08 Apr Making Space For Difficult Emotions
Check out my latest article for the HIF Healthy Lifestyle Blog…
People have all sorts of expectations of Dr Happy, the Chief Happiness Officer of The Happiness Institute; and one of those is that I’ll exclusively write and talk about happiness. At the same time, most people assume I’ll be anti-unhappiness.
Like most things in life, this is true and untrue!
Surprisingly to some, the focus of my work is not really happiness; or not in the way most people think about it, anyway. More accurately, what I do (whether it’s writing or speaking or consulting or coaching) is promote the principles of Positive Psychology which rather than being “the science of happiness” as it’s sometimes labelled, is really the science of thriving and flourishing.
In other words, my passion is helping as many people as possible live their best possible lives.
Now in part, this involves positive emotions such as happiness. We can’t possibly live our best lives without a healthy dose of positivity, which includes happiness but also includes other positive emotions such as calm and contentment, satisfaction and pride, and others.
At the same time, however, no one will be or should expect to be happy all the time. The so-called “negative emotions” (such as stress and anxiety, anger and frustration, sadness and grief) are normal and at times, perfectly appropriate. We learn from and even benefit from these “negative emotions”. They help us avoid risk and gain wisdom and add colour and richness to our existence…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE