An emotional ecosystem full of sensations, of accepted emotions, nourished by deciphered feelings and appreciated as a precious life lesson shapes a stronger and wiser psychological environment.
Written and verified by the psychologist GetPersonalGrowth.
Last update: 15 November 2021
In nature, the greater the diversity in an ecosystem, the stronger, richer and more resilient that scenario will be. Emodiversity follows the exact same principle. The more heterogeneous our palette of emotions, the greater our flexibility and strength, since understanding this universe without limiting ourselves to extremes means investing in health, acquiring greater intelligence and maturity.
If we think about it, in addition to a large number of self-help books, society tells us that to achieve well-being, one must only experience positive emotions. This leads, almost without realizing it, to embark on an Arthurian journey in search of the grail of happiness through which to avoid at all costs shades such as sadness, disappointment, frustration or anger.
And we forget that there is no better strategy than understanding your enemy. Escaping from negative emotions corresponds to blindfolding, denying that vital learning through which to cope with any circumstance with greater resources. Because life, like emotions, is varied and highly complex. Only those who allow themselves to deepen the feelings and emotions in order to fully understand them, adapt better to the fluctuations of everyday life.
We have been conditioned to think that negative feelings are enemies of well-being. And for some, going from joy to anger, from disappointment to excitement in the same day is synonymous with instability and even unreliability. The time has come to shed some light, to introduce a fundamental concept for mental health into our language: emodiversity.
"I won't tire of stressing how important it is to learn to use negative emotions for who they are, a call to action, and to commit to cultivating positive emotions."
-Tony Robbins-
What is emodiversity?
Emodiversity defines our ability to feel a wide range of emotions, and the more, the better. This ability or, better said, allowing us to experience any feeling without blocking or denying it, represents an adaptive advantage. It not only allows us to be more authentic, but also to have more resources available to face difficulties and achieve mental well-being.
This idea is by no means new. Already in 2012, following a study published in the journal Emotion, a conclusion was reached to reflect on. The University of Queensland has studied how the classic expectation that happiness equals positive emotions can affect the Australian and Japanese populations. This cultural principle causes the population not to be able to deal with negative emotions, avoiding them. The pursuit of happiness (anchored to this frame) causes, sooner or later, unhappiness.
Dismantle happiness
To learn how to be happy, we must, as it were, press the restart button on our mental hard drive. Starting over, erasing much of what we have been told up to that point (unlearning). A first aspect to consider is the following: negative emotions are not harmful. Every emotion felt and accepted is a commitment to ourselves. A commitment to understand each other, to accept realities and be responsible in the search for solutions or changes.
A second aspect to integrate into our inner "programming" is to give ourselves permission to experience as many emotions as possible and gain in terms of emotional stamina, mental health and psychological skills. In this sense, those who habitually place themselves exclusively in the polarity of positive emotions will have fewer tools to deal with difficulties and frustrations. Similarly, those who only oscillate in the polarity of negativity and pain will face a greater risk of developing depression, anxiety disorders, etc.
Emodiversity as a key to well-being
In 2014, the Universities of Yale, Pompeu Fabra of Barcelona and the University of Cambridge conducted a large study to analyze the benefits of emodiversity. This aspect, understood as the ability to give oneself permission to experience a wide range of emotions, directly affects physical and emotional health.
The study leaders found that people who denied their negative emotions or based their lives on a state of perennial frustration, despondency and moodiness, not only developed a greater number of psychological disorders, but also had fewer immune defenses, greater propensity. to inflammatory states and to develop various diseases.
Emotions, as you can see, they affect the quality of our life and directly affect our health.
Taking care of your emotional ecosystem
An emotional ecosystem full of sensations, of accepted emotions, nourished by deciphered feelings and appreciated as a precious life lesson shapes a stronger and wiser psychological environment. We must learn to take care of this diversity with sincerity and courage towards ourselves.
Sadness, anger, fear and disappointment are not weeds to pull out. They are not the baobab seeds that the little prince feared because according to him they would destroy his little planet. The so-called negative emotions, together with the positive ones, constitute our essence, we cannot eliminate or hide what we do not like.
They are part of our journey, and therefore we must learn to manage them, transform them and understand that all the richness of our psychological and emotional ecosystem offers us precious tools to build more solid scenarios in the face of any adversity and more nourished to shape true happiness (and not a false substitute).
