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Started reading
March 17, 2017
your positivity is energizing to those around you.
shared moments of laughter and joviality
Positivity is now linked to solid and objective biological markers of health.
positivity brings lower blood pressure,
hypertension,
the slow and steady accumulation of hugs—
or positivity—
In the span of three months,
Hardships are inevitable;
possibilities.
the larger system
you already have
positive emotions turned out to be the active ingredient that enabled certain people to bounce back and grow stronger.
ranging from minor, everyday stressors to major life events,
show more emotional complexity
Their emotions are more complex because their positivity sits side by side with their negativity.
They don’t deny the reality of negativity, but they don’t wallow in it, either.
the physical hearts of people
and blood pressure.
you have a hidden “reset” button for these spikes in blood pressure:
Good feelings not
only flush out bad feelings, they also quiet your heart and quickly bring your blood...
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Heart rates shot up. Blood pressures rose. Veins and arteries constricted.
Positivity can quell or “undo” the cardiovascular aftereffects of negativity.
But, with positivity, you can rein in those reactions and regain a calm heart.
My early experiments on the ability of positivity to “undo” negativity
What mattered were the good feelings that these different sorts of images created.
cardiovascular measures and speech task,
It was an interesting challenge that they were happy to take on.
tracking heart rate, blood pressure, and constriction of blood vessels before, during, and after the public speaking task—
Within seconds, their hearts had calmed.
because their inner wellspring of positive emotions
functional magnetic resonance imaging (or fMRI)
faster recovery from anticipated negativity in the in-sula, a brain area linked to conscious feeling states.
less brain activity in a region known as the orbitofrontal cortex (or OFC).
the more people worked themselves up into a worried tizzy in anticipation of possible negativity, the slower they were to appreciate that they had in fact dodged a bullet.
everyone was just as moved by actual negativity.
people with resilient personality styles worry less and rebound quicker.
They react to what is happening now, not to what-ifs.
focusing instead on the reality of the present moment.
both positivity and openness.
find the good within the bad.
You can build your own resilience levels.
Resilience is an inner resource that grows over time.
Resilience is a resource you can build.
to think of it as a challenge they could meet and overcome.
to get psyched up for the speech
to cultivate more joy, serenity, inspiration, and pride
the scientific evidence about the impact of views from hospital windows; hospitalized patients whose windows looked out onto nature’s greenery had shorter hos pital stays than those with views devoid of nature.
I learned to truly receive
As an upward spiral clears your path, your mind and your heart become more fully open to connect with caring others.
