09 Nov Happiness includes many positive emotions, like elevation, and this is certainly elevating!
Within the positive psychology community many have a love-hate relationship with happiness. By that, I mean that there are some positive psychologists who’re concerned that the word happiness is too vague and means too many things to too many different people. Some of these academics and commentators argue we should stop using the word!
Personally, I think this would be a bit of an overreaction as I think most people do know what happiness means and…they like it!
But it is important to note that happiness, in positive psychology terms, is a relatively broad construct and that when I use it I intend to cover a full range of positive emotions such as joy and excitement, but also calm and contentment (just to name a few).
At the same time, there’s one positive emotion, or form of happiness, that’s frequently ignored and that’s elevation. Today, I want to highlight this form of happiness and encourage you to reflect on it more than you might have done to date.
Mostly, the term elevation is used to refer to the experience of heightened positive emotion (again, a form of happiness) we get when we observe someone else egaging in an act, usually of moral courage or standing. It can also be used to describe the feelings of awa and amazement we experience when we watch something inspiring.
Interestingly, research suggests that when we experience elevation (and happiness more generally) we’re more likely to engage in positive acts and to do more good things to and for others. So it’s one of those great situations where if we feel great we’re more likely to try to help others feel great!
So take time to seek out elevating experiences and to get you started, check out this awesome and elevating performance – JUST CLICK HERE