04 Apr Joy as an Antidote to Burnout
Positive emotions such as happiness are not just good because they feel good, they’re also good for us in many ways. Happy people tend to be healthier, have better quality relationships, they perform better and they even live longer.
Even more so, positive emotions like happiness protect against negative emotions such as stress and depression.
And they spread, so they also do good for others!
Keep reading to learn more about joy as an antidote to burnout from Arianna Huffington …
We have, if we’re lucky, about 30,000 days to play the game of life. So given our fleeting time on earth, how can we bring more joy into our lives? Joy is one of our most powerful emotions. And it’s an effective antidote to burnout. If a culture of well-being is going to be part of our future of work, one of the building blocks has to be joy.
The origins of the word “joy” date back to the 13th century, coming from the Old French word joie, meaning pleasure, delight, bliss. I also love its association with the Latin word gaudere, or rejoice, meaning joy is also an action we can take. And unlike happiness, which can sometimes seem like a far-off, distant, end-state, joy is about being in the moment. And joy doesn’t just make us feel good. According to Mental Health America, it can lower anxiety, decrease stress hormones, promote heart health and even lessen pain.
Though we can of course find joy in solitude, there is also a fundamental social aspect to it. As Harvard Medical School psychiatrist Dr. George Vaillant put it, “joy is all about our connection to others.” Vaillant is the lead researcher of Harvard’s famous Grant Study, a 75-year longitudinal effort to identify predictors of health and well-being. And what Vaillant’s team found is that, more important than our genes, or money or fame, are close relationships built on joy.
Here’s another great thing about joy — it’s contagious. According to sociologist Nicholas Christakis, “When you make positive changes in your own life, those effects ripple out from you and you can find yourself surrounded by the very thing you fostered.”
That’s why joy can be so powerful at work — it’s a force multiplier that allows teams and companies to set ambitious goals and meet them without burning out. A study by researchers at Warwick University found that joy and happiness made people 12% more productive. As study author Daniel Sgroi put it, “happier workers use the time they have more effectively, increasing the pace at which they can work without sacrificing quality.”
… keep reading the full & original article HERE