Wellness Wednesday – “Positive Emotions & The Fruit Of The Spirit”
For this Wellness Wednesday article, we are going to take a deeper look at the first element of the PERMA Well-Being Model that I introduced last week, the “P” for “Positive Emotions.” Positive emotions are more than just about happiness (though being happy in life is a good thing). It is about living a life filled with emotions like love, joy, peace, gratitude, compassion, and the like. These positive emotions help promote our thriving in life. And for anyone who lives a life lacking these positive emotions for any period of time, you know how unbearable and bleak life can indeed appear.
Our emotions affect how we see ourselves and see the world around us. One of the best movies recently that reflect this reality is the Pixar movie “Inside Out.” In the film, we meet Riley, a young child who has to move across the country from Minnesota to San Francisco because of her father’s new job. In the process, she has to leave her friends and former life behind. For much of her life, the emotion Joy has defined her life and memories until one day after the move, Sadness touches one of her memories. At that moment, an earlier childhood memory changes, and how she sees her life also changes. This film is a brilliant glips into neuroscience, the inner working of our brains, and how our emotions impact our perceptions of our past, present, and future.
Not that we want to reduce the topic of our emotional well-being to just a conversation about neuroscience, but there are neurotransmitters within our brain that contribute to positive emotions in our life, which can help to improve our overall well-being. Here is a list of the key neurotransmitters that lead to positive emotions and activities that can release these within our brains:
- Dopamine (the reward chemical)
- Eating food
- Achieving a goal
- Getting enough sleep
- Having a bath
- Endorphins (the pain killer)
- Exercising
- Laughing
- Listening to music
- Oxytocin (the love hormone)
- Socializing
- Physical touch
- Petting animals
- Helping others
- Serotonin (the mood stabilizer)
- Sun exposure
- Mindfulness
- Nature walks
How can you add some of these activities into your self-care plan to create greater positive emotions in your life?
Besides these activities and their positive impact on our feelings, we also hear within Scripture about a spiritual pathway to promote more positive emotions in our life. In Galatians 5:22-25, the Apostle Paul describes what he calls “The Fruit Of The Spirit” when he writes, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
So, how do we grow in this Fruit of the Spirit and the resulting positive emotions that can bless our overall well-being and empower us to show up at our best to be a greater blessing to others? Jesus explains in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” The secret to a life that more and more bears forth the Fruit of the Spirit is a life that is daily connecting to Jesus, His promises, and His love. He is the true vine, and as branches, we can only find the true life that we all seek now and for eternity in Him. Feeling like you’ve been a little barren when it comes to the Fruit of the Spirit in your life lately? What steps can you take each day to abide more deeply with Jesus and experience the joy and peace of His abundant life that He has promised to you today?
