid to make mistakes in front of the students, and if you do something wrong or upset someone, apologise.

3. We are all human - and sometimes it's tricky to be human! If you treat the students with this respect and honesty, and they will develop trust in you.

4. Don't be afraid to use humour! Laughter is a beautiful way of bonding together.

5. Finally, remember make your own wellbeing a priority, as this will help you form to supportive and nurturing relationships in both your personal and professional life.

Watch Kate's webinar for suggestions on building teacher-student rapport in your classroom:
Read Kate's last blog on sowing the seeds of compassion in your school, which also has the recording of her last webinar on a whole school approach to wellbeing.

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Published 17 January 2019 Dr. Kate Brierton is an Independent Clinical Psychologist and school Governor. She recently joined us for a webinar, which looked at the difference strong compassionate relationships can make, and how different emotional states and attachment styles can affect relationship-building.

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When you feel down in the dumps or find yourself in a funk, how do you cope?

Do you turn to junk food, self-medication, shopping, etc.?

One healthy, powerful, and free strategy to rise from this temporary emotional state is to practice gratitude.

Gratitude turns what little you have into abundance.
Gratitude is so much more than saying thank you.
Gratitude changes your perspective of your world.

But yet you wonder how you can find the positive when everything seems so bleak? Read on to learn how to identify the positive when it seems there is nothing to be grateful for. We'll also explain the importance of gratitude, how to show it to others, and share gratitude and appreciation videos.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients connect to more positive emotions and enjoy the benefits of gratitude.

What is Gratitude - Its Meaning & Definition

Gratitude is an emotion similar to appreciation. The American Psychological Association (n.d.) more specifically defines this phenomenon as a sense of happiness and thankfulness in response to a fortunate happenstance or tangible gift.

Gratitude is both a state and a trait (Jans-Beken et al., 2020). Better explained, one can experience gratitude for someone or something at a certain moment in time, and someone experience gratitude more long-term as a positive character trait.

According to Dr. Robert Emmons, the feeling of gratitude involves two stages (Emmons & McCullough, 2003):

First comes the acknowledgment of goodness in one's life. In a state of gratitude, we say yes to life. We affirm that, all in all, life is good and has elements that make it worth living. The acknowledgment that we have received something gratifies us, both by its presence and by the effort the giver put into choosing it.

Second, gratitude is recognizing that sources of this goodness lie outside the self. One can be grateful to our creator, other people, animals, and the world, but not to oneself. At this stage, we recognize the goodness in our lives and who to thank for it.

The two stages of gratitude comprise the recognition of the goodness in our lives and then how this goodness came to us. Through this process, we recognize the fortune of everything that improves our lives and ourselves.

Further, gratitude can be considered either a dispositional trait or a state of being.

As a trait, an individual practices gratitude as part of their daily life (McCullough et al., 2002), and it is considered a character strength. It is important to remember that gratitude is a strength that can be enhanced with awareness and practice.

When a person experiences the emotion from someone expressing gratitude for them, it is referred to as a state (Watkins et al., 2009).

Gratitude & Positive Psychology - What is the Connection?

As we already know, positive psychology focuses on positive thoughts and behaviors. Its constructs include optimism, hope, and, you guessed it - gratitude (Iodice et al., 2021).

As part of Seligman's PERMA model, which includes positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement, a key positive emotion includes gratitude (Lianov, 2021).

Robert Emmons has led positive psychology's expansion of research on the importance of gratitude. Emmons has authored several papers on the psychology of gratitude, showing that being more grateful can lead to increased levels of wellbeing (Emmons & Crumpler, 2000).

Some of Emmons's work has also specifically dealt with gratitude in a religious setting, highlighting how gratitude towards a higher power may lead to increased physical health (Krause et al., 2015). There will be more on gratitude and religion later.

Why Is It Important to Be Grateful?

Passmore and Oades (2016) assert that as expectations have changed, gratitude has diminished in western society. Possessions and health are expectations for many individuals rather than considered personal 'blessings' that are appreciated. "Gratitude has, for many, been replaced by disappointment, anger, and resentment when these expected 'blessings' either do not appear or they disappear" (Passmore & Oades, 2016, p. 43).

We have learned gratitude helps people focus on the positive aspects of their life. Gratitude can help build and maintain relationships with others, resulting in hope, life satisfaction, and more proactive behaviors toward others (Passmore & Oades, 2016).

If you still aren't convinced, you may wish to pick up one of the books suggested in our Gratitude Books article.

The Importance of Gratitude in Life

Gratitude is strongly related to wellbeing (Jans-Beken et al., 2020; Wood et al., 2010). The positive effects of experiencing and expressing gratitude are endless.

Gratitude has been found to be beneficially associated with social wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, and psychological wellbeing (Jans-Beken et al., 2020). It is no surprise that trait gratitude is an important "predictor of wellbeing and other desirable life outcomes" (Portocarrero et al., 2020, p. 6).

Gratitude appears to have a domino effect. If a person experiences gratitude, they are more likely to recognize the help and then later reciprocate that help (Wood et al., 2010). People who are thanked are presumably more apt to extend help to others in the future.

Likewise, people who are not thanked may not be expected to provide reciprocation in the future. The expression of gratitude is beneficial for both individuals and society (Bono et al., 2004).

Further, gratitude is an element in many religions. For example (Passmore & Oades, 2016),

Buddhism - Gratitude is indicative of the concept of dependent origination, which implies that everything is interconnected. For Buddhists, awareness of our interdependent and interconnected existence evokes gratitude for the web of life that sustains us.

Judaism - Individuals practicing Judaism may start the day with Modeh Ani, a short Hebrew blessing thanking God for life.

Christianity - Christians denote gratitude to God by stating blessings. These blessings are said in a prayer form and are created for food, family, life, and any other blessings that God may grant.

As if you needed any more convincing, in a review of the literature, Cregg and Cheavens (2021) found that gratitude has a positive affiliation with positive affect, life satisfaction, extraversion, forgiveness, and a negative affiliation with substance abuse and neuroticism, as well as an inverse relationship between gratitude and anxiety and depression.

The Importance of Thanksgiving

If you are from North America, then cornucopia, turkey, Pilgrims, and Native Americans may come to mind when you mention the word 'Thanksgiving.' Thanksgiving is more broadly explained as a day to give thanks. Countries such as Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Liberia also celebrate Thanksgiving, while countries like Brazil and the Philippines celebrate it unofficially (Vicens, 2022).

The Netherlander town of Leiden and the Australian territory of Norfolk Island also celebrate this holiday (Vicens, 2022). Similarly, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan celebrate a fall harvest, where people also give thanks.

So why is there an entire holiday created for giving thanks?

For many, "Thanksgiving is a collective ritual that celebrates material abundance through feasting." (Wallendorf & Arnould, 1991, p. 13). Thanksgiving is important because it is a designated time assigned to encourage us to pause to be mindful of the blessings we have. Many of us get so caught up in our day-to-day routines that we fail to stop and acknowledge our fortunes.

To demonstrate and celebrate gratitude, you don't need a particular holiday to show thankfulness. Conveying gratitude should be practiced daily.

How to Show Gratitude and Appreciation

Gratitude can be demonstrated in many ways. It can be shown with merely a simple, verbal "thank you" or it can be indicated by a more elaborate practice, such as the strategies detailed below.

To improve your gratitude, reflect on how better you can show your appreciation to others. When verbally expressing gratitude to someone, consider reflecting on your emotions and on the effort involved. Here are some examples:
'Your birthday gift to me makes me overjoyed. I appreciate the length you went to in order to find this limited edition book by my favorite author. I value that you know me so well and did this especially for me.'
For more examples, read our article How to Express Gratitude to Others.
'Mom, I am grateful for the life you have given me. Even though it took 15 hours to deliver me and raising me was full of challenges, you have done the best you could and I appreciate that.'
Gratitude journal
'Our Father in Heaven, you have blessed me with ten fingers and ten toes, eyes to see and ears to hear. I am grateful for the wonder of your creation and for sparing my life every day.'
A gratitude journal involves jotting down a few things that you are thankful for and can be done daily or weekly as you so choose. Keeping a gratitude journal is a good first step toward establishing gratitude, and it will help you identify and reflect on people, things, or events for which you are thankful.

Nawa and Yamagishi's (2021) research involving university students concluded that completing a gratitude journal not only positively impacts academic motivation, it favorably influences goal-directed behavior in general.

In this study, 84 students were placed into either an active manipulation group (gratitude group) or a neutral control group. For two weeks, the active manipulation group was asked to list five things they were grateful for and evaluate various aspects of their daily lives, while the control group was only asked to do daily self-evaluations. Unsurprisingly, the gratitude group demonstrated significant enhancements in academic motivation.

You can make use of our gratitude journal article, which includes journal worksheets with prompts to guide you into the good habit of daily gratitude journaling.

Gratitude letter

Writing a gratitude letter is a form of written communication that conveys an appreciation for someone in your life. These effectively communicate the impact someone has had on our lives.

Further, the gratitude research conducted by Iodice et al. (2021) concluded that individuals who wrote about things they are grateful for showed better mood, coping, and physical health. In this study, participants were assigned to one of three groups: Group one wrote about things they were grateful for, group two wrote about daily hassles, and group three wrote about a neutral topic.

Within their review of literature, these researchers also cited Emmons and McCullough (2003), whose findings suggested that individuals who practiced gratitude by writing about things they are grateful for showed better mood, coping, and physical health than the other participants.

The gratitude visit

Take the gratitude letter a step further by visiting the person to whom you are giving the gratitude letter and reading it aloud to him or her. A study by Wood et al. (2010) suggests that gratitude visits are a practice that is even more beneficial than a gratitude letter and practitioners of this strategy reported more happiness.

In their preliminary research, Wood et al. (2010) referenced two studies involving gratitude visits. In a study by Seligman et al. (2005), adults from an internet sample were instructed to write and deliver their gratitude letter within 1-week. Those who went on the gratitude visit reported more happiness and less depression than the control group.

Another study by Froh, Kashdan et al., (2009; Froh, Yurkewicz et al., 2009) resulted in similar findings. A sample of children and adolescents from a parochial school were divided into two groups: a group who conducted a gratitude visit and a group who wrote about daily events. Findings indicated that the youth who experienced the gratitude condition reported greater gratitude and positive affect than the youth in the control condition.

Meditation

As we know, meditation is a method for focusing attention (Pascoe et al., 2021). Pascoe et al. (2021) conducted a systematic review of studies assessing the impact of meditation on psychological processes. They found that meditation, does in fact, "decrease distress experienced resulting from psychological stressors by influencing psychological processes" (p. 3).

Although meditation doesn't directly demonstrate gratitude towards others, meditation and focusing attention on people or things you are grateful for indicates appreciation to yourself, which could help to foster even more gratitude.

No matter how small or grand the gesture of gratitude is, it is essential to show thankfulness in our everyday lives. After all,

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

William Arthur Ward (Brainyquote.com, n.d.)

We have a dedicated article offering gratitude meditation guidance for you to peruse.

And finally, if these four suggestions were not enough to get you started, we share an extensive list of methods in our article Most Popular Gratitude Exercises and Activities.

5 YouTube Gratitude Videos

These five handpicked gratitude videos will not only inspire you to practice gratefulness but also inform you of the importance of daily practicing this state or trait. If you'd like to enjoy an even greater selection, our blog post Best TED Talks And Videos on The Power of Gratitude shares over 30 excellent videos.

Gratitude is: A poem & animation - Macarena Luz Bianchi

Gratitude Is is a short, light-hearted poem accompanied by animation. This poem is also a full-color gift book available on Amazon as a highly-rated read. This would be a great video to share when beginning to discuss gratitude with a class.

The power of choosing gratitude - Tye Dutcher

Tye Dutcher, an international paralympic athlete, describes how gratitude changed and continues to change his life. After he experienced a horrifying accident at just 11 years old, Tye had a choice. He chose gratitude. He explains his thankfulness for what he has and the blessings he will receive.

The power of gratitude - Titan Man

If you practice gratitude daily, no matter how much or how little you have, you will be happy. This is the message Titan Man delivers in his video narrated by Oprah Winfrey. This video would be beneficial in serving as a daily reminder to show gratitude.

Gratitude is good for you - John Templeton Foundation

If you would like to know the additional benefits of gratitude, this short video by the John Templeton Foundation is fast-paced and engaging. Several strategies for growing gratitude are shared.

The power of gratitude - Psych2Go

Being grateful will make you healthier and happier. While you may have already gotten this message, this video explains the research conducted with adults and children that completed a type of gratitude journal. Gratitude in regard to mental health is discussed in greater detail.

A Take-Home Message

Someone could have everything and still feel like they have nothing. Someone could have nothing but still be happy with what they have. Recognizing gratitude towards non-tangibles, such as health and relationships, is a good start.

As we have learned in this piece, gratitude has endless benefits for both individuals and society and has deep roots in positive psychology.

It can be identified in many religions, as well as in the secular world. It is crucial to understand that gratitude can be defined as both a state and a trait. Perhaps with the exercises provided in this article, you will be able to move from a grateful state to a healthy trait.

There are various ways to demonstrate gratitude. Regardless of the method you choose, it is critical to convey thankfulness. Additionally, you don't need to wait for a holiday to show appreciation.

Gratitude is the key to a happy life and should be continuous, practiced daily. Another important takeaway is that gratitude can have a snowball effect. You never know the positive effects your gratefulness will have on others and the future impact it will have.

Gratitude is a perspective - it is a choice. We hope that you choose gratitude today and every day. We'd like to leave you with this quote,

"Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift."

John Ortberg (Zito, 2022).

To read more inspirational gratitude quotes, kindly refer to this article by Barbara Bellise Zito.

Who or what are you grateful for? How are you going to convey this thankfulness? Please let us know in the comments, or better yet, let that person know! Until next time, please know that we are thankful for YOU, our gracious reader!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free.

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What is Gratitude and Why Is It So Important?

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Down in the dumps? An attitude of gratitude can change your life! See here how to find and appreciate the gifts that surround you.

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Proof of our inability to deal constructively with our emotional lives is all around us. In 2015, in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Born This Way Foundation (founded by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta), we conducted a large-scale survey of twenty-two thousand teenagers from across the United States and asked them to describe how they feel while in school. Three- quarters of the words they used were negative, with "tired," "bored," and "stressed" topping the list. This wasn't surprising given that around 30 percent of elementary and middle school students now experience adjustment problems severe enough to require regular counseling. In economically disadvantaged schools, this runs as high as 60 percent.

American youths now rank in the bottom quarter among developed nations in well- being and life satisfaction, according to a report by UNICEF. Research shows that our youths have stress levels that surpass those of adults. Our teenagers are now world leaders in violence, binge drinking, marijuana use, and obesity. More than half of college students experience overwhelming anxiety, and a third report intense depression. And over the last two decades, there has been a 28-percent increase in our suicide rate.

How clearly will kids think when they are feeling tired, bored, and stressed? How well do they absorb new information when they are anxious? Do they take their studies seriously? Do they feel inclined to express their curiosity and pursue learning?

Here's a story that tells me a lot about the emotional atmosphere in schools.

The superintendent of a major metropolitan district was out making classroom visits. As she walked the halls with the principal, she saw a little girl headed to a classroom and greeted her, attempting to start up a conversation.

The girl refused to acknowledge her.

"She wouldn't say hello to me," the superintendent told me. After a moment of mutual confusion, the little girl put her head down and continued on her way. Apparently, students had been told they could walk only on the white line painted down the middle of the corridors. "Stepping over to talk to me would mean breaking the rules," said the superintendent.

We'll never know how that conversation might have gone. The natural instinct of both student and educator to engage with each other was squelched by the school's demand for order above all else.

What can happen in a single exchange? A moment of small talk in a hallway? Probably very little. Although if you are like me, you have some memories from early childhood that stand out from the fog of years, that have endured over time for no other reason than that a grown-up made space in his or her life, for a moment, for you. A small thing like that, if it is heartfelt, can reverberate.

It's not only students who feel oppressed. What about their teachers? In 2017, in collaboration with the New Teacher Center, we surveyed more than ﬁve thousand educators and found that they spend nearly 70 percent of their workdays feeling "frustrated," "overwhelmed," and "stressed." This conforms with Gallup data showing that nearly half of U.S. teachers report high stress on a daily basis. A frightening snapshot of our educational system, wouldn't you agree?

How eﬀective are our educators when they feel just as frustrated, overwhelmed, and stressed as the kids? Will they give 100 percent to their lessons? Do they snap at students unintentionally, or ignore their needs, because they are emotionally exhausted? Are they leaving work feeling burned out, dreading tomorrow's return to the classroom?

If we don't understand emotions and ﬁnd strategies to deal with them, they will take over our lives, as they did for me as a child. Fear and anxiety made it impossible for me to try to deal with my problems. I was paralyzed. The science now proves why. If there had been someone to teach me the skills - if there had been someone to even tell me there were such skills - I might have felt more in control of my situation. Instead, all I could do was endure it.

