While it’s true that we cannot force people to be happy, we can influence them. It is truly a case of leading by example….
Your attitudes and behaviours are infectious. I guess the million-dollar double-barrelled question is: who will you ‘emotionally infect’ and what will you ‘infect’ them with?
The science of positive psychology reports that a happy friend makes you 25% happier (but only if they live within a mile of you), a happy brother or sister raises your happiness by 14% and a happy neighbour raises your happiness by a whopping 34%.
But there’s more! Emotions have a ‘hyper-dyadic spread’ – they pass from person to person, beyond an individual’s direct social ties. Your ‘emotional spillage’ creates a ripple effect that reaches 3 degrees of people removed from you, meaning you are affecting you friends, your friends’ friends, and your friends’ friends’ friends.
It ties in with what biologists call the ‘heliotropic effect’, which states that all living systems grow towards the light. Applied to humans, it means we’re attracted to what is life-giving and repelled by what is life-taking.
But beware! The ripple effect also works with negativity. And remember, it’s far easier to be negative. This positive malarkey is a learned behaviour. It takes commitment and a little effort. At Art of Brill, we can help that learning process.
Bottom line?
If you need to change your attitude, then do so. Nobody’s going to do it for you. If you can’t be bothered to be happy for yourself, cultivate it for those closest to you.
Be the happy friend, the positive brother/sister, the upbeat neighbour and the buzzing work colleague. Be their light.