The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds--Not Crushes--Your Soul

by Brad Stulberg

Pain isn’t the only contagious emotion. Researchers from Yale University closely monitored nearly five thousand people living in the small town of Framingham, Massachusetts, for more than three decades. They found that when someone became happy or sad, that emotion rippled throughout the entire town. Emotions even spread virtually. Another study, aptly titled “I’m Sad You’re Sad,” found that if you are in a negative mood when you text-message your partner, they are likely to pick up on it and experience a lower mood state themselves. The same is true of Facebook posts, according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Emotions like happiness, sadness, and anger spread like wildfire on the platform. (Not that you needed a study to prove this.) Another study, published in the journal Motivation and Emotion, showed that even below-the-surface emotions, such as motivation, are contagious. If someone is working in the same room as others who are internally driven, that person’s attitude improves. If, however, someone is working in the same room with those who aren’t too excited about their work, then that person’s motivation decreases. A