How can you feel positive, when you are flooded with negativity?

A few years ago I participated in a fascinating experiment. I was one of seventy people randomly divided into two groups. The researchers brought us into a room and showed us a clip of all that could go wrong in our lives.

The clip lasted barely 5 minutes, yet afterwards I felt sad, a little angry and my body felt tired. Shortly after seeing the clip, the researchers asked us to come up with as many ideas on how to use a product as we can. We came up with 34 ideas.

At the same time, the other group of experiment participants were showed a happy clip depicting all that can go well in our lives. They watched people graduating, getting married, having children, travelling and laughing a lot. Then, they were asked to find as many ideas as possible to use the same product. They came up with 74 ideas. In other words, after experiencing positive emotions participants became more creative with finding solutions.

The result of the experiment is not surprising. When we are flooded with negative emotions, our minds become more rigid and less creative. When experiencing such emotions as sadness, anger or fear, a message is sent to our brain that our survival is at stake, therefore we need to summon all our energy to deter danger, and make it easy to decide what to do.

Let me illustrate it with a personal story. Last year, I had a car accident. As I was waiting for the traffic lights to change, I sat in my car listening to music, thinking of what I was planning to do over the weekend, and feeling happy. When the lights changed, I drove off, and suddenly, I saw a Jeep in front of me slamming on his brakes, at which point I slammed on mine, but it was too late. It was a rainy day and I drove too close to the car in front of me, so as I hit the brakes, my car began to aquaplane. I no longer had happy thoughts. All I could think about was whether I should hit the car in front of me head on or should I hit the railings on the side of the road. In an instant, my mind and options had narrowed down, will I go for option A or B.   It would not be useful for me to consider too many options, as my life could be at stake.

The same process occurs when we experience negative emotions relating to other areas of our life. When that happens, we find it difficult to be creative about solutions to our problems, as all we can think are only the obvious options.

We need to experience more positive emotions to be creative.

How can you feel positive, when you are flooded with negativity? For years, positive emotions were considered the opposite of negative emotions, however, recent research by a positive psychologist, Barbara Fredrickson found that positive emotions can co-exist with negative emotions. Therefore, it is possible to laugh and find something enjoyable while you are going through adverse events, such as grieving after someone close to you has passed away.

When my dad died, there were days when I felt a little guilty to have fun, but I took time out of my grief to live my life and smile. Research shows us that when, in these moments, we can summon positivity, it will help us recover from our adversities faster, open up our minds to possible solutions to life problems and give us the necessary energy to keep going.

So, when you’re having a bad day, bad week, or bad month, try to reflect upon what is going well despite your adversity. Look for the rays of sunshine amongst the dark clouds. The more you focus on finding them, the more apparent they become. If you can’t see them, create them. The solution is in your hands.