Experiencing a Wide Range of Emotions is Good for You
In much motivational and popular literature we often find the mantra of “finding happiness” and people associate this with being happy all the time, living in a constant state of bliss. Sounds good right?
Wrong!
Why is it wrong?
Well, first of all, us human beings are fundamentally designed to experience different emotions, it’s a sign that we’re alive. I’ve always promoted accepting and not worrying about all those negative emotions we have. In fact research has shown they are beneficial, can increase motivation, increase creativity, and also help make those happy moments happier.
In fact emodiversity is linked to higher well being. This isn’t to suggest that higher negative emotions are good, in contrast constant negative emotion is bad, but some negative emotions with a combination of positive emotions is a very healthy state to be in.
What’s more, recent research by Soomi Lee and colleagues from the University of South Florida has shown that this emotional diversity is related to a variety of activities. The more activities people engage in the higher their emotional diversity and the higher their well being.
So, get involved in a variety of activities accept that that will come with some frustrations, disappointments, anger, and negative emotions as well as a bunch of positive. But that is what it should be doing because that will increase your well being.
Of note is also that as we age we tend to decrease our activities and emodiversity — that may be a bad thing because the researchers point out that previous studies have found :
“…greater activity diversity is also associated with higher psychological well-being, better cognitive functioning and brain volume that governs memory and learning.”
So, be human, experience the range of emotions and you will be more alive and reap many cognitive and health benefits! And the best way to do that is to engage in wide range of activities!
Reference:
Soomi Lee, Emily J Urban-Wojcik, Susan T Charles, David M Almeida. Rich and Balanced Experiences of Daily Emotions are Associated with Activity Diversity Across Adulthood. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2021; DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbab144