When was the last time happiness rendered you sleepless?
Picture yourself lying in bed, sleep playing hide-and-seek, and sheer happiness keeps you from sleeping to the point you have to watch a 'sad' movie to bring yourself back down to earth. On the other hand, if I asked you about sleeplessness stemming from worry, fear, or sadness, I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar you could recall a specific date (or ten).
Negative thoughts stick like superglue, holding more power over us than positive thoughts (which are about as sticky as a used post-it-note)*. This can be attributed to the brain's evolutionary history. The amygdala (a tiny almond-shaped part of your brain located in the limbic system) plays a vital role in processing emotions, particularly fear and threat detection. As an ancient survival mechanism, it served our ancestors well when they needed to stay alert to potential dangers in their environment. However, in modern times, this bias can lead to excessive worry and rumination.*
What Is An Emotion?
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor offers an intriguing idea: the initial chemical rush of an emotional reaction lasts about 90 seconds. Keep returning to the thought that triggered it, she says, and we set it off again. It’s her “90-second rule” - not a settled scientific stopwatch for emotions, but it made me wonder how often I’m keeping my own misery on repeat.
When I wrote the blog about pain, (Backache, Pain & Yoga) I discovered that how we perceive the intensity of pain in each moment significantly shapes its impact and how much it hurts.
Surprisingly, this notion resonates with emotions as well. The depth of our emotional experience is intertwined with how intensely we embrace and feel the emotions coursing through us. It's as if we hold the key to the magnitude of both pain and emotion.
An Optional Aside - The Science Of Emotion
When we experience an emotion, a complex series of physiological and psychological processes occur within the brain and body. These processes overlap and influence each other rather than happening in a neat sequence.
Stimulus Detection: Emotions are triggered (By events, thoughts, or sensations.)
Neural Activation: Brain regions become activated; for example, the amygdala helps assess emotional significance, including potential threats or rewards.
Neurotransmitter Release: Neurotransmitters, chemical messengers, help brain cells communicate and influence mood and arousal.
Physiological Response: The body can react with changes such as increased heart rate or sweating. Stress responses can involve the release of hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.
Subjective Feeling: We become aware of the emotion subjectively- experiencing feelings like joy, fear, anger, sadness, or excitement etc
Cognitive Interpretation: Our thoughts and memories interact with emotions. This influences how we interpret and label the emotion and may determine subsequent behavioural responses
Behavioural Response: Emotions influence how we act and react, closely tied to our evolutionary survival mechanisms and social interactions
Emotion Regulation: During an emotional response, the prefrontal cortex modulates the emotion's intensity and duration. This process helps us adapt and cope with emotional experiences.
Actionable Mindset Shifts
What does this all mean? If an emotion is an electrical impulse that lasts a few seconds - yet I spend hours/ days /years wallowing in my own misery, surely there is something that I can do to change that? Yes there are things we can do:
Move Your Body: Moooooove. Anything, just moooove! Yoga is great of course. Or dancing like no one is watching (Here is the Spotify playlist to dance with abandon). Physical exercise boosts mood and promotes endorphins and neurotransmitters like serotonin, which can alleviate stress and improve mood.
Change Your Focus: Connect with your body by breathing and grounding yourself. Bring awareness to the sensations in your body and feel the connection with the earth.
Mindfulness Meditation: Mindfulness practices can help you cultivate awareness of your thoughts and emotions without judgment, fostering a more balanced and compassionate mindset.
Practice Gratitude: Daily gratitude practices have scientifically proven benefits for increasing happiness and reducing depressive symptoms.
Time in Nature: Even a short time in a local park can help refresh and rejuvenate your mind.
Connection: Chat to a friend. Reach out for support and gain new perspectives by sharing your feelings with others.
Take Time Out: Engage in relaxing activities like Yoga Nidra, reading, or colouring/ drawing anything that you do to shift your focus.
Add ‘Yet’: Change ‘I can’t do this’ into ‘I can’t do this YET’! Emphasise growth and progress, rather than focusing on what you can't do.
Cognitive Reframing: Challenge negative thoughts by questioning their accuracy and considering alternative, more balanced perspectives. This technique, known as cognitive restructuring, can reduce the impact of negative thinking patterns.
Next time sadness, anger, or worry strike, ask yourself: Are you truly having a bad day, or are you wallowing in a brief electrical current?
*The post-it note was invented accidentally by 3M chemist Dr. Spencer Silver, who intended to create a super-strong adhesive but ended up with a low-tack adhesive, leading to the creation of the Post-it-Note together with Art Fry.
*Negativity Bias: Source: Rozin, P., & Royzman, E. B. (2001). Negativity Bias, Negativity Dominance, and Contagion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5(4), 296-320.
*Modern Impact of Negativity Bias: Source: Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 323-370.
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