Upward Spirals & Wellbeing - Part 1

A primer on positive emotions and feeling "more better"

Quick Offer for More|Better Subscribers

For any subscribers who are coaches looking to understand how embodiment impacts your clients or those thinking of becoming coaches focused on lifestyle habits consider checking out NASM’s Certified Wellness Coaching Course. I was a contributor to it’s creation and am very proud of what we built.

If you’re thinking of taking the certification here’s a discount code for an extra $600 off (on top of whatever current discount is on the website) - use MARSHALLCWC at checkout or when you check out on the phone.

Let’s Talk About Your Feelings:

Not only your feelings - everyone’s feelings. Feelings in general.

Emotions are many things.

They’re the richness in our human experience.
They’re a combination of neurochemicals, our nervous system state, the condition of our brain, and so much magic that science has yet to unfold.

Emotions are also information:

On top of all that - emotions also create a feedback loop with your state of being.

Say what?

Research has shown that positive emotional states have a different impact on the brain and neurology than challenging emotions. Specifically, difficult emotions narrow our focus, while positive emotions open us up.

¹

Let's unpack this a little bit:

For our evolutionary ancestors, threats meant they or the people that relied on them might not survive. Emotions like fear, anger, or anxiety create physical states where your focus is narrowed to potential threats, keeping everyone alive. This is important. We want it that way. The challenge is now our stressors are distant and ongoing.

In contrast, positive emotional experiences open us up, make us more cognitively flexible, and even exhibit less bias. Much of the work on positive emotions has been done by Barbara Fredrickson and her colleagues. They’ve shown how when we’ve been primed with a positive experience we’re:

• Better problem solvers

• More creative

• Easier to learn new things

• More neurologically flexible (which has a lot of protective benefits on the brain and throughout the body)

• Easier to build relationships and connection

We all regularly hear about the damages caused by chronic stress.
Think of positive emotional states as the opposite of that to the brain & body.

So feeling good isn’t only about feeling good.
We repair
We restore

And we also do what Fredrickson has termed “Broaden and Build”.

The openness to experience that positive emotion brings us allows us to broaden our scope, horizon, and circles. This allows us to build new skills, connect to new resources, and grow our individual and collective potential.

From Fredrickson’s Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotion (footnote #1) she began to document compounding positive changes. Where two or more positive experiences would create feedback loops in someone’s wellbeing, physical and emotional health, disposition, outlook, mindset… so their life.

Behavior Change 101

Compounding Positive Change = Upward Spirals

Before studying Positive Psychology I heard the phrase “upward spiral” and thought of woo-woo, toxic positivity, spiritual bypassing nonsense. (Ironic then that’s what I’ve been studying, researching, and using with my clients since, isn’t it?!)

Here’s the gist: Not everyone has the same sensitivity to “the good stuff”.

Some people are an Eeyore, some are a Piglet (sorry for anyone not familiar with Winnie the Pooh). Two people can have the exact same experience and one will feel joy, the other will feel mild humor. Some of that happens due to disposition, but there’s also a neurochemical component.

Here’s where the theoretical part comes in: one theory of upward spirals is the increasing of sensitivity to positive emotional experiences. 🤯

That’s right! All that meditating and walking and yoga and gratitude is shifting your neurochemical state making it easier to laugh at your kids instead of snap at them.

Since Fredrickson’s original theory was published we’ve gained the ability to measure more data points on more people in more effective studies.

One example from my own work?

Moderate intensity cardiovascular activity (so huffing and puffing but can still talk) for 20+ minutes increases sensitivity to serotonin

²

. It also increases neuroplasticity

³

, which is the brain's ability to adapt and change. So if I have a client looking to improve their wellbeing I can have them go for a 20 minute power walk every other day which will improve their mood and their ability to adapt to change - making it easier to do all the other changes we want to make in their life.

Later this month I’ll roll out Part 2 & will look at practical reasons upward spirals matter in your life & what each of us can do to prime positive change in our lives.

Don’t want to wait? I’ve got a new, free 7 day email course available. Just go to www.darlene.coach and put your email in the pop-up box.

1. Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American psychologist, 56(3), 218.

2. Zimmer, P., Stritt, C., Bloch, W., Schmidt, F. P., Hübner, S. T., Binnebößel, S., ... & Oberste, M. (2016). The effects of different aerobic exercise intensities on serum serotonin concentrations and their association with Stroop task performance: a randomized controlled trial. European journal of applied physiology, 116, 2025-2034.

3. Walsh, J. J., & Tschakovsky, M. E. (2018). Exercise and circulating BDNF: Mechanisms of release and implications for the design of exercise interventions. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 43(11), 1095-1104.