Spot and Appreciate Micromoments of Positivity Resonance

The other day, I had one of those moments which must be unique to this particular historical moment: I put an opinion on the internet and got some incredibly mean comments in response. I was upset. I left the house with my dog, who is exceptionally cute, and a stranger, noticing this, smiled at him and then at me. I smiled back. I felt a little better. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson is a researcher who would have named my experience with the stranger a micromoment of positivity resonance — a shared positive emotion. She calls this the body’s definition of love. Love isn’t, she contends, the kind of exclusive lifelong bonds we try to create with our romantic partners. It’s something you can stumble across many different times in a day. Through her lab research, Fredrickson found that our bodies and brains respond positively to connection with other human beings, no matter how well we know the other person. Laughing at the same joke, hugging a friend you haven’t seen in a while, or mutually acknowledging the cuteness of someone’s dog are examples of the kind of love our bodies respond to and, Fredrickson argues, need to survive. In her book Love 2.0, she writes, “Just as your body was designed to extract oxygen from the Earth’s atmosphere, and nutrients from the foods you ingest, your body was designed to love.” Right now, the US is especially divided, and there is a lot of anger and frustration in the air. As far as I can tell, neither side is particularly able...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Happiness Inspiration & Hope Publishers Relationships The Fix Affection Barbara Fredrickson Bonds Calm company connect connection hugging Julie Peters laughing Love positive emotion positivity resonance Source Type: blogs