WE all know how the pandemic has not only put a lot of pressure on our physical health, but also challenged our mental health as well. The good news is that paralleling the inroads made in finding cures for Covid, last year was also a busy and productive one in the field of positive psychology.
And “just as brilliant medical researchers have been racing to make discoveries that will keep us physically healthier, psychologists and behavioral scientists have been hard at work figuring out how we can all be a little happier, more resilient, and well -adjusted in a world that often feels like it’s going off the rails,” says Jessica Stillman in an article in Inc.com.
In her article, 5 Things Science Learned About How to Live a Happier and More Meaningful Life in 2022, Stillman rounds up some of the most important and useful insights in UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center’s online magazine that can help just about any of us have a more joyful and meaningful 2022.
1. Uncertainty pushes us to stop and smell the roses
One of the few silver linings that positive psychology researches have uncovered during the pandemic is the discovery that we are more likely to smell the roses when our life is wildly uncertain.
This literally happened when “researchers handed out fliers to pedestrians that said ‘Life is unpredictable: Stop and smell the roses,’ or Life is constant: Stop and smell the roses,’” reports Greater Good.
A short distance away was a table with a dozen roses on it—and the people who read that life is unpredictable literally smelled the roses 2.5 more than the others.
Does this actually translate in real life? Apparently yes. The same researchers “pinged 6,000 participants up to a dozen times a day, asking how chaotic and unpredictable the world felt and whether they were savoring the present. It turned out that when the world felt messy, people were more likely to be savoring their lives a few hours later at the next ping.”
“We’d all love to see the end of the virus, of course,” says Stillman. “But perhaps it will cheer you to know it’s pushing us all to pay more attention to life’s small pleasures.” She hopes “we’ll keep this newfound good habit once we fully settle back into a more predictable routine.”
2.There’s a right and wrong way to daydream
Daydreams are one of the pleasures we can all enjoy. These reveries keep us happy and inspired, especially during challenging times.
But Stillman says that new science insists there is actually a correct (and wrong) way to daydream. The first approach leads to fresh ideas; the other way leads to anxiety.
What’s the difference? Mind-wandering, whether you’re thinking about something other than the task at hand, but in a focused way, “makes you feel lousy.” But when your thoughts are free flowing and go from topic to topic, “daydreaming makes you happier and more creative.”
Here’s the bottom line takeaway from Greater Good: “We don’t have to be 100 percent focused all the time. So, if you want to be more creative and happier, don’t feel guilty about a little daydreaming.”
3.You are surrounded by opportunities for empathy
There are many ways we can show empathy for others as we go through our day. It could be extending a helping hand to a colleague in his report, baking your family’s favorite dessert, driving a disabled neighbor to church, or simply smiling and saying thank you to those we encounter along the way.
Scientists say we all encounter an average nine opportunities to show empathy every single day. And the more we seize the opportunities, the better we feel.
“People who saw more empathy opportunities and empathized were happier and greater well- being,” Greater Good sums it up. “This suggests that our daily lives are filled with opportunities to practice empathy, including opportunities to share in other people’s happy moments, if we just look out for them.”
4.Compassion makes us more resilient
After two years of disruption and disagreement brought about by the pandemic, Stillman agrees with most that “it’s incredibly hard to muster much sympathy for those with a different approach to the virus, or in our worst days, much of anyone really.”
But new research can give you another point of view. A poll of 4,000 people in 21 countries “found that participants who expressed a fear showing compassion for themselves or others were likely to feel more depressed, anxious, and stressed out during the pandemic.”
Feeling the blues take over you? Try a little compassion to get you out of your rut, and give you resilience during a crisis. Acts of kindness—random or otherwise—truly go a long way.
5.Turning off your camera helps reduce Zoom fatigue
With a host of research done into the incredibly topical phenomenon of Zoom fatigue this year, Stillman says that the bottom line solution (besides the obvious one of avoiding unnecessary meetings) is simple: “Turn off the cameras, both ways, at least from time to time.”
Cameras, after all can be very distracting, and by turning it off, you’ll get to do the things you have to attend to, and get to enjoy the things you truly love.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the senior vice president for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chairman.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.
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