Tracking Positive and Negative Emotions

Tracking Positive and Negative Emotions
Author’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

Tracking positive and negative emotions
Individuals use emotions to express themselves as such it a way of relating to life. The expression of emotions occurs in two opposite ways that are positive and negative emotions. The act or intention of inclusion can be regarded as positive emotion while the intention of exclusion is the negative emotion. The depiction of negative emotion is characterized by the fear of the future unknown thus one destroys the threat hence one destroys the others by strengthening his or her position without any regard to the others position. Negative emotion exists in the form of fear, anxiety, and feeling of shame, regret, being hostile, resentment and anger. On the other hand, positive emotions involve taking everything into consideration where one interacts with others and enjoys in his attempt to make things better. Positive emotions are depicted in the form of joy, laughter, curiosity, enthusiasm, feeling of empathy and interest.
Tracking Period
I developed a four-day tracking period of the existing different emotions that I was experiencing throughout the day period as I had been instructed. I tracked my emotional experiences in the four days and found that I experienced more of positive emotions than the negative emotions. Although I did have negative emotions too, I found out how easily the emotions were overmatched by my positive emotions during the day. Moreover, it came to my realization that during the four days, I began the day more on a positive note.

However, as the day progressed there arose incidences where the negative emotions manifested themselves. For example, in day 1 woke up in a positive mood after having satisfactorily rested after having previous long hours of working that stretched till midnight. I was able to interact with my friends during the day where the day was joyous hence my positive moods. However, it later emerged that I had lost a part of my small business revenue because of delivery cancellations. This made me express regret and anger hence negative emotions. On the fourth day, I had a successful day having developed and implemented a growth plan for my business. However, it was saddening having been informed that my neighbor had been involved in an accident. I realized that my emotions ranged from the feeling of excitement to emotional anger. My emotional range involved, the feeling of apathy, joy, interest and enthusiasm and those of negativity ranged from anger, regret and at times to the feeling of blame mostly when I had been let down by business stakeholders at work. In particular, tracking the four days, I noticed that I felt more positive emotion during my successful business working days while at the same time I was more angered on any form of impairment to the growth of the business. The successful days greatly made me not to focus on my negative emotions as I was having more of successful working days hence more of positive emotions. My strongest emotional responses, therefore, were due to have a good day at work. This was characterized by interacting with others especially the colleagues. The news of any success at the workplace brought out my highest emotional response. When I had negative emotions, I mostly kept them to myself and didn’t involve others.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4
Positive emotions Had a happy morning after having a good day-night sleep 4/4 Attended my favorite comedy show and took my family to dinner 4/4 Was selected for the entrepreneurial award 4/4 Successful day where I developed my growth plan 4/4
Negative Emotions Lost part of my business 4/4 Worked overnight with little rest 3/4 Had an unsuccessful meeting with suppliers 4/4 My neighbor had an accident 4/4
1.1 Tracking positive and negative emotions
Psychological benefits of positive emotions
There are many psychological benefits that come as a result of having positive emotions. Barbara Fredrickson developed the ‘broaden- and –build’ theory. The theory shows the impact of having positive emotions on individuals. First, having positive emotions to a large extend expands one’s thought – action repertoires. In this case, one thinks more and has a high attention level hence he or she has many positive thoughts that will enable him to be more creative and sees opportunities in everything. For example on day four, it’s through joy and interest that I had the successful day of business expansion. Having positive emotions have the effect of undoing one’s negative emotions. Positive and negative emotions go hand in hand. Hence they have to be integrated. When experiencing more of negative emotions then having just one deliberate experience or response of positive emotion will significantly be the undoing of the existing negative emotion. Also, resilience is on most occasions enhanced by having positive emotions. The feeling of satisfaction, love, and contentment helps a great deal in one’s resilience and being able to cope up with different situations. Positive emotions act as a catalyst to upward development spiral where one will develop an improved and positively growing emotional status. This means that one will be positively transformed and exist in a better version of himself or herself (Boniwell, 2016). Psychological repertoire building is as a result of one having positive emotions. It’s through this that significant psychological resources can be developed such as physical, social and highly developed intellectual capacity.
Strategies to help cultivate positive emotions in your life
Positive emotions help a great deal for individuals to achieve various life goals. As such, one can employ strategies that can aid in the cultivation of positive emotions. One of the strategies is by training your brain on how to achieve more positivity in life. The human brain constantly remembers all those things that are wrong and as such one can dwell on such wrong things. The constant focus on negativity helps increase stress levels and leads to more unhappiness. All this is nature and cannot be changed in any way, but one has the alternative of brain training to be more positive. Training, therefore involves one keeping the anticipation goodness in every situation and learning how to appreciate and notice goodness in situations. Also, training on how to express gratitude makes one be always happy. This is achieved through being sincere with others while thanking them, appreciating your blessings, enjoyment of your relationships and seeing positivity in other negative situations. Another strategy is no keep on nurturing and enjoying relationships. Having a good relationship with family, relatives, and friends is a good booster for one having a positive and happy emotional outlook. It will be an effective strategy to keep on seeking and maintaining happy people in your life. Moreover, one should focus on being of help to others and ensure that he or she is living with meaning. Being of help to others is a very fulfilling life and making a difference in the life people ensures one has positive emotions. This can be achieved by volunteering, kindness in practice and loving others. Also, it’s good always to live in the moment and appreciate the life pleasures. One should therefore not dwell on negative things by remembering your happy moments and constantly meditating (“Cultivating Happiness: Five Tips to Get More Satisfaction and Joy Out of Life”, 2016).
References
Boniwell, I.(2016). Your Emotions and You – PositivePsychology.org.uk. PositivePsychology.org.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2016, from http://positivepsychology.org.uk/your-emotions-and-you
Cultivating Happiness: Five Tips to Get More Satisfaction and Joy Out of Life. (2016). Helpguide.org. Retrieved 12 December 2016, from http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/cultivating-happiness.htm