During presentations, I'll often make the observation that many children today are in serious crisis mode. Usually this will prompt someone to ask a question that's really more of an opinion: "Don't you think these kids lack the toughness and moral ﬁber that people had generations ago?"

My response to this has matured over the years. Once, a statement like that would really rile me. It sounded like somebody looking for a reason to feel superior and blame the victims. Now I think it's irresponsible.

Let's suppose that children today do lack the emotional strength we, or some other generation, had in abundance. Let's assume that in the past kids were just as challenged - maybe more - but they were able to buckle down and deal with it.

So what?

Would that mean we abdicate responsibility for doing our best to help today's kids? If they do require a little help, isn't it our job to give it to them, without judging? And if they need so much support, how did they end up that way? Did it have anything to do with how we raised them?

There was a time, not so long ago, that children did have a serious need that was not being met. Our national response was instructive. In 1945, while World War II was still raging, a general (and former teacher) named Lewis B. Hershey testiﬁed before Congress that almost half of all army draftees were turned away for reasons owing to poor nutrition. He was in a good position to know: Hershey was in charge of the Selective Service System. He saw the underfed and malnourished young American men and realized their unﬁtness for war.

Congress did not issue a proclamation condemning the fecklessness of the younger generation. It passed a bipartisan bill: the National School Lunch Act.

In other words, we fed our kids. It's time to feed our kids again.

At the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, that's all we think about: how we can help people to identify their emotions, understand the inﬂuence of their feelings on all aspects of their lives, and develop the skills to make sure they use their emotions in healthy, productive ways.

Once, after a talk to mental health professionals at a major hospital, the head of child psychiatry approached me. He said, "Marc, great job. But, you know, according to our data we're going to need another eight thousand child psychiatrists to deal with the problems these kids will be having."

I was stunned.

"You misunderstood me. I want to put you all out of business," I said half-jokingly.

He was thinking that all those troubled children would need professional interventions in order to deal with their lives. I was saying that we need to remake education so that it includes emotion skills-so that professional interventions become less necessary.

It's been nearly thirty years since the idea of emotional intelligence was introduced by my mentors, Peter Salovey, professor of psychology and current president of Yale University, and Jack Mayer, professor of psychology at the University of New Hampshire. It's been a quarter century since Daniel Goleman published his bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence, which popularized the concept. And yet we're still grappling with the most basic questions, such as "How are you feeling?"

Feelings are a form of information. They're like news reports from inside our psyches, sending messages about what's going on inside the unique person that is each of us in response to whatever internal or external events we're experiencing. We need to access that information and then ﬁgure out what it's telling us. That way we can make the most informed decisions.

That's a major challenge. It's not as though every emotion comes with a label telling us precisely what prompted it, and why, and what can be done to resolve it. Our thinking and behavior absolutely change in response to what we're feeling. But we don't always know why or how best to address our emotions. For parents, this might be a familiar scenario: we see a child who's clearly suﬀering, and the reason isn't apparent. Ask simply, "What's wrong?" and the answer will almost never reveal the source of the anguish. Maybe the child doesn't even know what's wrong.

Here's an example: Anger can sometimes seem unprovoked or inexplicable, but in almost every case it's a response to what we perceive as unfair treatment. We've suﬀered an injustice of some kind, big or small, and it makes us mad. Someone cut in front of you in line- and you're irritated. You were up for a promotion at work, but it went to the boss's niece- and you're outraged. But it's the same basic dynamic at work.

Most of us don't enjoy dealing with anger, whether it's our own or someone else's. When a parent or teacher is faced with what might appear to be an angry child, often the ﬁrst impulse is to threaten discipline-if you don't stop yelling, or speaking rudely, or stamping your feet, you'll go sit in the corner, or I'll send you to your room, or you'll lose your privileges!

When it's an adult who's angry, our response isn't much diﬀerent. We immediately pull back. We stop listening sympathetically. We feel under attack, which makes it nearly impossible for us to deal with the information the person is conveying. But that anger was an important message. If we can try to mollify the injustice that sparked it, the anger will go away, because it's outlived its usefulness. If not, it will fester, even if it seems to subside.

Thankfully, there's a science to understanding emotion. It's not just a matter of intuition, opinion, or gut instinct. We are not born with an innate talent for recognizing what we or anyone else is feeling and why. We all have to learn it. I had to learn it.

As with any science, there's a process of discovery, a method of investigation. After three decades of research and practical experience, we at the Yale Center have identiﬁed the talents needed to become what we've termed an "emotion scientist."

Here are the ﬁve skills we've identiﬁed. We need to

recognize our own emotions and those of others, not just in the things we think, feel, and say but in facial expressions, body language, vocal tones, and other nonverbal signals.

understand those feelings and determine their source- what experiences actually caused them- and then see how they've inﬂuenced our behaviors.

label emotions with a nuanced vocabulary.

express our feelings in accordance with cultural norms and social contexts in a way that tries to inform and invites empathy from the listener.

regulate emotions, rather than letting them regulate us, by ﬁnding practical strategies for dealing with what we and other feel.

The rest of this book is devoted to teaching those skills and how to use them.

In the late 1990s, Uncle Marvin and I set out together to bring these skills to schools. We failed. We were prepared to deliver classroom instruction only to children. But some teachers were resistant. "Teaching kids about anxiety makes me nervous," one said. "I'm not opening that Pandora's box of talking about how these kids feel," said another. If the teachers didn't believe in the importance of these emotion skills, they'd never be eﬀective at instructing their students. So Marvin and I, along with new colleagues at Yale, went back to the drawing board. We saw that we would never reach children until we ﬁrst enlisted teachers who understood the importance of emotion skills. And soon after that we realized that only if there was commitment at the very top, at the school board, superintendent, and principal levels, could entire school systems be transformed.

Then it became clear that the skills must be even more widely shared. We adults all need to understand how our emotions inﬂuence us and everyone around us, not just schoolchildren. We need to develop the skills and be positive role models. Educators and parents have to demonstrate the ability to identify, discuss, and regulate their own emotions before they can teach the skills to others. Our classroom research shows that where there is an emotionally skilled teacher present, students disrupt less, focus more, and perform better academically. Our studies show that where there is an emotionally skilled principal, there are teachers who are less stressed and more satisﬁed. And where there is an emotionally skilled parent, there are children who have a greater ability to identify and regulate their emotions.

Once our children grow into emotionally skilled adults, the entire culture will change- for the better. But learning the skills and improving the way we respond to our feelings doesn't mean we'll suddenly become happy all the time. Perpetual happiness can't be our goal- it's just not how real life works. We need the ability to experience and express all emotions, to down- or up- regulate both pleasant and unpleasant emotions in order to achieve greater well- being, make the most informed decisions, build and maintain meaningful relationships, and realize our potential.

But that starts with all of us. If you're a parent, ask yourself this: What are the qualities you most want your children to possess as they grow into adults? Is it math skills, scientiﬁc knowledge, athletic ability? Or is it conﬁdence, kindness, a sense of purpose, the wisdom to build healthy, lasting relationships? When we consult with corporations, they tell us they're searching for employees who persevere with a task, who take personal responsibility for their work, who can get along with others and function as members of a team. Not technical abilities or specialized knowledge- they're looking ﬁrst for emotional attributes. A colleague from the RAND Corporation told me that technology advances so rapidly today that companies don't hire workers for their current skills- ﬁrms are looking for people who are ﬂexible, who can present new ideas, inspire cooperation in groups, manage and lead teams, and so on.

We may acquire some of those skills by osmosis-by watching and emulating others who possess them. But for the most part they must be taught. And they are best learned in communities. Emotion skills are both personal and mutual. They can be used privately, but their best application is throughout a community, so that a network emerges to reinforce its own inﬂuence. I have seen this happen- these skills are being deployed in thousands of schools all over the world, with dramatic results. The children beneﬁt, naturally: there is less bullying and emotional distress, better attendance, fewer suspensions, and greater academic achievement. But we have also seen that schools where these skills are taught have teachers with lower levels of stress and burnout, fewer intentions to leave the profession, greater job satisfaction, and more engaging classrooms.

We all want our lives, and the lives of the people we love, to be free of hardship and troubling events.

We can never make that happen.

We all want our lives to be ﬁlled with healthy relationships, compassion, and a sense of purpose.

That we can make happen.

Uncle Marvin showed me how. It starts with the permission to feel, the ﬁrst step of the process.

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Why It's Imperative We All Learn To Be 'Emotion Scientists' | KQED

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Emotions affect everything from how well we pay attention to our mental and physical health. And yet many of us never learn to talk about them with specificity. Marc Brackett's work at the Yale Center For Emotional Intelligence is to help people learn to recognize and thus manage their emotions for better life success.

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In this podcast series, Dr Suzy Green, CEO of The Positivity Institute, interviews Australian pioneers and leaders in Positive Education. Interviewees share their experiences, key learnings and recommendations for those already implementing or considering implementing Positive Education in their schools.

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Pioneers of Positive Education with Dr Suzy Green

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In this podcast series, Dr Suzy Green, CEO of The Positivity Institute, interviews Australian pioneers and leaders in Positive Education. Interviewees share their experiences, key learnings and recommendations for those already implementing or considering implementing Positive Education in their schools.

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VIA Character Strengths Survey & Character Reports | VIA Institute

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Do you know your character strengths? Once you do, you'll be empowered to face life's challenges, work toward goals and feel more fulfilled, personally and professionally. Take the free personality assessment test from the VIA Institute on Character so you can discover your strengths today.

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How to Use the SCARF Model to Understand Trust and Connection

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About this course

The Graduate Certificate of Wellbeing in Schools is a contemporary postgraduate qualification designed to expand the knowledge, skills and capacities of existing professionals working within educational settings.

It will suit educators who are passionate about ongoing learning and in the wellbeing of their students and school community.

It has been designed to give you strategies and tools to create positive and meaningful interactions with students, helping them to develop resilience in today's rapidly changing world.

This course will ignite your intellectual curiosity by exploring what constitutes, promotes and sustains wellbeing in schools. Building on theoretical understandings and real world situations, students explore, construct, and apply new knowledge and skills in supporting themselves as professionals and supporting young people in schools, effectively navigate and flourish through their school years.

What you'll learn

EXPERTISE IN HUMAN BEHAVIOUR FORMS THE FOUNDATION OF ALL OUR COURSES INCLUDING OUR GRADUATE CERTIFICATE OF WELLBEING IN SCHOOLS

Explore with an applied focus:

Developing wellbeing programs within a school

Building positive relationships in communities

Developing communication tools and tactics

Exploring different development needs and maturity levels

Understanding of the social and emotional issues of school students

Exploring cultural sensitivities with students and families with diverse backgrounds

See the complete course guide here.

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Graduate Certificate in Wellbeing In Schools

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The Graduate Certificate of Wellbeing in Schools is a contemporary postgraduate qualification designed to expand the knowledge, skills and capacities of existing professionals working within educational settings. It will suit educators who are passionate about ongoing learning and in the wellbeing of their students and school community.

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C10_M01_AU2018 The Critical Importance of Wellbeing

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Featured Content

From Brené

A primer for navigating the progression of my written work.

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From Brené

I'm not here to make people comfortable or to be liked. My purpose is to know and experience love. This means excavating the unsaid. In the world and in me.

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Cultivating meaningful connection is a daring and vulnerable practice-and one that isn't possible without being a good steward of the stories we tell and the stories we hear.

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Conversations with leaders, change-makers, and those who help unlock the deeply human part of who we are.

Books by Brené

Looking to dive deep into reading and resources? Check out the hubs.

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Brené Brown is a researcher and storyteller who's spent two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy.

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Continuous well-being, delivered in real time

Our platform puts behavior change solutions at your fingertips. We embed well-being directly in the daily workflow to meet your people where they are with real-time stress-reducing tools, inspirational storytelling, and science-backed Microsteps that help them build better habits.

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Continuous well-being, delivered in real time Our platform puts behavior change solutions at your fingertips. We embed well-being directly in the daily workflow to meet your people where they are with real-time stress-reducing tools, inspirational storytelling, and science-backed Microsteps that help them build better habits.

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Most people like to feel good, and positive emotions just plain feel good.

They don't necessarily need a reason or cause behind them for us to enjoy them; we just do.

Experiencing emotions like happiness, excitement, joy, hope, and inspiration is vital for anyone who wants to lead a happy and healthy life.

Luckily, you don't need to experience them all the time to reap the benefits of positive emotions. These often-fleeting moments can be the ones that make all the hard work and struggling in life worth it, the spice that brings flavor to your life.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free. These science-based exercises will not only enhance your ability to understand and work with your emotions but will also give you the tools to foster the emotional intelligence of your clients, students, or employees.

What are Positive Emotions? A Definition

Before diving too deep into positive emotions, we should start by making sure we're all on the same page about emotions-and positive emotions in particular.

Positive emotions are not simply "happy feelings" that we chase to feel momentary pleasure; like the more negative emotions, they play a significant role in everyday life.

There are many ways to define "emotion," but they generally fall into one of two camps:

1. Emotions are a state or feeling that cannot be conjured up at will, or;

2. Emotions are attitudes or responses to a situation or an object, like judgments (Zemach, 2001).

Most current scholars fall into the second camp, viewing emotions as the outcome or result of something, provoked by action, or by being on the receiving end of an action.

The implications of embracing one view over the other are fascinating, but for the purposes of understanding positive emotions and their role in psychology, it's not necessary to choose between the two camps; whether we can consciously choose our positive emotions or whether they are a direct result of some action or experience, it is mainly their effects that are of interest to the positive psychology practitioner.

Narrowing down to positive emotions, there are two popular ways of defining them that loosely correspond to the two camps noted above. They have been defined as "multicomponent response tendencies" that last a short period of time (Fredrickson, 2001), aligning roughly with the second view, and as mental experiences that are both intense and pleasurable (Cabanac, 2002), adhering more closely to the first view.

Whichever definition you think fits best, the most important things we need to know about them are (a) which emotions they are, (b) what is their purpose or point, (c) how we can improve our experience of them, either in quantity or quality, and (d) what effects they have on us.

Positive Emotion Words People Use

Let's dive right into Point A: which emotions are positive.

The list of positive emotions that people experience is nearly endless. Not all of these words refer to emotions as scholars understand them, but they are the words most often used by people in describing their own emotions, which gives us a good foundation for positive emotions as they are commonly experienced.

Joy - a sense of elation, happiness, and perhaps even exhilaration, often experienced as a sudden spike due to something good happening.

Gratitude - a feeling of thankfulness, for something specific or simply all-encompassing, often accompanied by humility and even reverence.

Serenity - a calm and peaceful feeling of acceptance of oneself.

Interest - a feeling of curiosity or fascination that demands and captures your attention.

Hope - a feeling of optimism and anticipation about a positive future.

Pride - a sense of approval of oneself and pleasure in an achievement, skill, or personal attribute.

Amusement - a feeling of lighthearted pleasure and enjoyment, often accompanied by smiles and easy laughter.

Inspiration - feeling engaged, uplifted, and motivated by something you witnessed.

Awe - an emotion that is evoked when you witness something grand, spectacular, or breathtaking, sparking a sense of overwhelming appreciation.

Elevation - the feeling you get when you see someone engaging in an act of kindness, generosity, or inner goodness, spurring you to aspire to similar action.

Altruism - usually referred to as an act of selflessness and generosity towards others, but can also describe the feeling you get from helping others.

Satisfaction - a sense of pleasure and contentment you get from accomplishing something or fulfilling a need.

Relief - the feeling of happiness you experience when an uncertain situation turns out for the best, or a negative outcome is avoided.

Affection - an emotional attachment to someone or something, accompanied by a liking for them and a sense of pleasure in their company.

Cheerfulness - a feeling of brightness, being upbeat and noticeably happy or chipper; feeling like everything is going your way.

Surprise (the good kind!) - a sense of delight when someone brings you unexpected happiness or a situation goes even better than you had hoped.

Confidence - emotion involving a strong sense of self-esteem and belief in yourself; can be specific to a situation or activity, or more universal.

Admiration - a feeling of warm approval, respect, and appreciation for someone or something.

Enthusiasm - a sense of excitement, accompanied by motivation and engagement.

Eagerness - like a less intense form of enthusiasm; a feeling of readiness and excitement for something.

Euphoria - intense and the all-encompassing sense of joy or happiness, often experienced when something extremely positive and exciting happens.

Contentment - peaceful, comforting, and low-key sense of happiness and well-being.

Enjoyment - a feeling of taking pleasure in what is going on around you, especially in situations like a leisure activity or social gathering.

Optimism - positive and hopeful emotion that encourages you to look forward to a bright future, one in which you believe that things will mostly work out.

Happiness - a feeling of pleasure and contentment in the way things are going; a general sense of enjoyment of and enthusiasm for life.

