Accumulating Positive Emotions
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I guess the idea here is to "collect" positive emotions so that my well isn't always dry. I think the more good things we have in our lives the less painful the bad stuff is. If I have ten good experiences every day and only one bad, then I'm ahead of the game. The good outweighs the bad. And if on a given day the tables are turned, at least I was already ahead of the game.
But, if I have ten bad experiences every day and one good, then I'm always behind. The one good doesn't really feel that great because I'm too far down. And if the tables are turned on any given day, I'm still in such a dark hole that it's just a glimpse of sunshine from the bottom of the well.
So, I think what I need to do is start making good experiences in order to refresh my well and keep me on the positive side even if I have a bad day or two now and then. Steps suggested to do this are:
But, if I have ten bad experiences every day and one good, then I'm always behind. The one good doesn't really feel that great because I'm too far down. And if the tables are turned on any given day, I'm still in such a dark hole that it's just a glimpse of sunshine from the bottom of the well.
So, I think what I need to do is start making good experiences in order to refresh my well and keep me on the positive side even if I have a bad day or two now and then. Steps suggested to do this are:
- Avoid avoiding. I am an avoider by nature. I avoid spending time with people or doing things that scare me, so this is a hard concept for me.
- Identify values that are important to you. I have identified the values that are important to me and that I want to work on.
- Identify one value to work on now. I think the one that would assist the others is to become a spiritual person again. However, this is also probably my hardest one.
- Identify a few goals related to this value. Just do it! Go to a Church; any Church. Start praying more. Read my Bible more.
- Choose one goal to work on now. A goal for right now could be to go to a different Church every Sunday in July and August just to get a feel for where I would possibly fit. The students are gone, so Churches should mostly be slightly smaller, giving more of a feel of the residents rather than the students who attend.
- Identify small action steps toward your goal. Finding out the meeting times of seven or eight potential Churches would be a good place to start. Email or phone the Church offices just to have some sort of contact. Inquire about small groups.
- Take one action step now. Tomorrow I will look up Churches in Moscow and even Pullman to see what might be a fit.