Diane Lang, positive living expert, Psychotherapist and author of Creating Balance and Finding Happiness, defines nine positive emotions that will help us live a happy life. Positive emotions cause us to live an optimistic lifestyle. When we feel these emotions frequently in life they cause happiness. After you read this list, you want to ask yourself: what can I do to feel these emotions more often? What triggers these positive emotions? How can I add more of these em otions into my life?
If you add positivity to your life and feel these emotions, a majority of the time you will live years longer and healthier. Positivity helps us sleep better, be more resilient, be open to new opportunities and socialize more (which is so important because socialization is the #1 factor of happiness), but we also need to be realistic to know that we can’t be happy 100% of the time and if we try to we will be setting ourselves up for failure. We will have ups and downs. It’s how we handle them that matters.
Think in these terms: what goes up must come down. So, when we are up – enjoy the moment. Be in the moment when we are down and remember its only temporary.
1. Joy is a feeling that comes from within. We can feel joy no matter what’s going on in our lives.
2. Gratitude to help us appreciate what we have.
3. Pay it forward to help others while help ing ourselves — a win-win situation.
4. Serenity, mindfulness and peace – we all need silence, serenity and peace. “I have noticed that I can receive all of this when I’m mindful. Mindfulness allows me to live in a state of “now” and when I’m in the now I don’t have any antipactory anxiety. Mindfulness brings a sense of calm and peace,” shares Diane Lang.
5. Step out of your comfort zone with interests/activities. Every time we step outside of our comfort zone we get a boost of happiness. It also gives us motivation to try new things and feel successful.
6. Hope – without hope what do we have? When things go wrong and we are stuck in bad situations, we need and look for hope. If we didn’t have hope we would remain stuck in situations and our negative self talk. With hope we know there is an opportunity for change which motivates you to get out of the negative situation and move forward.
7. Simple moments of happiness – simple things that bring us a boost of happiness that can last from 24-48 hours. It’s the small things like enjoying a cup of coffee with no interruptions, having lunch with a friend, etc. Theses activities bring enjoyment without doing much work.
8. Feeling inspired by others – this is a hard emotion because we naturally feel competitive towards others. We can feel jealous even when our close friends and family have their dreams come true. This jealousy can turn into resentment and anger. But if we can truly see the inspiration from others’ behaviors and dreams, it can motivate us to do better.
With inspiration we want to be inspired but we also need to be an inspiration to others. It’s a two way street.
9. Love – another emotion that is a two way street. We need to give love and be loved. It’s a give and take relationship. I have noticed that both giving a nd receiving love can be very tough for many people but yet without love we cannot feel truly happy. Love is the theme of the world. You need to love yourself to love others, but the reverse is true: you need to love others in order to love yourself.
ABOUT DIANE LANG
Diane Lang – Positive Living Expert and psychotherapist – is a nationally recognized speaker, happinesss author, educator, therapist and media expert. Lang is extremely mediagenic and offers expertise on a variety of health and wellness topics about creating balance and finding happiness through positive living as well as multiple mental health, lifestyle and parenting needs. In addition to holding multiple counseling positions, Diane is also an adjunct professor at Montclair State University.
Lang has been interviewed for numerous magazine and newspaper articles and has been a frequent guest on radio and TV shows including “Fox & Friends” on the Fox News Network. Lang is a monthly contributor for “Family Beautiful” magazine, a weekly columnist for MommyTalk.com, a regular featured expert on the “Expat Show” broadcasted weekly on the New York ABC affiliate WTBQ-AM, and a Blogger at www.pazoo.com.
Lang speaks to employees of large companies to help reduce stress in the workplace and speaks to parents about how to create balance and find happiness along with a variety of other health and wellness topics. For rates or to book Diane Lang contact pr@dlcounseling.com.
Diane is also the author of two books: “Baby Steps: The Path from Motherhood to Career” and “Creating Balance and Finding Happiness.”
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