Love - perhaps the strongest of all positive emotions, love is a feeling of deep and enduring affection for someone, along with a willingness to put their needs ahead of your own; it can be directed towards an individual, a group of people, or even all humanity.

This list captures a good deal of the positive emotions we experience, but it's certainly not an exhaustive list-I'm sure you can think of at least one or two more!

Now that we have an idea of the kinds of emotions we're talking about, we can move on to another important question: what's the point?

Why do We Need Positive Emotions? What Good are They?

Aside from simply feeling good, positive emotions are also an important piece of the happiness puzzle.

While you will probably not achieve lasting happiness and well-being based on temporary, hedonic pleasure alone, positive emotions often provide the foundation for those fleeting but meaningful moments that make life worth living; for example, the joy of saying "I do" to your significant other, the love that overwhelms you upon holding your newborn for the first time, or the immense satisfaction you get from achieving something great in your career.

Although positive emotions may seem to have little purpose besides making us "feel good," they actually do a few very important jobs.

The Role of Positive Emotions in Psychology

The "point" of positive emotions depends on who you ask; you will likely get a different answer from experts in different fields.

An evolutionary psychologist might respond "to enhance human beings' chances of survival and reproduction."

A social psychologist might say "to form the bonds that connect us to others."

A positive psychologist may say "to make life worth living."

Or, she might say "to broaden our awareness and build our inner resources." That is the gist of Barbara Fredrickson's groundbreaking "Broaden-and-Build Theory" of positive emotions. Read on to learn more about this theory.

A Short Summary of Fredrickson's Broaden-and-Build Theory

Fredrickson introduced the Broaden-and-Build Theory of positive emotions in 1998. The theory provides a convincing explanation of the "point" of positive emotions: to open our minds, broaden and expand our awareness, and facilitate the building and development of resources, including knowledge, skills, abilities, and relationships.

In the words of Fredrickson herself:

"...these positive emotions broaden an individual's momentary thought-action repertoire: joy sparks the urge to play, interest sparks the urge to explore, contentment sparks the urge to savour and integrate, and love sparks a recurring cycle of each of these urges within safe, close relationships."

The effects of these emotions are in sharp contrast to the effects of negative emotions, or those experienced in a dangerous situation (e.g., fear, terror, anxiety), which usually have the effect of narrowing our focus and limiting our myriad options to the one or two best suited for survival.

In such situations, these automatic responses are vital for ensuring that we make it out alive; however, in situations that are not life-threatening, we don't need such a narrow perspective or limiting of options.

This is where positive emotions are more advantageous-instead of limiting our scope, they expand it to allow for creative thought and action. Instead of narrowing our focus to one or two responses, they expand our awareness to take in the much wider array of responses we can choose from.

This broadening of our horizons allows us to play, to learn, and to acquire lasting knowledge and skills that we can carry with us throughout our lives. These resources may be physical, emotional, psychological, social, and even mental, but no matter what kind of resources we acquire through this broadening, they are enduring.

These resources acquired and developed through experiencing positive emotions have been shown to result in many benefits throughout the several domains of life.

In the all-encompassing domain of physical and psychological health, positive emotions can have fantastic effects.

The Health Benefits of Positive Emotions

Among the many health benefits of positive emotions is a reduction in stress and a boost to general well-being. Positive emotions can actually act as a buffer between you and stressful events in your life, allowing you to cope more effectively and preserve your mental health (Tugade, Fredrickson, & Barrett, 2004).

In addition, in 2006 researchers confirmed that experiencing positive emotions helps you modulate your reaction to stress and allows you to recover from the negative effects of stress more quickly (Ong, Bergeman, Bisconti, & Wallace).

Positive emotions may also protect you from the sniffles! Students who were randomly assigned to writing about intense, positive experiences for three days, 20 minutes a day, made significantly fewer visits to the student health center for symptoms of illness, compared to students who wrote about a neutral topic (Burton & King, 2004).

Experiencing positive emotions may also encourage individuals to make healthier decisions, indirectly contributing to better health. Herzenstein (2008) found that several positive emotions lead to a variety of health benefits, including:

Happiness resulted in increased risk- and variety-seeking and gain-focused behavior and,

Contentment resulted in increased risk avoidance and loss-focused behavior.

Positive emotions can also facilitate more effective coping, which boosts health by providing a buffer against symptoms of depression (Dolphin, Steinhardt, & Cance, 2015). In addition, being mindful and taking the time to savor positive emotions can provide an extra buffer against symptoms of depression while boosting psychological well-being and life satisfaction (Kiken, Lundberg, & Fredrickson, 2017).

Another health benefit of positive emotions is that they may result in a stronger heart; Kok and colleagues (2013) found a connection between a healthy heart rate and the experience of positive social emotions. Similarly, a meta-analysis of several studies found that well-being was significantly related to good cardiovascular functioning, general health, and longevity overall (Howell, Kern, & Lyubomirsky, 2007).

How Positive Emotions Foster Resilience and Improve Memory

In addition to promoting good physical and psychological health, positive emotions have been found to relate to both resilience and memory.

A study from Peng and colleagues (2014) found that positive emotions and resilience are positively correlated, indicating that one leads to the other or they share a bi-directional relationship.

We also know that resilience is significantly related to emotional regulation, suggesting that the experience of many positive emotions (and the management of negative emotions) allows some individuals to "bounce back" better than others (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004).

Finally, a study by Cohn and colleagues found that positive emotions have a direct effect on resilience, which in turn helps build a strong sense of life satisfaction (2009).

These effects may be due to the "broadening and building" that positive emotions seem to provoke; the more positive emotions a person experiences, the stronger their perception of a positive baseline state to "bounce back" to after failure or tragedy.

Additionally, experiencing consistent positive emotions might encourage a person to seek out a wide variety of sources of meaning and fulfillment, sources they can depend on to pull them back up to their feet when they get knocked down.

Overall, there is evidence to suggest that positive emotions can protect against memory impairment (MacKenzie, Powell, & Donaldson, 2015). It is unclear how this protection may work, although it may be explained through the Broaden-and-Build Theory as well. Positive emotions may expand focus and memory capacity and enhance the ability to remember both central and peripheral details (Yegiyan & Yonelinas, 2011).

Both enhanced resilience and better memory can provide benefits in many domains of life, including in the workplace. In fact, there are several ways that positive emotions can lead to better productivity and more effective work.

How Positive Emotions Can Improve the Workplace

Positive emotions have been shown to have a positive impact on relationships (romantic, friends, and family), therapy and counseling outcomes, grades and academic achievements, and personal development (Linley, Joseph, Maltby, Harrington, & Wood, 2009); now we can add one more domain to this list-the workplace.

As much as we may try to separate them, our emotions and personal life do have an impact on our work. Luckily, this can work in positive as well as negative ways.

Positive emotions have led to enhancements and improvements in work life, physical and mental health, social relationships, community involvement, and income (Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen, 2001; Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005), all of which are either directly or indirectly related to work.

Enhancing Employee Engagement

A recent study by Goswami, Nair, Beehr, and Grossenbacher (2016) cemented the relationship between positive emotions and employee engagement-as well as showing a link between leaders' use of humor and employee engagement!

Further, positive emotions encouraged organizational citizenship behavior (an employee's voluntary commitment to non-obligatory or non-mandatory tasks that benefit his or her organization) as well as increasing work engagement; additionally, they had a double positive impact by decreasing negative attitudes and behaviors that are not in line with organizational values (Avey, Wernsing, & Luthans, 2008).

Improving Job Satisfaction

Positive emotions have been found to result in increased self-efficacy, higher job satisfaction, and better mental health in general (Schutte, 2014). They have even been shown to connect to higher job satisfaction during task conflict (Todorova, Bear, & Weingart, 2014).

More specifically, the positive emotions of interest and gratitude are linked to enhanced satisfaction with one's work, while gratitude also positively impacts satisfaction with one's coworkers and supervisors (Winslow, Hu, Kaplan, & Li, 2017). The same study that produced these results also found that both interest and gratitude predict an employee's satisfaction with his or her promotion.

Not only do positive emotions enhance satisfaction with the job, they also reduce turnover intentions and reduce the effects of stress on employees (Sui, Cheung, & Lui, 2015).

These findings are intuitive; it makes sense that experiencing more positive emotions at work, like joy, interest, gratitude, and happiness, increases satisfaction with the work. Greater satisfaction with work has a clear and direct relationship with intentions to stay with the position.

Effective Leadership

Positive emotions in the workplace can facilitate more effective leadership as well as increasing job satisfaction.

A study from 2013 surveyed followers to assess the relationship between transformational leadership and positive emotions on the one hand, and the impact on task performance on the other; the study found that transformational leadership and positive emotions have a positive effect on task performance (Liang & Steve Chi, 2013).

Not only was transformational leadership's effect on performance enhanced, but its impact on work engagement was also found to be enhanced by positive emotions (Wang, Li, & Li, 2017).

Similarly, authentic leadership was found to lead to more effective innovation in followers when coupled with positive emotions (Zhou, Ma, Cheng, & Xia, 2014).

Another style of leadership, known as intellectual stimulator leadership, is more effective in boosting employee job satisfaction, effort, and effectiveness when positive emotions like enthusiasm, hope, pride, happiness, and inspiration complement the leadership (Zineldin, 2017).

Enhancing the Company's Bottom Line

When employees experience positive emotions at work, they experience a broadening of perspective and may be able to build important resources.

Early research on the effects of positive emotion on employee achievement and productivity found that the more positive emotion an individual experienced on the job, the higher their pay and better their supervisor evaluations were 18 months later (Staw, Sutton, & Pelled, 1994).

Staw and colleagues also found that MBA students with higher positive emotions performed more accurately on a decision-making task than students with lower levels of positive emotions (1993).

Further research found that increased positive emotions resulted in increased clarity surrounding expectations in one's role, effective and value-congruent use of organizational resources, fulfillment in one's role, better relationships at work, and a general increase in the ownership employees feel over their work and the creativity that drives innovation and contributes to organizational success (Harter, Schmidt, & Keyes, 2002).

Additionally, the expression and amplification of positive emotions can lead to enhanced goal attainment, whether the expression of emotions is directed towards co-workers or superiors (Wong, Tschan, Messerli, & Semmer, 2013).

Finally, positive emotions (in the form of hope, optimism, and resilience) were found to not only increase job satisfaction, work happiness, and organizational commitment, but also to improve employee performance, measured by both self-report and organizational performance appraisals (Youssef & Luthans, 2007).

A Take-Home Message

There has never been more interest in positive emotions and their effect on our lives-and for good reason!

Positive emotions are linked to numerous benefits in relationships, in one's health and well-being, and in the workplace. Keep an eye out for news on positive emotions, and you will be keeping up with a bright and vibrant area of research.

Thanks for reading. If you have any comments on positive emotions or want to suggest further reading, please let us know in the comment section below.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free.

If you wish to learn more, our Emotional Intelligence Masterclass© is a 6-module emotional intelligence training package for practitioners which contains all the materials you'll need to become an emotional intelligence expert, helping your clients harness their emotions and cultivate emotional connection in their lives.

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Positive Emotions: A List of 26 Examples + Definition in Psychology

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Most people like to feel good, and positive emotions just plain feel good. They don't necessarily need a reason or cause behind them for us to enjoy them; we just do. Experiencing emotions like happiness, excitement, joy, hope, and inspiration is vital for anyone who wants to lead a happy and healthy life.

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We lose our car keys and our wallet, we discover mold in the bathroom, our dearest friend moves across the country, a family member is diagnosed with COVID-19. How can we practice holding life as it is with conscious awareness, full-hearted acceptance, and grounded equanimity?

Even if I am having a meltdown, am falling apart, am going ballistic or retreating into a collapsed isolation, I can remember that I am a human being, and that all human beings have similar reactions to life's disappointments, difficulties, and even disasters. I can hold myself with compassion and care, finding the courageous action I need to meet the current challenges or crises.

Returning to the wisdom of our bodies can become the foundation for the practice of resilience, a practice to help us deal with all of the issues in our lives.

Many mindfulness practices use the wisdom of our bodies to return us to a state of ease and calm, no matter the cause of disruption to our well-being-allowing us to hold, to accept, and to work with anything at all. Returning to the wisdom of our bodies can become the foundation for the practice of resilience, a practice to help us deal with all of the issues in our lives, including the coronavirus pandemic that is triggering so much anxiety, confusion, and uncertainty.

Connect with Your Body's Wisdom in Moments of Stress

Our first response to any stressor begins in our bodies. Mindfulness helps us become aware of signals of stress or distress, and we can practice tools that will return our nervous systems back to baseline physiological equilibrium. This is how we "train" resilience.

The three types of research-backed practices-breath practices, healing touch practices, and movement practices-help you bring your attention gently into your body, in order to rediscover your equilibrium. Here's a guide to connecting with your body's wisdom throughout these stressful times.

3 Breath Practices to Regulate Your Nervous System

We learn tools of breath first, because we breathe all the time. The breath is always available, as long as we are alive. Breathing IS what regulates the autonomic nervous system. We can learn to very intentionally use this rhythm of breathing in and breathing out (as is done in yoga breathwork, elongating the exhales) to cultivate more calm in the body and access a deeper well-being.

1. Breathe naturally, gently, for five to ten breaths. Mindfully pay attention to the sensations of breathing in (cool air through the nostrils or throat, the gentle expansion of the belly and chest) and breathing out (warmer air flowing out, the relaxation of the belly and chest). Especially as you begin this practice, pause and repeat this practice many times a day. When you are doing "nothing" but breathing and paying attention to your breathing, you are doing "something" helpful in calming your nervous system and training your nervous system to come to calm. You are making a conscious choice: "I GET to regulate my nervous system."

2. The Box Breath Practice. This is a resilience practice taught to firefighters and police officers to use when they experience a moment of "startle." The startle response is hardwired into our nervous system by evolution, so that when our nervous system perceives danger, we automatically blink to protect our eyes; we crouch to protect our innards; we put both hands up to defend or fight. And that startle response is so hardwired in that we can't retrain the brain to not have that happen. Like a sneeze, it's going to happen.

When you are doing "nothing" but breathing and paying attention to your breathing, you are doing "something" helpful in calming your nervous system and training your nervous system to come to calm.

The box breath can help you train your brain for resilience in moments of high alert. You inhale to a count of four, you hold the breath for a count of four, you exhale to a count of four, you hold out the breath for a count of four. The breathing regulates your nervous system, as we just practiced. The counting requires your higher brain to stay on line. The focused attention on the counting, the use of symbols, the use of words, all require your higher brain to stay online, and keeping your higher brain online when you're startled is key to being able to discern and choose what action to take.

So when you notice your nervous system is so revved up-you're frightened or panicked or angry or enraged, you're not thinking straight, use that as your cue to practice box breathing to come back to your safety zone, your range of resilience, so that you can think clearly again. Likewise, if your nervous system is too shut down, numbed out, collapsed, immobilized, not taking any action at all, that's also not resilient. Box breathing activates your brain again. You can begin to re-engage with what's happening and decide what to do about what's happening.

3. A simple, audible sigh. You can extend the practice of using the breath to regulate your nervous system by giving yourself permission to sigh. Breathe in fully, then exhale fully, sometimes accompanied by a sound, ahhh, releasing tension from your body. A deep sigh (or several sighs) is the body's natural re-setter of the nervous system, even in a tense moment; especially in a tense moment. You can practice pairing any moment of tension with a deliberate sigh. In the midst of a tense or frightening moment, a deliberate sigh can shift the physiology of the body-brain into a more relieved and relaxed state.

The Healing Power of Touch

Touch is one of the fastest ways we have to both calm down the re-energize the nervous system and restore a sense of safety, according to Dacher Keltner, founder of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. Warm, safe touch releases oxytocin, the hormone of safety and trust, of calm and connect. As Keltner notes in his book Born to Be Good, oxytocin is the brain's direct and immediate antidote to the stress hormone cortisol-and oxytocin repairs any damage to the physical heart caused by cortisol.

Even in this time of practicing social isolation as a way to contain the spread of coronavirus, we can add focusing our attention on warm, safe touch to help manage any anxiety or distress we are experiencing.

Even in this time of practicing social isolation as a way to contain the spread of coronavirus, we can add focusing our attention on warm, safe touch to help manage any anxiety or distress we are experiencing, and evoke a memory of feeling safe and cared about to deepen that sense of ease and calm.

Practice: The Hand on the Heart Exercise

This is one of the most powerful tools we have to restore a sense of calm and equilibrium in the body-brain. Anchored in both mindfulness and self-compassion, it is powerful enough to calm down a panic attack in less than a minute. It's powerful enough to prevent the stress response from even happening in the first place.

1. Place your hand on your heart. Breathe gently, softly, and deeply into the area of your heart. If you wish, breathe in a sense of ease or safety or goodness into this heart center.

