Positivity Top-Notch Research Reveals the 3-to-1 Ratio That Will Change Your Life

by Fredrickson, Barbara

• ISBN13: 9780307393746
• ISBN10: 0307393747
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-12-29
• Publisher: Harmony

Summary

World renowned researcher Dr. Barbara Fredrickson gives you the lab-tested tools necessary to create a healthier, more vibrant, and flourishing life through a process she calls "the upward spiral." You'll discover: What positivity is, and why it needs to be heartfelt to be effective The ten sometimes surprising forms of positivity Why positivity is more important than happiness How positivity can enhance relationships, work, and health, and how it relieves depression, broadens minds, and builds lives The top-notch research that backs the 3-to-1 "positivity ratio" as a key tipping point That your own sources of positivity are unique and how to tap into them How to calculate your current positivity ratio, track it, and improve it WithPositivity, you'll learn to see new possibilities, bounce back from setbacks, connect with others, and become the best version of yourself. From the Hardcover edition.

Author Biography

BARBARA L. FREDRICKSON, PH.D., is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and principal investigator of the Positive Emotion and Psychophysiology Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a leading scholar within social psychology, affective science, and positive psychology.


From the Hardcover edition.

Table of Contents

The Good News About Positivity
Waking Up to Positivity	p. 3
Positivity: Means, Not Ends	p. 15
What Is Positivity?	p. 37
Broaden Your Mind	p. 54
Build Your Best Future	p. 74
Bounce Back from Life's Challenges	p. 97
The Positivity Ratio	p. 120
Raise Your Ratio
Where Are You Now?	p. 141
Decrease Negativity	p. 158
Increase Positivity	p. 179
A New Toolkit	p. 199
Future Forecast: Flourishing	p. 224
Appendix: Positivity Self Test	p. 233
Notes	p. 235
Recommended Resources	p. 265
Acknowledgments	p. 267
Index	p. 271
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Chapter 1
Waking Up to Positivity
One’s own self is well hidden from one’s own self:
Of all mines of treasure, one’s own is the last to be dug up.
—Friedrich Nietzsche

TAKE 1
The morning sun streams through your bedroom window and wakes you from a fitful night’s sleep. After a long string of gray and rainy days, you appreciate seeing blue sky. But soon enough you realize the alarm didn’t go off. You’re disappointed because you’ve been meaning to wake up extra early so you can have time to yourself before the kids wake up and the morning race begins. With what little time there is, you decide to skip your planned exercise routine, spend some more time in bed, and write in your journal. You write,

I can’t believe I let myself down again by forgetting to set my alarm. How am I ever going to take charge of my days (and my
life!) if I can’t make this simple change? Without exercise, I’m going to feel like a slug today. Ugh. I’d better focus on why I write in this journal in the first place: to think about my larger goals and connect them to what I do each day. Is this really working? Is it worth my time when I could be sleeping? What I really should be doing with this extra time is checking for fires on e- mail or reviewing my ridiculously long to- do list. Isn’t our water bill past due? Where is it anyway?

At this point you close your journal, get out of bed, go to your computer, and open your e- mail. Sure enough, you find that your co- worker, Sharon, needs input from you before she can submit her proposal, and she needs it by this afternoon. You’ll be stuck spending at least part of your morning preparing forms for her. Feeling angry at her imposition, you open the next e-mail to see that the project you spearheaded received preliminary approval and you’ve got forty- eight hours to make a final set of revisions. “ Fortyeight hours!” you say out loud. “Am I supposed to drop everything to make these revisions?” How am I going to fit this in?” The nanosecond of joy you felt on learning the good news is squashed by your concerns about clearing this last hurdle.

Just then, your daughter, who’s nearly four years old, wakes up and calls, “Mommy!” You glance at the time: 6:42. You’ve told her time and again to wait quietly in her room until you come in for hugs and kisses at seven, and here she is, not listening, again. Your frustration is growing— far too many demands both at work and at home. Nobody understands how impossible your life has become with this career shift. You go to your daughter’s room, snap at her
about calling for you early, and then march off to make breakfast.

The whole morning is a grim race, and everybody’s losing. You’d have been out the door on time had your seven- year- old son not misplaced his favorite shoes. Then starts the parental nagging: “Why can’t you just wear a different pair!? If those shoes are so important to you, why don’t you keep better tabs on them?” Now all four of you— the kids, you, and your husband— are racing around the house trying to find those @#$% shoes!

Later, having dropped the children off at school— late again—you arrive at work— also late. The first person you see is Joe, your collaborator on the project that was just accepted. He’s smiling broadly. At times you appreciate Joe’s good spirits, but today his smile makes you suspicious. You think,He’s trying to butter me up so I’ll do all the revisions! He approaches. “Did you hear the news? We got the money! We’re set for the year!” You say, “Yeah, but did you see that list of revisions— and just forty- eight hours to make them? I’ve also got to deal with Sharon’s p

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Excerpted from Positivity: Top-Notch Research Reveals the 3 to 1 Ratio That Will Change Your Life by Barbara Fredrickson
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.