05 Nov Do you ever push back on feeling happy? If so, you need to read on …
For a variety of reasons, many of us are reluctant or anxious to allow ourselves to be happy.
We might think it’ll bring bad luck, that we don’t deserve it, or that it’s just a frivolous emotion that will disrupt the real and serious work of living productively!
Whatever your reasons, suppressing positive emotions is not healthy or helpful. In fact, research suggests it might be associated with lower levels of wellbeing.
According to PsyPost …
A series of studies in the United States and on the island of Taiwan found that people suppress their positive emotions less often than they suppress their negative emotions. However, suppression of positive—but not negative—emotions was consistently associated with lower well-being. The research was published in Affective Science.
The article goes on to write …
Many people habitually suppress outward displays of their emotions. Various world cultures discourage showing certain emotions in public, considering such displays inappropriate. Men, in particular, are often expected to refrain from showing emotions, with many cultures assigning various negative qualities to men who frequently display emotions, especially negative ones.
You can read more HERE but the important thing to note is that happiness and other positive emotions are important parts of our psychological lives and we need to learn to allow and accept and express them in healthy ways (just like we do for negative emotions!).
So, let yourself be happy, smile that smile, share that good news … doing so will provide so many benefits in so many ways.