2. Remember one moment, just one moment when you felt safe, loved, and cherished by another human being. Don't try to recall the entire relationship, just one moment. This could be a partner, a child, a friend, a therapist, or a teacher; it could be a spiritual figure, or a loving moment with a pet.

3. As you remember this moment of feeling safe, loved, and cherished, let yourself experience the feelings of that moment. Let the sensations wash through your body. Let yourself stay with these feelings for twenty to thirty seconds. Notice any deepening in a visceral sense of ease and safety.

4. Repeat this practice many times a day at first to strengthen the neural circuitry that remembers this pattern. If you practice five times a day for a full week, you will train your brain in this new response to any difficult moment. Then you can repeat it any time you need to, any time at all. It's portable equilibrium.

Why Hand on the Heart works: When you breathe deeply into the heart center, you're activating the calming parasympathetic branch of the nervous system. When you breathe in a sense of ease or safety or goodness, you're restoring a coherent heart rate variability which allows your heart to respond more flexibly to stress. When you remember a moment of feeling safe and loved and cherished with someone, you're activating the release of oxytocin, the brain's direct antidote to the stress hormone cortisol. You may actually feel the warm glow of the oxytocin as it washes through your body, coming to a sense of safety, trust, and calm.

Any time you move your body and thus shift your posture, you shift your physiology-the basic functioning of your body's systems. That includes shifting the activity of your autonomic nervous system and its state of stress and excitement. You may even experience shifts if you meditate sitting down, then lying down, then standing up. If you get sleepy meditating sitting down, stand up. If you feel restless and agitated, try meditating lying down. Moving the body is excellent rewiring for resilience. Here are a few other movement practices you may explore:

1. Grip and release: Bring your awareness to your hands, and slowly tense your hands into fists, and then release the tension into your open palms. Do that tensing-releasing a couple of times. Notice any shifting of your inner state.

2. Progressive muscle relaxation: This juxtaposition of tension-relaxation is the basis of progressive muscle relaxation, in which we are tensing a muscle group, counting for 7 seconds, relaxing that muscle group, counting to 15. Relaxing twice as long as tensing helps the body relax, a wonderful tool to use when going to sleep at night. Try this tension-to-relaxation shift in each part of your body, starting from your head, all the way down to your toes. And the counting, as in the box breathing, makes sure the higher brain is online but this time for the purpose of keeping attention focused on the task so the brain doesn't go into rumination or obsessive looping over the worries of the day.

3. Smile or frown: You can experience a shift when you place a pencil between your nose and upper lip; that makes you frown somewhat. Then place the pencil between your teeth; that makes you smile a bit. When you practice that sequence slowly enough, you can experience and notice shifting the state of your body and your emotions. Neuroscientists can see in their scanners: Smiling for even 20 seconds shifts the functioning of the brain.

4. Power Posing: You may already be familiar with the technique of Power Posing, used to shift the state of the body-brain from one of anxiety or tension to strength and calm. (It became famous thanks to Amy Cuddy's TED talk, the second-most-watched talk in the history of TED.)

To begin: Stand tall and erect with feet planted firmly on the ground, hip width apart. Lift up your spine, lift up your chest, lift your head, and stretch your arms high over your head, like tadasana, the mountain pose of yoga. Stay grounded in your feet and hips and torso, but feel the energy move up your spine, through your arms and the crown of your head toward the sky. It's getting the energy moving up the spine that is the most important part of the pose.

1. Before going into any situation that might evoke feelings of anxiety or shame-a job interview, a business meeting, a court hearing, a tax audit, a confrontation over serious misbehavior by a family member-find a quiet, private place where you can let yourself feel the anxiety or worry in your body that you want to shift. Gently not to overwhelm, and then move into the power pose. Stand tall and erect, feet about hip width apart, chest lifted and head held high, your arms held high over your head,, the mountain pose of yoga.

2. Let yourself feel strength and energy in your body. Experiment with different poses to learn what allows you to experience these feelings most reliably.

3. Then you can move back and forth between the posture of anxiety or worry and the posture of the power pose for about 5 minutes. Gradually letting go of the posture of worry and remaining in the posture of power, strength and courage.

4. Practice your power pose in the moments before you enter your challenging situation, and then walk mindfully into that situation with more inner strength and energy. With frequent practice, your power pose becomes a natural way to develop and tap into your inner strength, courage, and resilience.

As the poet James Russel Lowell wrote,"Mishaps are like knives, that either cut us or serve us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle." In this sense, mindfulness practice is about creating choices for ourselves-about how we perceive a stressor or a challenge, how we react, how we react to our reactions, how we perceive ourselves coping or not coping, how we choose to respond to the issues. And we learn that we can.

Getting back up when you stumble may seem easier for some than it does for others. The good news is, resilience is a like a muscle-here's how you can strengthen yours over time. Read More

Whether you're looking for live guided meditations connecting you to others, a quick practice to help you find your ground, or a free course on how to meditate, here's how the Mindful community is coming together to serve in the days and weeks ahead. Read More

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Resilience Expert Offers Three Ways to Tap into the Wisdom of the Body - Mindful

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We lose our car keys and our wallet, we discover mold in the bathroom, our dearest friend moves across the country, a family member is diagnosed with COVID-19. How can we practice holding life as it is with conscious awareness, full-hearted acceptance, and grounded equanimity?

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Inspiring People, Stories, Interviews and Insights

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Many of the people I know seem to have a deep sense of purpose. Whether working for racial justice, teaching children to read, making inspiring art, or collecting donations of masks and face shields for hospitals during the pandemic, they've found ways to blend their passion, talents, and care for the world in a way that infuses their lives with meaning.

Luckily for them, having a purpose in life is associated with all kinds of benefits. Research suggests that purpose is tied to having better health, longevity, and even economic success. It feels good to have a sense of purpose, knowing that you are using your skills to help others in a way that matters to you.

But how do you go about finding your purpose if it's not obvious to you? Is it something you develop naturally over the course of a lifetime? Or are there steps you can take to encourage more purpose in your life?

Likely both, says Kendall Bronk, a researcher who directs the Adolescent Moral Development Lab at Claremont Graduate University. People can find a sense of purpose organically-or through deliberate exercises and self-reflection. Sometimes, just having someone talk to you about what matters to you makes you think more intentionally about your life and your purpose, says Bronk.

In her work with adolescents, she's found that some teens find purpose after experiencing hardship. Maybe a kid who has experienced racism decides to become a civil rights advocate. Or one who's suffered severe illness decides to study medicine. Of course, experiences like poverty and illness are extremely hard to overcome without help from others. But Bronk's research suggests that having a supportive social network-caring family members, like-minded friends, or mentors, for example-helps youth to reframe hardship as a challenge they can play a role in changing for the better. That might be true of adults, too.

While hardship can lead to purpose, most people probably find purpose in a more meandering way, says Bronk-through a combination of education, experience, and self-reflection, often helped along by encouragement from others. But finding your purpose can be jump-started, too, given the right tools. She and her colleagues have found that exercises aimed at uncovering your values, interests, and skills, as well as practicing positive emotions like gratitude, can help point you toward your purpose in life.

Here are some of her recommendations based on her research on purpose.

1. Identify the things you care about

Purpose is all about applying your skills toward contributing to the greater good in a way that matters to you. So, identifying what you care about is an important first step.

In Greater Good's Purpose Challenge, designed by Bronk and her team, high school seniors were asked to think about the world around them-their homes, communities, the world at large-and visualize what they would do if they had a magic wand and could change anything they wanted to change (and why). Afterward, they could use that reflection to consider more concrete steps they might take to contribute toward moving the world a little closer to that ideal.

A similar process is recommended for older adults by Jim Emerman of Encore.org, an organization that helps seniors find new purpose in life. Instead of envisioning an ideal future world, though, he suggests posing three questions to yourself:

What are you good at?

What have you done that gave you a skill that can be used for a cause?

What do you care about in your community?

By reflecting on these questions, he says, older adults can brainstorm ideas for repurposing skills and pursuing interests developed over a lifetime toward helping the world.

2. Reflect on what matters most

Sometimes it can be hard to single out one or two things that matter most to you because your circle of care and concern is far-ranging. Understanding what you value most may help you narrow down your purpose in life to something manageable that also truly resonates with you.

There are several good values surveys to choose from, including these three recommended by PositivePsychology.com: the Valued Living Questionnaire, the Portrait Values Questionnaire, and the Personal Values Questionnaire. All have been used in research studies and may be helpful to those who feel overwhelmed by all they want to change.

Bronk found that helping people prioritize their values is useful for finding purpose. The survey used in Greater Good's purpose challenge-where students were asked to look at common values and rank which were most important, least important, and in between-has been shown to be effective in helping people clarify their purpose.

Once you're clearer on your deepest values, Bronk recommends asking yourself: What do these values say about you as a person? How do these values influence your daily life? How might they relate to what you want to do with the rest of your life? Doing this exercise can help you discover how you can put your values to use.

3. Recognize your strengths and talents

We all have strengths and skills that we've developed over our lifetimes, which help make up our unique personalities. Yet some of us may be unsure of what we have to offer.

If we need help, a survey like the VIA Character Strengths Survey can be useful in identifying our personal strengths and embracing them more fully. Then, you can take the results and think about how you can apply them toward something you really care about.

But it can also be helpful to ask others-teachers, friends, family, colleagues, mentors-for input. In the Purpose Challenge, students were asked to send emails to five people who knew them well and to pose questions like:

What do you think I'm particularly good at?

What do you think I really enjoy?

How do you think I'll leave my mark on the world?

Adults can do this if they need feedback, too-either formally or informally in conversation with trusted others. People who know you well may be able to see things in you that you don't recognize in yourself, which can point you in unexpected directions. On the other hand, there is no need to overly rely on that feedback if it doesn't resonate. Getting input is useful if it clarifies your strengths-not if it's way off base.

4. Try volunteering

Finding purpose involves more than just self-reflection. According to Bronk, it's also about trying out new things and seeing how those activities enable you to use your skills to make a meaningful difference in the world. Volunteering in a community organization focused on something of interest to you could provide you with some experience and do good at the same time.

Working with an organization serving others can put you in touch with people who share your passions and inspire you. In fact, it's easier to find and sustain purpose with others' support-and a do-gooder network can introduce you to opportunities and a community that shares your concern. Volunteering has the added benefit of improving our health and longevity, at least for some people.

However, not all volunteer activities will lead to a sense of purpose. "Sometimes volunteering can be deadening," warns Stanford University researcher Anne Colby. "It needs to be engaging. You have to feel you're accomplishing something." When you find a good match for you, volunteering will likely "feel right" in some way-not draining, but invigorating.

5. Imagine your best possible self

This exercise if particularly useful in conjunction with the magic-wand exercise described above. In Greater Good's Purpose Challenge, high school students were asked to imagine themselves at 40 years of age if everything had gone as well as it could have in their lives. Then, they answered questions, like:

What are you doing?

What is important to you?

What do you really care about, and why?

The why part is particularly important, because purposes usually emerges from our reasons for caring, says Bronk.

Of course, those of us who are a bit older can still find these questions valuable. However, says Bronk, older folks may want to reflect back rather than look ahead. She suggests we think about what we've always wanted to do but maybe couldn't because of other obligations (like raising kids or pursuing a career). There seems to be something about seeing what you truly want for yourself and the world that can help bring you closer to achieving it, perhaps by focusing your attention on the people and experiences you encounter that may help you get there.

6. Cultivate positive emotions like gratitude and awe

To find purpose, it helps to foster positive emotions, like awe and gratitude. That's because each of these emotions is tied to well-being, caring about others, and finding meaning in life, which all help us focus on how we can contribute to the world.

In her study with young adults, Bronk found that practicing gratitude was particularly helpful in pointing students toward purpose. Reflecting on the blessings of their lives often leads young people to " pay it forward " in some way, which is how gratitude can lead to purpose.

There are many ways to cultivate awe and gratitude. Awe can be inspired by seeing the beauty in nature or recalling an inspirational moment. Gratitude can be practiced by keeping a gratitude journal or writing a gratitude letter to someone who helped you in life. Whatever tools you use, developing gratitude and awe has the added benefit of being good for your emotional well-being, which can give you the energy and motivation you need to carry out your purposeful goals.

7. Look to the people you admire

Sometimes the people we admire most in life give us a clue to how we might want to contribute to a better world ourselves. Reading about the work of civil rights leaders or climate activists can give us a moral uplift that can serve as motivation for working toward the greater good.

However, sometimes looking at these larger-than-life examples can be too intimidating, says Bronk. If so, you can look for everyday people who are doing good in smaller ways. Maybe you have a friend who volunteers to collect food for the homeless or a colleague whose work in promoting social justice inspires you.

You don't need fame to fulfill your purpose in life. You just need to look to your inner compass-and start taking small steps in the direction that means the most to you.
This article is part of a GGSC initiative on "Finding Purpose Across the Lifespan," supported by the John Templeton Foundation. In a series of articles, podcast episodes, and other resources, we'll be exploring why and how to deepen your sense of purpose at different stages of life.
Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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Many of the people I know seem to have a deep sense of purpose. Whether working for racial justice, teaching children to read, making inspiring art, or collecting donations of masks and face shields for hospitals during the pandemic, they've found ways to blend their passion, talents, and care for the world in a way that infuses their lives with meaning.

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A mentor of mine recently passed away, and I was heartbroken-so I tried my best to avoid thinking about it. I didn't even mention it to my family because I didn't want those sad feelings to resurface.

In other words, I took the very enlightened approach of pretend it didn't happen-one that's about as effective as other common responses such as get angry, push people away, blame yourself, or wallow in the pain.

Even for the relatively self-aware and emotionally adept, struggles can take us by surprise. But learning healthy ways to move through adversity-a collection of skills that researchers call resilience-can help us cope better and recover more quickly, or at least start heading in that direction.

The Greater Good Science Center has collected many resilience practices on our website Greater Good in Action, alongside other research-based exercises for fostering kindness, connection, and happiness. Here are 12 of those resilience practices (squeezed into five categories), which can help you confront emotional pain more skillfully.

1. Change the narrative

When something bad happens, we often relive the event over and over in our heads, rehashing the pain. This process is called rumination; it's like a cognitive spinning of the wheels, and it doesn't move us forward toward healing and growth.

The practice of Expressive Writing can move us forward by helping us gain new insights on the challenges in our lives. It involves free writing continuously for 20 minutes about an issue, exploring your deepest thoughts and feelings around it. The goal is to get something down on paper, not to create a memoir-like masterpiece.

A 1988 study found that participants who did Expressive Writing for four days were healthier six weeks later and happier up to three months later, when compared to people who wrote about superficial topics. In writing, the researchers suggest, we're forced to confront ideas one by one and give them structure, which may lead to new perspectives. We're actually crafting our own life narrative and gaining a sense of control.

Once we've explored the dark side of an experience, we might choose to contemplate some of its upsides. Finding Silver Linings invites you to call to mind an upsetting experience and try to list three positive things about it. For example, you might reflect on how fighting with a friend brought some important issues out into the open, and allowed you to learn something about their point of view.

In a 2014 study, doing this practice daily for three weeks helped participants become more engaged with life afterward, and it decreased their pessimistic beliefs over time. This wasn't true for a group whose members just wrote about their daily activities. It was particularly beneficial for staunch pessimists, who also became less depressed. But the effects wore off after two months, suggesting that looking on the bright side is something we have to practice regularly.

2. Face your fears

The practices above are helpful for past struggles, ones that we've gained enough distance from to be able to get some perspective. But what about knee-shaking fears that we're experiencing in the here and now?

The Overcoming a Fear practice is designed to help with everyday fears that get in the way of life, such as the fear of public speaking, heights, or flying. We can't talk ourselves out of such fears; instead, we have to tackle the emotions directly.

The first step is to slowly, and repeatedly, expose yourself to the thing that scares you-in small doses. For example, people with a fear of public speaking might try talking more in meetings, then perhaps giving a toast at a small wedding. Over time, you can incrementally increase the challenge until you're ready to nail that big speech or TV interview.

In a 2010 study, researchers modeled this process in the lab. They gave participants a little electrical shock every time they saw a blue square, which soon became as scary as a tarantula to an arachnophobe. But then, they showed the blue square to participants without shocking them. Over time, the participants' Pavlovian fear (measured by the sweat on their skin) gradually evaporated.

In effect, this kind of "exposure therapy" helps us change the associations we have with a particular stimulus. If we've flown 100 times and the plane has never crashed, for example, our brain (and body) start to learn that it's safe. Though the fear may never be fully extinguished, we'll likely have greater courage to confront it.

3. Practice self-compassion

I've never been a good flyer myself, and it was comforting when an acquaintance shared an article he wrote about having the same problem (and his favorite tips). Fears and adversity can make us feel alone; we wonder why we're the only ones feeling this way, and what exactly is wrong with us. In these situations, learning to practice self-compassion-and recognizing that everyone suffers-can be a much gentler and more effective road to healing.

