If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands!
In class, we have been learning chapters 12-14, which cover topics such as motivation, stress, and emotion. One thing that really interested me was something I read in the chapter covering emotion, something that we also discussed during class.
The book said that sometimes going through the motions can make you feel whatever emotion you are mimicking. For example, if you are feeling a bit sad or angry, if you keep smiling, you might actually make yourself feel happy. And if you are happy, and you start kicking and yelling and frowning, you will make yourself angry. I tried it out while I was reading the chapters, and it actually worked! I was angry for no reason, and then found myself feeling happier once I had smiled for a few minutes.
That old nursery song, "If You're Happy and You Know it," seems to do the same thing. You dance, clap your hands, and stomp your feet until you are feeling happy!
Another interesting fact- when in a bad mood, venting does nothing to stop your mood. Complaining endlessly to a friend who is going to agree and complain with you does no good, and it might actually increase your bad mood. Similarly, taking out your anger by punching a punching bag or kicking at something might offer a little relief for a few minutes, but it rarely does.
So if you are in a bad mood, and are upset over something, try to smile and make yourself happier, don't take your anger out on a pillow, and try and slow your breathing/your SNS.
Even though I do not entirely agree on this, I suppose that this could be true. Maybe I am stubborn and refuse to let myself leave my bad mood for some reason! But, I agree that laughing or smiling could help in certain cases. For example, when I am sad and I am talking to a friend to help get over my anger or bad mood or whatever, and they make me laugh, my bad mood kind of goes away.
ReplyDeleteI also do not understand where the idea of puniching a pollow comes from, I guess since it is believed that you let your anger out a certain way. The weird thing though is that when I cry, it usually helps me feel better in the end, therefore I think that how you express an emotion does not always infulence how you will feel.
ReplyDeletei totally agree with the first part of your blog!
ReplyDeleteWhen you act in one way- you will eventually feel that way even if you did not initially felt that way. For example, we have the kinect dance revolution game at home. You basically have to dance to the moves that the people in the game do and the songs and moves are often very hip and cause you to get hyper and excited as well. so i guess that it does affect your mood.
Zahava, this is very interesting. I definitely think that complaining about something does make you even more upset. When Sade and I were sharing a room on the basketball tournament we started talked about something that really annoyed us. After like four minutes, I saw myself getting more and more angry by the second. Finally, I was like I think if we talk about this for one more second I will punch someone. So we stopped and went to sleep. However, I do think something like punching a punching bag or working out does make you feel better. It definitely doesn't get rid of the problem but it reduces the stress.
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