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Introduction to Positive Experiences

Positive Experiences

We often find ourselves thinking and talking about what goes wrong in our lives, this topic seeks to look at the things that go well and how to capitalise on them. Positive experiences are those that are enjoyable at the time and which are pleasant to remember. The study of positive emotions isn’t to say that we should not have negative experiences of emotion as well, but that having more positive experiences than negative experiences allows us to
enjoy some of the benefits. Typically, when discussing experiences of emotion, we categorise emotions as positive or negative.

Positive emotions:

  • Hope.
  • Joy.
  • Pride.

Negative emotions:

  • Fear
  • Anger
  • Jealousy

Focus on the Experience Not the Emotion

It may be more helpful to categorise the experiences themselves as positive or negative rather than the emotions that are felt. The experience then becomes positive or negative depending on how we perceive it during and after it has happened. The emotions are still
there but they don’t have to define the experience based on our preconceived notions about that particular emotion.

For example, fear is typically seen as a negative emotion and is associated to unpleasant experiences. However, this is not always the case as you can feel fear whilst participating in a pleasant experience e.g. riding a rollercoaster or watching a scary film. For the rest of this
course the term positive experiences will be used except when the course refers to a model or theory.

It is also worth noting that we can experience a mixture of emotions at the same time, related to the same experience.

Aims

We hope by the end of this topic of the course you will have:

  1. Reflected on your personal experience of positive emotions and any hopes and fears the topic brings about.
  2. Learnt about the Broaden and Build theory of positive emotions and the positive impact of negative emotions.
  3. Learnt about savouring and dampening strategies and how these impact on our perception of positive experiences
  4. Identified some ideas for how to bring about positive experiences for yourself.

Consider more:

1) What do you think about using the terms positive and negative experiences rather than emotions?
2) Which parts of this topic are you most interested in learning about?

Important:

You might want to make notes at this point. These may help you remember things, work out what you want or see how much you’ve changed if you read them in a few years’ time.