Self-compassion involves offering compassion to ourselves: confronting our own suffering with an attitude of warmth and kindness, without judgment. In one study, participants in an eight-week Mindful Self-Compassion program reported more mindfulness and life satisfaction, with lower depression, anxiety, and stress afterward compared to people who didn't participate-and the benefits lasted up to a year.

One practice, the Self-Compassion Break, is something you can do any time you start to feel overwhelmed by pain or stress. It has three steps, which correspond to the three aspects of self-compassion:

Be mindful: Without judgment or analysis, notice what you're feeling. Say, "This is a moment of suffering" or "This hurts" or "This is stress."

Remember that you're not alone: Everyone experiences these deep and painful human emotions, although the causes might be different. Say to yourself, "Suffering is a part of life" or "We all feel this way" or "We all struggle in our lives."

Be kind to yourself: Put your hands on your heart and say something like "May I give myself compassion" or "May I accept myself as I am" or "May I be patient."

If being kind to yourself is a challenge, an exercise called How Would You Treat a Friend? could help. Here, you compare how you respond to your own struggles-and the tone you use-with how you respond to a friend's. Often, this comparison unearths some surprising differences and valuable reflections: Why am I so harsh on myself, and what would happen if I weren't?

Once we start to develop a kinder attitude toward ourselves, we can crystallize that gentle voice in a Self-Compassionate Letter. This practice asks you to spend 15 minutes writing words of understanding, acceptance, and compassion toward yourself about a specific struggle that you feel ashamed of-say, being shy or not spending enough time with your kids. In the letter, you might remind yourself that everyone struggles, and that you aren't solely responsible for this shortcoming; if possible, you could also consider constructive ways to improve in the future.

4. Meditate

As mindfulness gurus like to remind us, our most painful thoughts are usually about the past or the future: We regret and ruminate on things that went wrong, or we get anxious about things that will. When we pause and bring our attention to the present, we often find that things are...okay.

Practicing mindfulness brings us more and more into the present, and it offers techniques for dealing with negative emotions when they arise. That way, instead of getting carried away into fear, anger, or despair, we can work through them more deliberately.

One of the most commonly studied mindfulness programs is the eight-week-long Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which teaches participants to cope with challenges using a variety of meditation practices (including the ones detailed below). Various studies have found that MBSR has wide-ranging health and psychological benefits for people in general, as well as those struggling with mental illness or chronic disease.

One meditation that might be particularly effective at calming our negative thoughts is the Body Scan. Here, you focus on each body part in turn-head to toe-and can choose to let go of any areas of tension you discover. Strong feelings tend to manifest physically, as tight chests or knotted stomachs, and relaxing the body is one way to begin dislodging them.

In one study, researchers found that time spent practicing the Body Scan was linked to greater well-being and less reactivity to stress. Being more aware of our bodies-and the emotions they are feeling-might also help us make healthier choices, trusting our gut when something feels wrong or avoiding commitments that will lead to exhaustion.

When stress creeps in, good habits often creep out-and one of those is healthy eating. When we're emotional, many of us reach for the sweets; when we're short on time, fast food seems like the only option. So in addition to helping us cultivate mindfulness, the Raisin Meditation could help change our relationship to food.

This exercise invites you to eat a raisin mindfully-but wait, not so fast. First, examine its wrinkles and color; see how it feels between your fingers, and then take a sniff. Slowly place it on your tongue, and roll it around in your mouth before chewing one bite at a time. Notice the urge to swallow, and whether you can sense it moving down your throat into your stomach. Not only will you have practiced mindfulness, but you may never look at food the same way again.

One final meditation that we can sprinkle throughout our day-or practice on its own-is Mindful Breathing. It involves bringing attention to the physical sensations of the breath: the air moving through the nostrils, the expansion of the chest, the rise and fall of the stomach. If the mind wanders away, you bring attention back. This can be done during a full 15-minute meditation, or during a moment of stress with just a few breaths.

In one study, participants who did a Mindful Breathing exercise before looking at disturbing images-like spiders or car crashes-experienced less negative emotion than people who hadn't done the exercise. Negative thoughts can pull us along into their frantic stream, but the breath is an anchor we can hold onto at any time.

5. Cultivate forgiveness

If holding a grudge is holding you back, research suggests that cultivating forgiveness could be beneficial to your mental and physical health. If you feel ready to begin, it can be a powerful practice.

Both Nine Steps to Forgiveness and Eight Essentials When Forgiving offer a list of guidelines to follow. In both cases, you begin by clearly acknowledging what happened, including how it feels and how it's affecting your life right now. Then, you make a commitment to forgive, which means letting go of resentment and ill will for your own sake; forgiveness doesn't mean letting the offender off the hook or even reconciling with them. Ultimately, you can try to find a positive opportunity for growth in the experience: Perhaps it alerted you to something you need, which you may have to look for elsewhere, or perhaps you can now understand other people's suffering better.

If you're having trouble forgiving, Letting Go of Anger through Compassion is a five-minute forgiveness exercise that could help you get unstuck. Here, you spend a few minutes generating feelings of compassion toward your offender; she, too, is a human being who makes mistakes; he, too, has room for growth and healing. Be mindfully aware of your thoughts and feelings during this process, and notice any areas of resistance.

Not convinced this is the best approach? Researchers tested it against the common alternatives-either ruminating on negative feelings or repressing them-and found that cultivating compassion led participants to report more empathy, positive emotions, and feelings of control. That's an outcome that victims of wrongdoing deserve, no matter how we feel about the offenders.

Stress and struggles come in many forms in life: adversity and trauma, fear and shame, betrayals of trust. The 12 practices above can help you cope with difficulties when they arise, but also prepare you for challenges in the future. With enough practice, you'll have a toolbox of techniques that come naturally-a rainy-day fund for the mind, that will help keep you afloat when times get tough. Just knowing that you've built up your skills of resilience can be a great comfort, and even a happiness booster.

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Five Science-Backed Strategies to Build Resilience

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A mentor of mine recently passed away, and I was heartbroken-so I tried my best to avoid thinking about it. I didn't even mention it to my family because I didn't want those sad feelings to resurface.

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Know Thyself - Addressing and Overcoming Challenges

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C10_M02_AU2018 Know Thyself - Addressing and Overcoming Challenges

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The Centre for Positive Psychology (CPP) is Australia's leading research centre in positive psychology and is part of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. Our purpose at CPP is to build and use the science of wellbeing to help individuals flourish and create thriving communities.

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Credit Credit Lorraine Sorlet

Are your friendships giving you a boost or bringing you down?

Credit Credit Lorraine Sorlet

Are you spending time with the right people for your health and happiness?

While many of us focus primarily on diet and exercise to achieve better health, science suggests that our well-being also is influenced by the company we keep. Researchers have found that certain health behaviors appear to be contagious and that our social networks - in person and online - can influence obesity, anxiety and overall happiness. A recent report found that a person's exercise routine was strongly influenced by his or her social network.

I was reminded recently of the power of the crowd during a wellness cruise sponsored by Times Journeys. The event attracted a group of like-minded travelers who, despite experiencing various levels of adversity in their lives, including cancer, vision loss and the recent loss of a loved one, were remarkably optimistic and upbeat. The group ranged in age from 17 to 90. One inspiring man, in his 80s, had adopted a vegan lifestyle and a strict exercise routine to control his diabetes. Another new friend, a woman in her 50s who had survived lung cancer, cheered me on and kept me going during a particularly difficult workout.

After the trip, we all promised to keep in touch. Buoyed by the experience, I returned home with a renewed commitment not only to exercise and healthful living, but to simply step up my social life and spend more time hanging out with happy people.

Dan Buettner, a National Geographic fellow and author, has studied the health habits of people who live in so-called blue zones - regions of the world where people live far longer than the average. He noted that positive friendships are a common theme in the blue zones.

"Friends can exert a measurable and ongoing influence on your health behaviors in a way that a diet never can," Mr. Buettner said.

In Okinawa, Japan, a place where the average life expectancy for women is around 90, the oldest in the world, people form a kind of social network called a moai - a group of five friends who offer social, logistic, emotional and even financial support for a lifetime.

Thinking positive thoughts and surrounding yourself with positive people really does help. Here's a guide on how to be happy.

"It's a very powerful idea," Mr. Buettner said. "Traditionally, their parents put them into moais when they are born, and they take a lifelong journey together."

In a moai, the group benefits when things go well, such as by sharing a bountiful crop, and the group's families support one another when a child gets sick or someone dies. They also appear to influence one another's lifelong health behaviors.

Mr. Buettner is working with federal and state health officials, including the former United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, to create moais in two dozen cities around the country. He recently spent time in Fort Worth, Tex., where several residents have formed walking moais - groups of people who meet regularly to walk and socialize.

"We're finding that in some of these cities, you can just put people together who want to change health behaviors and organize them around walking or a plant-based potluck," he said. "We nudge them into hanging out together for 10 weeks. We have created moais that are now several years old, and they are still exerting a healthy influence on members' lives."

The key to building a successful moai is to start with people who have similar interests, passions and values. The Blue Zone team tries to group people based on geography and work and family schedules to start. Then they ask them a series of questions to find common interests. Is your perfect vacation a cruise or a backpacking trip? Do you like rock 'n' roll or classical music? Do you subscribe to The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal?

"You stack the deck in favor of a long-term relationship," said Mr. Buettner.

One of my fellow travelers, Carol Auerbach of New York City, noted that surrounding herself with positive people has helped her cope with the loss of two husbands over the years. Ms. Auerbach was widowed at 30, when her children were just 2 and 5. With the support of her family and friends, and her own tenacity, she was able to support her family, and she eventually remarried. And then in 1992, her second husband died unexpectedly. To cope the second time, she focused on volunteer work and contributing to her community.

Ms. Auerbach said she believes that she learned to have a positive outlook from her mother, a Holocaust survivor who left Germany at the age of 19 and never saw her parents again.

"When I was growing up we were not affluent, and the four of us lived in a one-bedroom apartment, and my parents slept on a pullout sofa," she said. "My mother never complained. I think she quietly knew that difficult things happen, but you feel very appreciative of the life you do have, and you feel a responsibility to make the most of it."

Ms. Auerbach eventually found love again and has been married to her third husband for 15 years. "Life is too short to be around negative people," she said. "I need people around me who care about me and are appreciative, and see the world as a glass half full, not half empty."

The Blue Zone team has created a quiz to help people assess the positive impact of their own social network. The quiz asks questions about your friends and the state of their health, how much they drink, eat and exercise, as well as their outlook. The goal of the quiz is not to dump your less healthy friends, but to identify the people in your life who score the highest and to spend more time with them.

"I argue that the most powerful thing you can do to add healthy years is to curate your immediate social network," said Mr. Buettner, who advises people to focus on three to five real-world friends rather than distant Facebook friends. "In general you want friends with whom you can have a meaningful conversation," he said. "You can call them on a bad day and they will care. Your group of friends are better than any drug or anti-aging supplement, and will do more for you than just about anything."

Tara Parker-Pope is the founding editor of Well, The Times's award-winning consumer health site. She won an Emmy in 2013 for the video series "Life, Interrupted" and is the author of "For Better: The Science of a Good Marriage." @taraparkerpope

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Are your friendships giving you a boost or bringing you down? Credit Credit Lorraine Sorlet Are you spending time with the right people for your health and happiness? While many of us focus primarily on diet and exercise to achieve better health, science suggests that our well-being also is influenced by the company we keep.

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Holistic educator and researcher Joanna Krop explains that "Many teachers feel burdened by the expectations to be a nurturing teacher, a social activist, a creative pedagogue, a worker with a limitless work ethic and to do it all with a smile and boundless energy". One doesn't need to look far to find the perception that great teachers are those who endlessly and selflessly commit themselves to their students mentally, emotionally, and physically. Take popular Hollywood films for example. Whether it's Blackboard Jungle (1955), (1989), Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) or Dangerous Minds (1995), the narrative is always the same: the teacher who impacts students and fosters student success is the one who goes the mile - the one who takes on the most difficult classes, sacrifices personal life and family time to support students, thinks about students all day and night, is resilient in the face of all challenges, and breaks the mould with teaching and curriculum to reach all learners, including going head-to-head with administration and district policies to advocate for students. No wonder teachers may feel a sense of guilt when they can't give it their "all" to students or for taking time to care for themselves.

As romantic and celebrated as this narrative is, it's not realistic or sustainable. To be able to support and meet the needs of others, we first need to take care of ourselves. To be able to to give time, energy, and resources, they need to be available and well managed. When teachers have the time and support to manage stress, they can effectively model coping strategies and help students with theirs. Mentally healthy and supported teachers are more collaborative, more creative, and more willing to take risks. They contribute positively to school climates and improve student experiences simply by harnessing their potential and strengths as educators. Teacher wellbeing is integral to student wellbeing.

Being an educator is both an incredibly rewarding and demanding profession. Teacher burnout and compassion fatigue are leading factors contributing to the growing rate of teachers leaving the profession and taking sick leaves in Canada. Research conducted by Education experts on premature departure from the teaching profession in the country reveals unmanageable workloads and teaching conditions as the primary causes.

Perhaps it's time to change the narrative. Perhaps it's time that stress management, personal wellness, work life balance, and holistic school climates are championed as the means to effective teaching and education.

As every educator has unique experiences with mental health and wellbeing, it is important they they are provided wide ranging resources that can be personalized to meet their needs. Yet teacher and staff wellbeing is hardly just a personal responsibility, given the reciprocal correlation between teacher and student mental health. Just as student wellbeing is approached systematically through classroom practices, school support and culture, policies, resource flows, curriculum, and partnerships, educator wellbeing needs to be implemented into school and district improvement plans.

​Educators, what is your current relationship with your mental health and wellbeing?

​What conversations and where do they need to happen to ensure that both student and staff wellbeing is prioritized at all levels and in all aspects of education?

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Holistic educator and researcher Joanna Krop explains that "Many teachers feel burdened by the expectations to be a nurturing teacher, a social activist, a creative pedagogue, a worker with a limitless work ethic and to do it all with a smile and boundless energy".

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In the wake of the attacks of September 11th, Americans and others remain afraid, angry and profoundly sad. At first blush, positive emotions seem out of place - even inappropriate - during these trying times. For the moment, perhaps we should forget about feeling good altogether, and simply find ways to cope. Yet scientific research on positive emotions suggests that feeling good is far more important than many people suspect. Experiencing positive emotions - like joy, gratitude, hope or peace - is a sign that a person is, at that moment, not experiencing fear, anger or sadness. Yet positive emotions do much more than merely signal well-being. Positive emotions also improve coping and produce well-being. They do so not just in the present, pleasant moment, but over the long term as well. Positive emotions also can have profound social and organizational repercussions. This document provides a brief summary of theory and research that underscores the relevance of leading with positive emotions during trying times.

Positive Emotions Undo Negative Emotions

Negative emotions have important functions. Anxiety promotes vigilance. Anger promotes seeking justice. Yet negative emotions often linger on beyond their usefulness, producing unnecessary irritability and increases in heart rate and blood pressure. Laboratory experiments have demonstrated that evoking positive emotions in these circumstances is the most efficient way to quell or "undo" the lingering aftereffects of negative emotions. Cultivating positive emotions speeds the return to cardiovascular normalcy. This undoing effect of positive emotions has been shown both for energized positive emotions like joy and amusement, and for tranquil positive emotions, like serenity and appreciation. The ability to cultivate positive emotions is thus an important skill for regulating negative emotions.

Positive Emotions Fuel Resilience

In part because positive emotions speed recovery from negative emotions they also fuel resilient coping. Resilient people, studies show, experience more positive emotions in the midst of adversity compared to those who are less resilient. These greater positive emotions, in turn, help resilient people bounce back to pre-crisis levels of functioning. Such findings suggest the timely cultivation of positive emotions is one way that people use emotions intelligently.

Positive Emotions Broaden Thinking and Build Resources

Positive emotions have important functions beyond alleviating negative emotions and fueling resilient coping, functions that have long been overlooked by scientists studying emotions. I spotlight these additional functions in my broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. ¹ Unlike negative emotions, which narrow people's ideas about action (e.g., fight or flight), the broaden-and-build theory posits that positive emotions broaden people's mindsets, encouraging them to discover novel lines of thought or action. Joy, for instance, creates the urge to play, interest the urge to explore, and so on. A key, incidental outcome of these broadened mindsets is an increase in personal resources: As individuals discover new ideas and actions, they build their physical, intellectual, social and psychological resources. Play, for instance, builds physical, socio-emotional and intellectual skills, and fuels brain development. Similarly, exploration increases knowledge and psychological complexity. So by broadening people's mindsets, positive emotions build durable personal resources that function as reserves to be drawn on during later trying times.

