Why we should say no to positivity — and yes to our negative emotions

“Being positive has become a new form of moral correctness.”

Suppressing or avoiding our difficult emotions is not healthy or helpful.

Doing this impairs our capacity to deal with the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. And this leads to lower levels of resilience, lower levels of wellbeing, and higher levels of depression and anxiety.

An important way of dealing with a difficult emotion is to label it effectively.

Labeling your emotions more accurately helps you understand the cause of those emotions and triggers your ability to set goals and to make real concrete changes.

Identify your emotions with compassion.

Compassion allows you to foster a safe space inside of you, a space in which you feel capable of taking more risks: you’re ready to analyze and explore the world and you know that if things don’t go right, everything is still ok.

Create space between you and what you’re feeling and act as an observer by naming all the aspects of your experience.

Don't identify with your emotions. Doing this puts you in charge rather than the emotion.