Is there anything good about negative emotion? 🤔

I get asked about negative emotions often. At one of my book signings in DC, a leader told me that he was driven by the anger that resulted from his boss undermining him at work. I asked him if that was sustainable? What could be the cost?

Another community member here on IG said that his anxiety had been driving him more than any positive emotion could.

Well… is it possible? It certainly is. But it isn’t the negative emotion alone. It’s the acceptance of it. You see, it builds a bridge to contentment, if you allow it. Neuroscience research even goes so far as to say that the acceptance of the negative emotion is stronger than any one positive one.

I mean. I understand it. We are hard-wired as negative beings. It’s for our own safety—fight or flight. Remember? But when adversity and trauma cause the negativity…then what?

I emphasize positive emotion over everything. Why is that? Well, because this is where I get to choose between the two sciences.

Neuroscience research says acceptance of negative emotions makes a bigger contribution to psychological health than positive ones. That’s because acceptance reduces the emotional charge and the amygdala activation.

But positive psychology leans toward happiness and how to sustain it through those positive emotions… it’s values driven and leans heavily into intrinsic motivation.

The fact is that values-based positive emotion provides the momentum you need to sustain forward motion.

So again, I say “Yes Please!” to positive emotion. But yes, there is a benefit to negative emotion—the acceptance of it. So the next time you feel the negative mood—- be ok with it. Your psychological health is better for it. Then engage three positive emotions to flip that bad boy on its ear.

Personally, I’ll take a dopamine hit or a surge of oxytocin any day over elevated blood pressure. 🙋🏽‍♀️. How about you?

Because happy people ARE successful people. And when the negative happens, know that you can be happy ANYWAY.

Coach L.