Positive Emotions Trigger Upward Spirals Toward Optimal Functioning

Because positive emotions broaden thinking and build enduring psychological resources like resilience, they also trigger upward spirals toward enhanced emotional well-being. Put differently, any positive emotion you experience today not only feels good now, but also increases the likelihood you will feel good in the future. Studies that track the same individuals over time have documented this phenomenon. ² The study of depression had already documented a downward spiral in which depressed mood and the narrowed, pessimistic thinking it brings, influence one another reciprocally, leading to ever worsening functioning and moods, and even clinical levels of depression. In contrast, the broaden-and-build theory predicts a comparable upward spiral in which positive emotions and the broadened thinking they bring also influence one another reciprocally, leading to appreciable increases in functioning and well-being.

Positive Emotions May Produce Optimal Functioning in Organizations

The benefits of positive emotions do not end with changes within individuals. Because one individual's experience of positive emotion can reverberate through other organizational members and across interpersonal transactions with customers, positive emotions may fuel optimal organizational functioning, helping organizations to thrive and prosper. Take the example of helpful or compassionate actions. Decades of experiments show that people are more likely to help others when feeling positive emotions. But good deeds not only spring from positive emotions, they also produce them. Those receiving good deeds feel grateful, those witnessing good deeds feel elevated and those doing good deeds feel pride. Strikingly, each of these very different positive emotions functions to increase the likelihood of further compassionate acts, creating a chain of increasing organizational impact. ³

Leaders' Positive Emotions are Especially Contagious

Positive emotions produce organizational transformation because each person's emotions reverberate through other organizational members. In part, this is because emotions are contagious. Experimental studies have shown that one person's expression of positive emotion, through processes of facial mimicry, can produce experiences of positive emotion in those with whom they interact. Perhaps because they communicate to a broad range of individuals, organizational leaders' positive emotions are especially contagious. Studies have shown, for instance, that a leader's positive emotions predict the performance of their entire group. ⁴

Leaders Can Cultivate Positive Emotions by Finding Positive Meaning

If positive emotions have so many beneficial repercussions, and leaders have amplified opportunities to spread positive emotions, what is the best way for leaders to do cultivate positive emotions, especially in trying times like these? The use of humor, laughter and other direct attempts to stimulate positive emotions seem poor choices. My advice would be to cultivate positive emotions indirectly by finding positive meaning in current circumstances. ⁵ Positive meaning can be obtained by finding benefits within adversity, by infusing ordinary events with meaning and by effective problem-solving. Leaders can find benefits in these trying times by focusing on the newfound strengths and resolve of their organizational members. They can infuse ordinary events with meaning by expressing appreciation for jobs well done. And as Dutton and colleagues describe, they can find positive meaning through problem-solving by supporting compassionate acts within their organizations. So although the active ingredient within resilience and growth may be positive emotions, the leverage point is positive meaning.

In our fast-paced society, the pursuit of meaningful positive emotions is often neglected. Yet the latest research on positive emotions underscores that positive emotions are not trivial luxuries, but instead may be critical necessities for optimal functioning, especially in these trying times. The bottom line is that finding ways to cultivate meaningful positive emotions in your organization is an investment in your and your employees' development as well as in your organization's future.

Examples of "Leading with Positive Emotions"

Emotional Rescue

A sergeant major working at ground zero came to the armory to find a violinist playing. Recognizing the opportunity that this presented to foster positive, healing emotions in his subordinates, he asked the violinist to stay and play for them. The effect was so positive that they presented the violinist with the coin of the regiment. For more information, see the following Web site:
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2001/09/25/violinist/index.html

The Laugh Lab at Carnegie Hall

This is the story of a fundraising event in which many of America's well-known comedians participated. It shows leadership in light of positive emotions because the comedians got the people of New York to laugh, and many had not since the events of September 11. Although come comedians hit close to home with sarcasm and jokes about the tragedy, the majority of the night's events allowed people to let go of their worries for a night and just laugh. This event accomplished more than a good laugh, it raised $500 to $2,500 per person going to relief for families of the victims. For more information, please see the following Web site (NOTE: Registration required for access): http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/10/arts/theater/10COMI.html?todaysheadlines

Footnotes:
Barbara L. Fredrickson is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. From B. L. Fredrickson (2001). "The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions." American Psychologist, 56, 218-226. From B. L. Fredrickson & T. Joiner (in press). "Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward emotional well-being" Psychological Science. See also B. M. Staw, R. I. Sutton, & L. H. Pellod, (1994). "Employee positive emotion and favorable outcomes at the workplace" Organizational Science, 5, 51-71. From B. L. Fredrickson (2000) "Why positive emotions matter in organizations: Lessons from the broaden-and-build theory." The Psychologist-Manager Journal 4, 131-142. See J. M. George (1995) "Leader positive mood and group performance: The case of customer service" Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 778-794.See B. L. Fredrickson (2000) "Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and well-being." Prevention and Treatment, 3. Available on the World Wide Web: http://journals.apa.org/prevention.

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university of michigan business school research

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zell lurie institute for entrepreneurial studies

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Leading With Positive Emotions-Stephen M. Ross School of Business

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In the wake of the attacks of September 11th, Americans and others remain afraid, angry and profoundly sad. At first blush, positive emotions seem out of place - even inappropriate - during these trying times. For the moment, perhaps we should forget about feeling good altogether, and simply find ways to cope.

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How do you think things might change if you responded to yourself in the same way you typically respond to a close friend when he or she is suffering? This exercise walks you through it.

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Dr. Rick Hanson has taught thousands of people how to Be Well over the last 30 years, and now he's sharing some of his best tips and practices in the Being Well podcast. The NY Times bestselling author will teach you how to increase your everyday happiness, build inner strengths, and get the most out of life.

Join Rick and his son and co-host, Forrest Hanson, every week for lively and thought-provoking conversation and practical tips and tools for Being Well.

Say, "Alexa, play Dr. Rick Hanson's podcast."

Say, "Listen to Being Well with Rick Hanson."

Send Rick and Forrest a Question:

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Being Well Podcast with Dr. Rick Hanson and Forrest Hanson

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Dr. Rick Hanson has taught thousands of people how to Be Well over the last 30 years, and now he's sharing some of his best tips and practices in the Being Well podcast. The NY Times bestselling author will teach you how to increase your everyday happiness, build inner strengths, and get the most out of life.

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I've been writing this brain health blog since 2013, and it has changed my life and my career in extraordinary ways.

My original purpose for this blog has been to provide impeccably-researched evidence-based stories that are told in a simple, fun and compelling way. And it has certainly taken me on an extraordinary journey.

Purpose, defined as the tendency to derive meaning from life's experiences and to possess a sense of intentionality and goal-directedness that guides behaviour, can be quantified!

With purpose and meaning comes positive emotions - love, compassion, and appreciation - which counteract stress and support a healthy brain throughout life.

Blue Zones residents are members of faith communities and find meaning and purpose through spirituality. Living a meaningful life seems an unlikely addition a brain blog, but 'purpose in life' is a concept in neuroscience that links to robust brain and mind health.

Purpose in life reduces risk of Alzheimer's disease and cognitive impairment

Drs David Bennett and Pamela Boyle the Rush Medical Centre in Chicago, published this finding in a paper in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 2010.

The project studied more than than 900 community-dwelling older people without dementia.

All participants underwent baseline evaluations of their purpose in life. And they were followed up over seven years to see if they went on to develop cognitive impairment or symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

The study defined 'purpose in life' as: the psychological tendency to derive meaning from life's experiences and to possess a sense of intentionality and goal-directedness that guides behaviour.

To measure 'purpose in life' the team asked participants to rate their level of agreement from one to five, to each of the following statements:

1. I feel good when I think of what I have done in the past and what I hope to do in the future.

2. I live life one day at a time and do not really think about the future.

3. I tend to focus on the present because the future nearly always brings me problems.

4. I have a sense of direction and purpose in life.

5. My daily activities often seem trivial and unimportant to me.

6. I used to set goals for myself, but that now seems like a waste of time.

7. I enjoy making plans for the future and working them to a reality.

8. I am an active person in carrying out the plans I set for myself.

9. Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them.

10. I sometimes feel as if I have done all there is to do in life.

Scoring for the negatively worded items was flipped (e.g. Qs 5, 6 & 10) and item scores were averaged to give a total purpose in life score for each person, with higher scores indicating greater purpose in life.

All of the scores were adjusted (a statistical technique that takes into account other factors and 'levels the playing field') for depressive symptoms, neuroticism, social networks, and chronic medical conditions.

Results showed

In the 7 years of the study, 155 of 951 people (16.3%) developed Alzheimer's disease. Statistical analysis showed that greater purpose in life was associated with a substantially reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease (hazard ratio, 0.48; 95% confidence interval, 0.33-0.69; P<0.001).

A person with a high purpose in life score was approximately 2.4 times more likely to remain free of AD than was a person with a low purpose in life score.

A high purpose in life score was also linked to less 'mild cognitive impairment'. Mild cognitive impairment is a long preclinical phase during which people may transition before they show sufficient symptoms be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

A high purpose in life score was also linked to a slower rate of cognitive decline in old age. And purpose in life was related to a decline in semantic memory, followed by episodic memory, then perceptual speed, and working memory.

Purpose in life had been previously linked to positive health outcomes including :

better mental health

less depression

happiness

satisfaction

personal growth, self-acceptance

better sleep

longevity

What is the biological basis of purpose in life?

How does purpose in life protect against cognitive decline?

This is a hard question to answer.

The researchers state,

The finding that purpose in life is related to longevity in older persons suggests that aspects of human flourishing-particularly the tendency to derive meaning from life's experiences and possess a sense of intentionality and goal-directedness that guides behavior-contribute to successful aging.

It is likely people who experience greater purpose in life are less stressed and experience more positive emotions. For example, lack of purpose in life is associated with high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, markers of inflammation, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (the 'good' cholesterol), and abdominal fat - all factors that associated with poor general health.

A subsequent study is published in 2012 in the Archives of General Psychiatry reported greater purpose in life may help stave off the harmful effects of plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer's disease. Patricia Boyle said,

Our study showed that people who reported greater purpose in life exhibited better cognition than those with less purpose in life even as plaques and tangles accumulated in their brains...

These findings suggest that purpose in life protects against the harmful effects of plaques and tangles on memory and other thinking abilities. This is encouraging and suggests that engaging in meaningful and purposeful activities promotes cognitive health in old age.

A 2019 Frontiers of Psychology review titled Something to Live for": Experiences, Resources, and Personal Strengths in Late Adulthood explores 'disengagement theory'. The theory suggests a view of old age as a time of life when people step back from various commitments and social roles. But the findings of the present study highlight the desire and importance of older adults to remain active participants in society through creating opportunities for social connectedness, contribution, and belongingness.

One of the elders interviewed for the 2019 review stated:

To be part of a bigger group enables you to deal better with things. This is what gives meaning to our lives... We are not loners that live merely to survive; we live because we are part of society. This is what holds us, this is what I think gives life purpose and meaning...

And another said,

I see that there are times when I'm not focused on a specific target, and then I waste my time not doing things that are meaningful for me. And there are things that are important to me, things that I really want to do, but due to a lack of thinking ahead or planning, I postpone them or don't do them properly... It is important for me not to waste time, not only because I think that there is a limited time to each person, but because everyone has missions to fulfill in life, and it's a pity to postpone them. It's not just that we are born and then die.

How do you find your life's purpose?

By lovely coincidence, another wellness blogger Mark Sisson from Mark's Daily Apple was also writing about purpose and longevity recently.

Because he says it so well, here is his take on how to find your purpose, and I couldn't agree more ...

...do the list making, the rational weighing, the free from brainstorming that experts suggest. Reflect on your passions, your priorities, your values, your talents and temperament. Consider where all of these can intersect with the needs you see in the circles or society around you. Talk to friends. Take a stab at writing a personal mission statement if you're so inclined. Mull on the question while you're washing dishes. Fill your head with the possibilities, the pros and drawbacks, the complexities and ambiguities. But then move out of cerebral mode entirely, get out of your own way, and hand the question over to your intuitive self.

Personally, I find there's nothing more conducive to intuitive thinking than solo time outdoors... Think the question once - and only once - as you head out "into the wild" for your mini retreat. Then forget about it for the day. Just be and do and watch and smell and head home when you're good and ready....

One day you'll leave with your answer. Maybe it will come to you like a vision as you round the corner of a trail one day. Maybe it will settle in quietly, almost imperceptibly until you finally notice it's there with you. Either way, you'll have let your answer come forth from hours of, call it, Primal meditation. Not a bad source to tap into when you're seeking purpose - and time away worth the health benefits all on its own.

As I wrote in my book, it's useful to ask yourself what's your north star? Your 'ikigai'. Your 'plan de vida'? There are possibly many clever strategies to find the meaning of your life - somewhere in the nexus of passion, skillset, employment opportunity, education and service to others. William James the psychologist said in 1920,

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.

Recently I've come across a simpler way.

Over the years, I've taken to the 'science careers advice' stage with Paul Baldock, a bone biologist at Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research. We called on to share our wisdom, purpose and what we've learned on our career paths in science. Baldock has developed a novel formula for every decision he makes in the research lab, career, and life. He simply asks,

Is it awesome? Does it help?

This blog post was updated in December 2019.

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Your life's purpose. Why finding your passion is essential to maintaining brain health. - Dr Sarah McKay

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I've been writing this brain health blog since 2013, and it has changed my life and my career in extraordinary ways. My original purpose for this blog has been to provide impeccably-researched evidence-based stories that are told in a simple, fun and compelling way. And it has certainly taken me on an extraordinary journey.

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Questionnaire Center | Authentic Happiness

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Conversations are much more than a simple exchange of words.

Consciously or not, every time we interact with someone, we're meeting some of their social needs and perhaps depriving them of others. That is, we're using language and engaging in behavior that either uplifts and motivates people, or causes them to withdraw or shut down.

When it comes to workplace interactions, psychology research makes it clear that leaders can maximize engagement and drive lasting performance when they help their team members meet one another's needs.

So which needs should leaders focus on?

Over a decade ago, a research team led by NLI Director and CEO Dr. David Rock identified five such domains in humans' social experience. They include Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness. These domains make up The SCARF® Model, which we've outlined below.

Status

Status is the drive we feel to stand out from the crowd. When we share our new ideas and take credit for jobs well done, status is that glow of importance we're looking for.

Leaders may erode employees' sense of status if they squander those new ideas or take credit for others' work. On the other hand, they can bestow status rewards when they share employees' accomplishments to the wider team -or better yet, give their employees the floor to do so themselves.

Certainty

Humans naturally like to know what's going on. We like to understand our surroundings. At work, we feel threats to our certainty when our roles or responsibilities aren't totally clear, and when meetings start to go long, without any clear end in sight.

Leaders can offer up certainty rewards by making their expectations known whenever possible, and by setting clear agendas and timelines for their meetings.

Autonomy

As with each SCARF® domain, people have individual differences in needs for autonomy. But generally we like to feel a sense of control over the work we do.

When leaders involve themselves with every little detail of their team members' work, they risk creating threats to those people's autonomy. (This is why micromanaging feels so offensive.) However, when leaders give employees the time and space to do their work, unfettered by interruptions, they send a much more rewarding signal that they trust and value the person's ability to get things done.

Relatedness

Whether we mean to or not, humans draw boundaries around their groups. Some people are "in-group," while others are "out-group." In-groups and out-groups crop up all the time at work. For leaders, the goal is to expand the in-group and shrink the out-group.

Relatedness is the sense that we belong - that we're in the in-group. Leaders can use language such as "we" and "us" to promote that feeling, instead of language like "you," "me," and "they," which signals a clear boundary between groups. Indeed, political research finds that the collective pronouns predict the chance of a politician getting elected.

Fairness

Lastly, humans innately feel a sense of equity and equality in social interactions. We prefer what's justified over what's tilted in one party's favor.

Leaders can go a long way in promoting fairness through acts of transparency. For example, when making decisions, leaders can communicate their thought process behind making one choice over another. When employees don't get the full picture, and start to invent alternate stories, it may increase the chance people feel slighted.

In all cases, sending SCARF® rewards goes a long way toward employees feeling valued, engaged, and inspired to commit to their work.

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5 Ways to Spark (or Destroy) Your Employees' Motivation

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Conversations are much more than a simple exchange of words. Consciously or not, every time we interact with someone, we're meeting some of their social needs and perhaps depriving them of others. That is, we're using language and engaging in behavior that either uplifts and motivates people, or causes them to withdraw or shut down.

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By: Stephanie Kirby

Updated November 05, 2020

Medically Reviewed By: Aaron Horn

Have you ever felt scared, threatened, or in danger? Chances are, you reacted one of three ways: fight, flight, or freeze. These are the natural responses in each of us. They can serve a purpose in the right moments, but can also stop you from doing what's best. Learning how to recognize these responses will help you know how to handle them.
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What Is Fight, Flight, or Freeze?

Back in the 1920s, a physiologist named Walter Cannon described what he called the acute stress response. It's also been called the fight or flight response. In the years since, physiologists and psychologists have continued to build on and refine Cannon's work. They've come to a greater understanding of how people react to threats using what they now call fight, flight, freeze, and fawn.

1. To fight is to confront the threat aggressively.

2. Flight means you run from the danger.

3. When you freeze, you find yourself unable to move or act against the threat.

4. You may find yourself hiding from the danger. Fawn is the response of complying with the attacker to save yourself.

When you feel threatened, your body immediately responds to the danger. Whether you spring into fight, flight, freeze, or even fawn, your underlying goal is to minimize, end, or avoid the danger and return to a feeling of calm and control. While you have a natural inclination toward these responses, through the strategies shared below and/or therapy, you can learn to control your response.
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Initiating Threat

Before the fight-flight-freeze response kicks in, something happens to make you feel you're in danger. This threat may be real or imagined. Someone or something may be threatening to cause you physical or psychological harm. As soon as you recognize a threat, your nervous system shifts into the acute stress response.

1. The Physiological (Bodily) Stress Response

The physiological response to anything that seems to threaten our survival is complex, but it all happens quickly. The hypothalamus sets in motion a series of rapid changes in the nervous system and endocrine system that propel you into fight or flight:

Hormones such as adrenaline are released into your body from your endocrine system

Your heart rate speeds up

Your blood pressure shoots higher

Your pupils dilate

Your veins constrict to send more blood to your muscles

You begin to perspire

Your muscles tense

Your smooth muscles relax, allowing your lungs to take in more oxygen

Digestion and immune systems shut down so energy can be used for dealing with the crisis

You begin to tremble

Your blood sugar may shoot up as your liver breaks down glycogen

2. The Psychological (Mind) Stress Response

Along with the physiological response, you may experience psychological effects as well. Acute stress in the form of nervousness can increase the intensity of your anger or the speed of your flight. Or, your mind may become blank, making it difficult to decide what to do next.

Several psychological responses can happen. You feel anxiety. Your focus shifts to broader concerns, diminishing your attention to smaller tasks. Both the physiological and psychological stress shift your body and mind into survival mode. These responses have served an essential purpose for all creatures throughout history. They give us a chance to overcome danger or escape it so we can stay alive.

These responses can also be triggered at times when they aren't needed. When that happens, these drastic changes can damage our physical and mental health.
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How to Recognize Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn

The fight-flight-freeze response choice has a lot to do with your beliefs. If you believe you can conquer the danger, your body will jump into fight mode. But if you believe there's no hope of defeating the attacker, you'll naturally respond by running away.

When you respond by freezing, it usually indicates you feel you can't win either by fighting or running. The fawn response can happen when you can't fight or run. Instead, you choose to go along, trying to win over a person who is abusing you.

It's one thing to understand the responses you might have when you feel threatened. What can help the most is being able to recognize each type of response. Only then can you find a way to make better choices.

The fight response happens when you feel you're in danger, but you believe you can overpower the threat. Your brain sends messages to your body to quickly prepare you for the physical demands of fighting. Some signs you're in fight mode include:

You cry

You feel like punching someone or something

Your jaw is tight, or you grind your teeth

You glare at people or talk to them with anger in your voice

You feel like stomping or kicking

You feel intense anger

You feel like killing someone, perhaps even yourself

Your stomach feels tied in knots, or you have a burning feeling in your stomach

You'll also know if you're in fight mode because you'll attack the source of the danger. The fight response can be extremely beneficial under certain circumstances.

When you believe you can overcome the danger by running away, your brain prepares your body for flight. Sometimes, running away is your best option. After all, unless you're a firefighter, you probably want to run out of a burning building. Here are some of the emotional and physical flight responses:

Your legs are restless

You feel numbness in your extremities

Your eyes dilate and dart around

You constantly move your legs and feet

You're fidgety

You're tense

You feel trapped

You exercise excessively

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When you feel neither running nor fighting is the best choice, you can freeze instead. The following freeze responses can keep you stuck:

You feel cold

You have numbness in your body

Your skin is pale

You feel stiff or heavy

You have a sense of dread

Your heart is pounding

Your heart rate may decrease

You feel yourself tolerating the stress

When you've tried fight, flight, or freeze several times without success, you may find yourself using the fawn response. People who tend to fawn typically come from abusive families or situations.

For example, if you're the abused child of a narcissistic parent, your only hope of survival might be compliance and helpfulness. You can recognize this if you notice that no matter how poorly someone treats you, you are more concerned about making them happy than about doing what's right for you.

Inappropriate Fight, Flight, or Freeze Responses

Each type of response is appropriate in certain situations. The healthiest scenario is that you display flexibility in your responses. If you can overcome the danger, you stay and fight it. If you can't, and there's a way out, you run.
The problem for many people is that they respond one way when a different response would serve them better. These inappropriate responses can lead to mental and emotional disorders.

1. Making an Inappropriate Choice. Everyone makes the wrong choice of how to respond at one time or another. Sometimes, it isn't very important, but often it has adverse effects. For example, if you fight an unwinnable battle when running would have been more appropriate, you may increase your danger rather than minimize it.

2. Getting Stuck in One or Two Responses. If you get stuck in one or two types of response, you don't have the flexibility you need to adapt to different situations. This often happens in posttraumatic stress disorder. If you face danger daily, you may come to rely on habitual responses instead of the responses most appropriate for each threatening situation.

3. Perceiving Threat Where There Is None. There may be a time when you feel threatened where no threat exists. Perhaps you don't have a complete understanding of the situation. You might have a stress reaction to one meaningless detail. If you think there's a threat, your brain and body will respond to the threat with fight, flight, freeze, or fawn, whether the threat is real or not. When that happens, it's nearly always an inappropriate response.

Understanding Your Main Response Type

Many people tend to prefer one or two main types of stress responses. These responses become habitual patterns repeated over and over. The more trauma you've faced in your life, the more likely you are to rely on a habitual response. The good news is that you can understand your patterns and develop strategies to make better choices in the present moment.

As discussed above, the main four response patterns are fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. Other patterns are combinations of these basic patterns. Common hybrid patterns include:

Fawn-fight: controlling threats in coercive and manipulative ways

Fawn-flight: avoiding the threat by becoming invaluable in the situation

Fawn-freeze: surrendering to the threat by taking on the victim role

Flight-freeze: avoiding threats by focusing on other situations

Some disorders tend to be associated with certain stress response patterns. Here are a few of the ones that have been identified:

1. Fight type: Narcissism

2. Flight type: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

3. Freeze type: Dissociative Disorders

4. Fawn type: Codependency

What to Do about the Feelings of Flight Fright Freeze Fawn

Stress is something that happens automatically when you feel threatened. What you can do, though, is find healthier ways to deal with those responses when they happen. A licensed therapist can help you learn to recognize when your brain is engaging in flight-fright-freeze-fawn responses, before choosing the option that's safest for you in that situation. There are also times when there is no legitimate threat, but our brains want to engage in a stress response due to past trauma. Research shows that online therapy can play a significant role in helping people avoid flight, fight, or freeze responses that are inappropriate due to past trauma.

Recognize the Difference between Real and Imagined Threats

Start by learning to recognize whether threats are real or imagined. When you perceive the same threat over and over, it helps to talk to a counselor. They can help you examine the threat more closely and understand it better. You may discover that what you perceive as a threat in the here and now is only a vague reminder of an earlier threat.

Calm or Act

When you are confronted with something you feel threatened by, you have two main choices: either you can do something or calm yourself. To help the stress response pass, you can breathe deeply, practice mindfulness of the present moment, meditate, pray, sing, write, or talk.
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However, if the threat is real and you can do something about it, you need to act. Your body is geared up for action, whether that's running or fighting. What's more, by acting, you release the physiological burden of the stress response.

Make a Reasoned Choice

After the threat has passed, you can make better choices that will diminish your fear, increase your ability to respond to threats appropriately and flexibly, and learn to recognize when perceived threats have no basis in present fact. Because the fight, flight, or freeze response is a physiological response, it can be difficult to think about it rationally. You react the way you react; what else can you do?

Seek Help

A therapist can help you deal with past traumas that may be causing you to react in inappropriate ways. They can teach you techniques for calming yourself when you realize a threat isn't real. They can also help you overcome issues related to your fight-flight-freeze-fawn responses. You may read reviews of a few therapists below, from people experiencing similar issues.

Counselor Reviews

"Jason Howard has been a kind, open-minded counselor I'd recommend to anyone in need. I have a better understanding for my reactions and feel more confident with my actions moving forward. I have him to thank."

"I've worked with Alyson for 1 month and it was my first time working with a therapist. From when I started, I feel so much better. I was dealing with frustrations in my relationship and I also was constantly stressed and anxious. Alyson showed me ways to communicate better in my relationship and how to work at them. She also helped me with stress management tactics and now I feel really good about how to handle my stress. I feel much less anxious now. Overall I am in a much happier place and obstacles feel like merely obstacles because there's stress-free ways to tackle life problems. Thank you so much, Alyson!"

Conclusion

Stress will always be around. With the right tools, however, you can deal with stress in ways that makes your life the most fulfilling possible. You can take charge of your life and make better decisions, even in the midst of fear. Take the first step today.

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Fight Flight Freeze: How To Recognize It And What To Do When It Happens | Betterhelp

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By: Stephanie Kirby Updated November 05, 2020 Medically Reviewed By: Aaron Horn Have you ever felt scared, threatened, or in danger? Chances are, you reacted one of three ways: fight, flight, or freeze. These are the natural responses in each of us.

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When you are dealing with a challenge in your life, do you feel that you have control over the outcome, or do you believe that you are at the mercy of outside forces? Your answer to this question refers to your locus of control.

Our locus of control influences our response to events in our lives and our motivation to take action. If you believe that you hold the keys to your fate, you are more likely to change your situation when needed. Conversely, if you think that the outcome is out of your hands, you may be less likely to work toward change.

What Is Locus of Control?

Locus of control is the extent to which you feel you have control over events that impact your life. Put another way, it is "a belief about whether the outcomes of our actions are contingent on what we do (internal control orientation) or on events outside our personal control (external control orientation)," explains psychologist Philip Zimbardo.

In 1954, psychologist Julian Rotter suggested that our behavior was controlled by rewards and punishments. The consequences of our actions helped determine our beliefs about the likely results of future behaviors.

In 1966, Rotter published a scale designed to measure and assess external and internal locus of control. The scale utilizes a forced choice between two alternatives, requiring respondents to choose just one of two possibilities for each item.

While the scale has been widely used, it has also been the subject of considerable criticism from those who believe that locus of control cannot be fully understood or measured by such a simplistic scale.

Internal vs. External Locus of Control

If you believe that you have control over what happens, you have what psychologists refer to as an internal locus of control. If you believe that you have no control over what happens and that external variables are to blame, you have what is known as an external locus of control.

It is important to note that locus of control is a continuum. No one has a 100% external or internal locus of control. Instead, most people lie somewhere on the continuum between the two extremes.

These are characteristics of people with a dominant internal or external locus of control.

What Role Does Your Locus of Control Play in Your Life?

Internal locus of control is often used synonymously with " self-determination" and "personal agency." Some research suggests that men tend to have a higher internal locus of control than women while others suggest the opposite: that women have greater internal locus of control in comparison. Other research reports a shift towards more internal locus of control as people grow older.

Experts have found that, in general, people with an internal locus of control tend to be better off. However, it is also important to remember that internal locus of control does not always equal "good" and external locus of control does not always equal "bad."

In some contexts, having an external locus of control can be a good thing-particularly when a situation poses a threat to self-esteem or is genuinely outside of a person's control.

For example, a person who loses a sports game may feel depressed or anxious if they have a strong internal locus of control. If this person thinks, "I'm bad at sports and I don't try hard enough," they might allow the loss to affect their self-image and feel stressed in future games.

However, if this person takes an external focus during such situations ("We were unlucky to get matched with such a strong team," or "The sun was in my eyes!"), they will probably feel more relaxed and less stressed.

Do You Have an External or Internal Locus of Control?

Where does your locus of control fall on the continuum? Read through the statements below and select the set that best describes your outlook on life.

I often feel that I have little control over my life and what happens to me.

People rarely get what they deserve.

It isn't worth setting goals or making plans because too many things can happen that are outside of my control.

Life is a game of chance.

Individuals have little influence over the events of the world.

If the statements above best reflect your view on life, then you probably tend to have an external locus of control.

If you work hard and commit yourself to a goal, you can achieve anything.

There is no such thing as fate or destiny.

If you study hard and are well-prepared, you can do well on exams.

Luck has little to do with success; it's mostly a matter of dedication and effort.

In the long run, people tend to get what they deserve in life.

If the statements above best reflect your outlook on life, then you most likely have an internal locus of control.

A Word From Verywell

Your locus of control can have a major impact on your life, from how you cope with stress to your motivation to take charge of your life.

In many cases, having an internal locus of control can be a good thing. It means that you believe that your own actions have an impact.

If you tend to have more of an external locus of control, you might find it helpful to start actively trying to change how you view situations and events.

Rather than viewing yourself as simply a passive bystander who is caught up in the flow of life, think about actions you can take that will have an impact on the outcome.

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Are You in Control of Your Destiny, or Are You at the Mercy of Chance?

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Locus of control is the extent to which you feel in control of the events that influence your life. Do you make things happen, or are you at the mercy of chance?

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In the late 1990s, two psychology researchers at UCLA were talking about how the female scientists in their lab responded differently to stress than the men did. The men would disappear into their offices; the women would bring cookies to lab meetings and bond over coffee. Forget fight-or-flight, they joked. The women were tending and befriending.

The joke stuck in the mind of one of the women, postdoctoral researcher Laura Cousino Klein. Psychology research has suggested that stress leads to aggression, but that wasn't her experience. And it didn't fit with what she observed in other women either. They were more likely to want to talk with someone about their stress, spend time with their loved ones, or channel their stress into caring for others. She wondered if it was possible that science had gotten stress wrong.

Klein decided to dig deeper into the science, and she made the surprising discovery that 90 percent of the published research on stress was conducted on males. This was true of animal studies as well as human studies. When Klein shared this observation with Shelley Taylor, the director of the lab she worked in, something clicked for her, too. Taylor challenged her lab to study the social side of stress, especially in women. Looking at both animal and human research, they found evidence that stress can increase caring, cooperation, and compassion.

While the tend-and-befriend theory began as an investigation into the female response to stress, it quickly expanded to include men-in part because male scientists said, "Hey, we tend and befriend, too!"

Taylor's team, along with other research groups, began to demonstrate that stress doesn't only motivate self-defense, as scientists had long believed. It can also unleash the instinct to protect your tribe. This instinct sometimes expresses itself differently in men than it does in women, but the two sexes share it. In times of stress, both men and women have been shown to become more trusting, generous, and willing to risk their own well-being to protect others.

Why would stress lead to caring?

From an evolutionary point of view, we have the tend-and-befriend response in our repertoire first and foremost to make sure we protect our offspring. Think of a mama grizzly protecting her cubs, or a father pulling his son from the wreckage of a burning car. The most important thing they need is the willingness to act even when their own lives are at risk.

To make sure we have the courage to protect our loved ones, the tend-and-befriend response must counter our basic survival instinct to avoid harm. We need fearlessness in those moments, along with confidence that our actions can make a difference. If we think there's nothing we can do, we might give up. And if we are frozen in fear, our loved ones will perish.

At its core, the tend-and-befriend response is a biological state engineered to reduce fear and increase hope. The best way to understand how the tend-and-befriend response does this is to look at how it affects your brain:

The social caregiving system is regulated by oxytocin. When this system is activated, you feel more empathy, connection, and trust, as well as a stronger desire to bond or be close with others. This network also inhibits the fear centers of the brain, increasing your courage.

The reward system releases the neurotransmitter dopamine. Activation of the reward system increases motivation while dampening fear. When your stress response includes a rush of dopamine, you feel optimistic about your ability to do something meaningful. Dopamine also primes the brain for physical action, making sure you don't freeze under pressure.

The attunement system is driven by the neurotransmitter serotonin. When this system is activated, it enhances your perception, intuition, and self-control. This makes it easier to understand what is needed, and helps ensure that your actions have the biggest positive impact. In other words, a tend-and-befriend response makes you social, brave, and smart. It provides both the courage and hope we need to propel us into action and the awareness to act skillfully.

Here's where things get interesting. A tend-and-befriend response may have evolved to help us protect offspring, but when you are in that state, your bravery translates to any challenge you face. And-this is the most important part-anytime you choose to help others, you activate this state. Caring for others triggers the biology of courage and creates hope.

Whether you are overwhelmed by your own stress or the suffering of others, the way to find hope is to connect, not to escape. The benefits of taking a tend-and-befriend approach go beyond helping your loved ones, although this, of course, is an important function. In any situation where you feel powerless, doing something to support others can help you sustain your motivation and optimism.

