Strategies to impact your well-being: Week #3

Two weeks ago, we started a four-week series on strategies for processing emotion. This week we’re again featuring one positive strategy (called “savoring”) and one negative strategy (called “dampening”). Although research has focused on how these strategies impact individual outcomes such as positive emotions and happiness, they could also be used with families, friends, and units to promote positive and happy individuals and interactions.

Savoring (Positive) Strategy #5: “Capitalizing”

“Capitalizing” comes about when individuals communicate and celebrate positive events. Within families and other groups, telling others about the positive event and marking it with a celebration (used in moderation) can increase daily positive feelings and actually increase your immune responses. You may be able to experience this capitalizing effect by posting positive news on your Facebook page, as well.

Dampening (Negative) Strategy #6: “Fault Finding”

“Fault finding” occurs when individuals pay attention to the negative aspects of events or interactions that are predominantly positive by trying to figure out what could have been better. Thinking through what could be better next time is an important skill for parents, Warfighters, and relationships—in moderation. Consistently finding fault within positive events is associated with lower levels of happiness, self-esteem, and life satisfaction.

So next time a positive event happens, try communicating the event with those around you and see if it helps foster positive feelings within the family (or unit). Additionally, catch yourself the next time you find fault within something positive.

Next week we’ll look at the last pair of strategies in this series.