For some time now I have believed that being genuinely enthusiastic
about your work goes a long way towards achieving big things in life. It’s hard
to be enthusiastic however, if you’re currently unhappy.
Please note, I am not
talking about clinical depression here, I’m talking about just generally
feeling unhappy, weighed down or moody.
A few years ago I attended a workshop where we learnt about Positive Psychology, which can be beneficial in tackling these emotions.
The basic idea is that emotions often spiral...either downwards (negative) or
upwards (positive) and it takes awareness to break out of a downwards spiral. A
few of the ideas that I gained from the session are as follows:
1. Those individuals who see the positive occurrences
during their day are generally happier and/or less stressed.
2. Good and Bad can coexist - find the positives in your
day (even if they're small).
This probably needs a broader explanation. The example they
gave during the workshop was of an individual who knocks their elbow when
getting out of bed, then stubs their toe as they're stumbling around in pain. The
individual is then late to work as they were forced to deal with their bleeding
toe.
At this point the individual is obviously thinking “I'm having
the worst day" and they begin to see only the bad things that occur for the
remainder of the day...and miss seeing all of the good things that occur.
3. Remembering the good things from your day will improve
your sleep...which improves your chances of having further good things occur
the following day.
Taking time to
remember at least three good things from your day before you go to sleep is
good practice.
4. Optimists are luckier than pessimists as they're more
likely to see the positive opportunities available to them.
Note I’m aware that the statement above is technically false
as "luck" is outside one's control...but you get the point.