The tend-and-befriend theory doesn't say that stress always leads to caring-stress can indeed make us angry and defensive. The theory simply says that stress can, and often does, make people more caring. And when we care for others, it changes our biochemistry, activating systems of the brain that produce feelings of hope and courage.

I wrote my book The Upside of Stress with that purpose in mind: to help you discover your own strength and compassion. Seeing the upside of stress is not about deciding whether stress is either all good or all bad. It's about how choosing to see the good in stress, and in yourself, can help you meet the challenges in your life. Tending and befriend is one of the best ways to do this, and to transform your own stress into a catalyst for courage and connection.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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How to Transform Stress into Courage and Connection

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In the late 1990s, two psychology researchers at UCLA were talking about how the female scientists in their lab responded differently to stress than the men did. The men would disappear into their offices; the women would bring cookies to lab meetings and bond over coffee. Forget fight-or-flight, they joked.

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Practices for cultivating the social, emotional, and ethical well-being of school staff members

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With the rise of managed health care, which emphasizes cost-efficiency and brevity, mental health professionals have had to confront this burning question: How can they help clients derive the greatest possible benefit from treatment in the shortest amount of time?

Recent evidence suggests that a promising approach is to complement psychological counseling with additional activities that are not too taxing for clients but yield high results. In our own research, we have zeroed in on one such activity: the practice of gratitude. Indeed, many studies over the past decade have found that people who consciously count their blessings tend to be happier and less depressed.

The problem is that most research studies on gratitude have been conducted with well-functioning people. Is gratitude beneficial for people who struggle with mental health concerns? And, if so, how?

We set out to address these questions in a recent research study involving nearly 300 adults, mostly college students who were seeking mental health counseling at a university. We recruited these participants just before they began their first session of counseling, and, on average, they reported clinically low levels of mental health at the time. The majority of people seeking counseling services at this university in general struggled with issues related to depression and anxiety.

We randomly assigned our study participants into three groups. Although all three groups received counseling services, the first group was also instructed to write one letter of gratitude to another person each week for three weeks, whereas the second group was asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about negative experiences. The third group did not do any writing activity.

What did we find? Compared with the participants who wrote about negative experiences or only received counseling, those who wrote gratitude letters reported significantly better mental health four weeks and 12 weeks after their writing exercise ended. This suggests that gratitude writing can be beneficial not just for healthy, well-adjusted individuals, but also for those who struggle with mental health concerns. In fact, it seems, practicing gratitude on top of receiving psychological counseling carries greater benefits than counseling alone, even when that gratitude practice is brief.

And that's not all. When we dug deeper into our results, we found indications of how gratitude might actually work on our minds and bodies. While not definitive, here are four insights from our research suggesting what might be behind gratitude's psychological benefits.

1. Gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions

First, by analyzing the words used by participants in each of the two writing groups, we were able to understand the mechanisms behind the mental health benefits of gratitude letter writing. We compared the percentage of positive emotion words, negative emotion words, and "we" words (first-person plural words) that participants used in their writing. Not surprisingly, those in the gratitude writing group used a higher percentage of positive emotion words and "we" words, and a lower proportion of negative emotion words, than those in the other writing group.

However, people who used more positive emotion words and more "we" words in their gratitude letters didn't necessarily have better mental health later. It was only when people used fewer negative emotion words in their letters that they were significantly more likely to report better mental health. In fact, it was the lack of negative emotion words-not the abundance of positive words-that explained the mental health gap between the gratitude writing group and the other writing group.

Perhaps this suggests that gratitude letter writing produces better mental health by shifting one's attention away from toxic emotions, such as resentment and envy. When you write about how grateful you are to others and how much other people have blessed your life, it might become considerably harder for you to ruminate on your negative experiences.

2. Gratitude helps even if you don't share it

We told participants who were assigned to write gratitude letters that they weren't required to send their letters to their intended recipient. In fact, only 23 percent of participants who wrote gratitude letters sent them. But those who didn't send their letters enjoyed the benefits of experiencing gratitude nonetheless. (Because the number of people who sent their letters was so small, it was hard for us to determine whether this group's mental health was better than those who didn't send their letter.)

This suggests that the mental health benefits of writing gratitude letters are not entirely dependent on actually communicating that gratitude to another person.

So if you're thinking of writing a letter of gratitude to someone, but you're unsure whether you want that person to read the letter, we encourage you to write it anyway. You can decide later whether to send it (and we think it's often a good idea to do so). But the mere act of writing the letter can help you appreciate the people in your life and shift your focus away from negative feelings and thoughts.

3. Gratitude's benefits take time

It's important to note that the mental health benefits of gratitude writing in our study did not emerge immediately, but gradually accrued over time. Although the different groups in our study did not differ in mental health levels one week after the end of the writing activities, individuals in the gratitude group reported better mental health than the others four weeks after the writing activities, and this difference in mental health became even larger 12 weeks after the writing activities.

These results are encouraging because many other studies suggest that the mental health benefits of positive activities often decrease rather than increase over time afterward. We don't really know why this positive snowball effect occurred in our study. Perhaps the gratitude letter writers discussed what they wrote in their letters with their counselors or with others. These conversations may have reinforced the psychological benefits derived from the gratitude writing itself.

For now, the bottom line is this: If you participate in a gratitude writing activity, don't be too surprised if you don't feel dramatically better immediately after the writing. Be patient and remember that the benefits of gratitude might take time to kick in.

4. Gratitude has lasting effects on the brain

About three months after the psychotherapy sessions began, we took some of the people who wrote gratitude letters and compared them with those who didn't do any writing. We wanted to know if their brains were processing information differently.

We used an fMRI scanner to measure brain activity while people from each group did a "pay it forward" task. In that task, the individuals were regularly given a small amount of money by a nice person, called the "benefactor." This benefactor only asked that they pass the money on to someone if they felt grateful. Our participants then decided how much of the money, if any, to pass on to a worthy cause (and we did in fact donate that money to a local charity).

We wanted to distinguish donations motivated by gratitude from donations driven by other motivations, like feelings of guilt or obligation. So we asked the participants to rate how grateful they felt toward the benefactor, and how much they wanted to help each charitable cause, as well as how guilty they would feel if they didn't help. We also gave them questionnaires to measure how grateful they are in their lives in general.

We found that across the participants, when people felt more grateful, their brain activity was distinct from brain activity related to guilt and the desire to help a cause. More specifically, we found that when people who are generally more grateful gave more money to a cause, they showed greater neural sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area associated with learning and decision making. This suggests that people who are more grateful are also more attentive to how they express gratitude.

Most interestingly, when we compared those who wrote the gratitude letters with those who didn't, the gratitude letter writers showed greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex when they experienced gratitude in the fMRI scanner. This is striking as this effect was found three months after the letter writing began. This indicates that simply expressing gratitude may have lasting effects on the brain. While not conclusive, this finding suggests that practicing gratitude may help train the brain to be more sensitive to the experience of gratitude down the line, and this could contribute to improved mental health over time.

Though these are just the first steps in what should be a longer research journey, our research so far not only suggests that writing gratitude letters may be helpful for people seeking counseling services but also explains what's behind gratitude's psychological benefits. At a time when many mental health professionals are feeling crunched, we hope that this research can point them-and their clients-toward an effective and beneficial tool.

Regardless of whether you're facing serious psychological challenges, if you have never written a gratitude letter before, we encourage you to try it. Much of our time and energy is spent pursuing things we currently don't have. Gratitude reverses our priorities to help us appreciate the people and things we do.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain

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New research is starting to explore how gratitude works to improve our mental health.

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If you were to go on a journey with someone for several decades, how important would the relationship between the two of you be?

Wouldn't you make an effort to ensure you got along well? Wouldn't you want to make sure the relationship between the two of you was positive and supportive?

The journey of life, the one we're all on right now, isn't so different from that hypothetical journey. Except rather than spending time with another person, our constant companion is the voice inside our heads. But for many of us, the relationship between ourselves and that voice isn't so positive.

"You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection."

Self-criticism is a common problem, and not one to be overlooked: the way you talk to yourself plays a vital role in well-being. Luckily, the problem of the harsh self-critic is fixable. This article offers five ways to help you overcome your inner critic by strengthening your self-compassion and fostering a sense of self-acceptance.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our 3 Self-Compassion Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will not only help you increase the compassion and kindness you show yourself but will also give you the tools to help your clients, students, or employees show more compassion to themselves.

The Relationship With Ourselves

The way we perceive a situation is never truly objective. Each of us has our own filters and explanatory styles, which skew our views of the world.

Growing up, people are conditioned by their parents or the people who look after them in childhood. Children model themselves after their caretakers. Depending on which values the caretakers live by, children are likely to adopt the same ones as a blueprint for understanding the world.

How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.

Values are a collection of guiding principles, and they determine what people deem to be correct and desirable in life (Schwartz, 1992). People use values as a subconscious scoring rubric through which they assess others and themselves in terms of worth and ideals. For instance, values such as responsibility, openness, and respect have the tendency to strengthen relationships and provide a basis for well-being and creativity.

Depending on one's environment and the values he or she was taught growing up, a person will develop an inner guiding voice, and there is a tendency for it to be harshly self-critical.

People take the values they grew up with (such as performance), and if their perception of themselves does not correlate with their values (e.g., "I did not do well enough" and "I should have done better"), they tend to deem themselves unworthy.

In the long run, our subjective and self-critical perceptions of whether we live up to these values have an impact on our self-worth, which in turn determines whether the voices in our heads are kind and supportive or destructive and devaluing.

Unfortunately, the perception we have of ourselves also influences our behavior. That often means we live out a self-fulfilling prophecy, never measuring up to the "good enough" value.

How Does This Impact Our Well-Being?

Research suggests that people who are socially isolated often actively contribute to their isolation. They're more likely to hold negative expectations for their treatment by others, and therefore they adopt a prevention rather than promotion focus in their social interactions (Cacioppo & Hawkley, 2005).

Hence, insecurity can lead to self-absorbed ruminations rather than performance-enhancing behavior. This is a downward spiral that has a negative impact on a person's long-term happiness and wellbeing.

Researchers Ed Diener and Martin Seligman (2002) conducted a study of both happy and unhappy people to determine what factors set them apart. It turned out that happy people didn't necessarily exercise more, participate more often in religious activities, or experience more (subjectively) positive life events. The difference between the groups was that happier people had better social relationships.

This is not surprising, as researchers have consistently proven that humans have a psychological need for belonging. Even more important, however, is the relationship people have with themselves. Our thoughts, particularly the ones involving self-perception, greatly impact our well-being.

An Introduction to Self-Compassion

Rather than trying to change our deeply rooted values-a challenging task-we can start by lessening the impact they have on us by changing the ways in which we view ourselves. We can begin to do this with self-compassion.

Self-compassion means being gentle, kind and understanding with yourself; accepting that you are not perfect; and understanding that there is potential for learning and growth in every mistake you make (Neff, 2003).

If you don't love yourself, you cannot love others. You will not be able to love others. If you have no compassion for yourself then you are not able of developing compassion for others.

The Dalai Lama

The Buddhist understanding of compassion means offering patience, kindness, and nonjudgmental understanding to others as well as oneself. Contrary to what you might believe, self-compassion is not equivalent to selfishness.

An easy way to understand self-compassion is to compare it to the instructions given by flight attendants in case of a depressurized airplane cabin: you're supposed to put on your own oxygen mask before helping someone else with theirs. In the same way, we need to look after ourselves before taking care of others.

Make Peace With Your Inner Critic

People generally try to hide their shortcomings in order to maintain a positive self-image. With self-compassion, people can actually increase their knowledge and clarity about their own limitations (Neff, 2003).

It might seem like that could end in a downward spiral, but self-compassion has been found to be positively correlated with improved mental health and greater life satisfaction.

So what can you do to turn our inner critic into a gentle supporter? Traditional cognitive skills training has been found rather ineffective in this area.

One 2010 study randomly assigned college freshmen one of three workbooks for depression: traditional cognitive, non-traditional cognitive, and academic skills (Haeffel). The study found that the participants who were high in rumination exhibited significantly greater levels of depression and that the cognitive training worsened rumination among the subjects (Haeffel, 2010).

This study shows that rather than working on the cognitive level, the inner critic needs to be tackled in a different way: with self-awareness and understanding.

5 Ways to Practice Self-Compassion

Here are five essential steps to increase your self-compassion using internal and external resources:

Step 1: Practice Forgiveness

Stop punishing yourself for your mistakes. Accept that you are not perfect and be gentle with yourself when you are confronted with your shortcomings. You are valued by your friends and colleagues because of who you are, not because you are faultless.

Become aware of times when you derive a sense of self-worth from performance or perfection. Understand that you do not need to be a certain way to be worthy of love.

One way to remind yourself that you are worthy, even when you're not performing well, is to put a sticky note near your desk or in your wallet with a message reminding you to be gentle and kind with yourself.

There is no sense in punishing your future for the mistakes of your past. Forgive yourself, grow from it, and then let it go.

Melanie Koulouris

Step 2: Employ a Growth Mindset

At the heart of Carol Dweck's research is the impact of our mindset on wellbeing. She found that whether we have a fixed or growth mindset influences our happiness. Do you view challenges as impossible obstacles or as opportunities to grow? Employing a growth mindset is more helpful.

Embrace rather than avoid challenges, persist in finding meaning in them, and don't give up on yourself. When you find you are criticizing yourself and negatively comparing yourself with others, try to find inspiration in their successes and strengths instead of feeling threatened.

Step 3: Express Gratitude

Feeling gratitude is very powerful (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Rather than wishing for what we do not have, there is strength in appreciating what we do have, right now. You can choose to write a gratitude journal or go for gratitude walks. By focusing on our blessings we employ a gentler inner voice and move the focus away from our shortcomings and outward to the world, with all its beauty.

Step 4: Find the Right Level of Generosity

Raj Raghunathan (2016) has identified three different reciprocity styles: giver, taker, and matcher. Givers are the most generous people, and generosity is a great way of employing compassion. However, givers can be both the most successful and least successful people, as they may fall into a pattern of selfless giving that ignores their own needs.

For generosity to work in favor of your well-being, it cannot be selfless. So, when being generous, make sure you are aware of your own needs before progressing. Then consciously choose the recipient of your generosity, the resources you have available, and your level of energy based on what will support your own well-being.

Also, have fun being generous. See the difference you make and do not forget to give back to yourself. Doing good for others makes us happy, but only if it does not reduce our own levels of well-being.

Step 5: Be Mindful

Mindfulness has been found to have a positive impact on self-compassion, as it has a tendency to lessen self-judgment (Kabat-Zinn, 2014). Strive to always be in the moment and to be aware of what is happening right now, without judgment and labeling.

Allow what you think or feel to have its moment; don't give it the microphone or hide it in the corner. Allow it to come, and then, without attachment, let it go.

More about practicing mindful self-compassion here.

A Take-Home Message

You are worthy of love. So, next time you do not rise to the expectations you have for yourself, take a moment to pause and reassess.

Be mindful of the difficult emotions that arise. Forgive yourself and recognize that you are only human. See if you can identify how to do it differently next time. Be grateful for the opportunity you had in the first place and for your persistence to try again.

Finally, accept yourself. You are not perfect. And yes, you likely could have done better. But chances are, you did just fine. And often, that's more than enough.

We would love to hear how you feel about this article and how you are bringing more self-compassion into your life. Take a moment to share your story in the comment section below. Maybe it will inspire others to start their journey of self-love and satisfaction.

For further reading:

We hope you found this article useful. Don't forget to download our 3 Self Compassion Exercises for free.

If you wish to learn more, our Science of Self Acceptance Masterclass© is an innovative, comprehensive training template for practitioners that contains all the materials you'll need to help your clients accept themselves, treat themselves with more compassion, and see themselves as worthy individuals.

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5 Steps to Develop Self-Compassion & Overcome Your Inner Critic

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If you were to go on a journey with someone for several decades, how important would the relationship between the two of you be? Wouldn't you make an effort to ensure you got along well? Wouldn't you want to make sure the relationship between the two of you was positive and supportive?

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Bringing you scientifically proven tips and ideas to live a happier and more meaningful life through interviews with positive psychology and well-being thought leaders. The editors of Live Happy magazine bring you best-selling authors and happiness gurus that share their knowledge on topics such as wellness, gratitude, well-being and mindfulness. Interviews are conducted with people like Shawn Achor, Michelle Gielan, Dr. Christine Carter, Margaret Greenberg, Dr. Drew Ramsey, Gretchen Rubin, Barbara Fredrickson, Tal Ben-Shahar, Deepak Chopra, Sonja Lyubomirsky, Stacy Kaiser, Darin McMahon, Michelle McQuaid, Fred Luskin, Shani Robins, Kristin Neff, Dr. Rick Hanson, and many more.

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Live Happy Now podcast on demand - Bringing you scientifically proven tips and ideas to live a happier and more meaningful life through interviews with positive psychology and well-being thought leaders. The editors of Live Happy magazine bring you best-selling authors and happiness...