Happiness can be cultivated and is the VERY basis for success!
Did you know there is a Magic Number to Happiness?
There are 4 crucial things that you must know that can immediately increase your happiness, joy, success and personal power.
Magic Number
First I want to share with you a magic number that will forever revolutionize your life.
Did you know this is a magic number determines whether you have a happy work life, cultivate success and achieve stellar financial results repeatedly?
The magic number is 2.9013.
Decades of research in positive psychology show that this magic number is actually a ratio. It is the ratio of positive to negative interactions and communications that can help you become resilient, high performing and successful.
If you experience and enact the 3 to 1 positive to negative communications every day, you have the magic wand that magnifies a happy and successful life.
Three is the magic number, really, since any ratio of interactions at or below the number give people only fleeting success; somehow they lose momentum if the ratio is not reached.
At least three positive comments, gestures, experiences or communications are needed to surpass the effects of one negative interaction. Think about that. Then think about your typical day of self-talk, emails, texts and interactions with others.
How many of times do you speak or hear a purely positive sentence?
Here is a bold prediction: When you communicate and experience more than 3 to 1 positive to negative interactions every day, you have a self-generating fuel for creativity, problem solving, connection, effective work, and happiness.
Barbara Fredrickson in her book Positivity, stated “only when positivity ratios are higher than 3 to 1 is positivity in sufficient supply to seed human flourishing.”
Research shows that if the number of positive interactions are just below this number, then a team or individual continues to hover in a ‘sometimes good – sometimes ineffective’ Yo-Yo kind of experience. Drop even lower than that, to a 1:1 positive to negative interaction ratio, people languish, fail to meet their goals and feel uninspired at work or home.
Stay above this magical ratio of 3:1 and so-so teams and individuals soar in productivity, performance, creativity, resilience and happiness.
It really is a magic number.
Did you know that you possess the ability to really rock at work, to inspire a child to thrive in school, and to catapult your personal success and be happy while you do it?
It is like the freezing point of liquid water to ice. Below this number there is no movement. Water is locked into a rigid form and is ice. As soon as you move above the freezing point of water, the molecules begin to move and you have liquid water that flows and channels great power.
Your 3 to 1 ratio unleashes your power, ignites delight and helps you sustain success.
Decades of Research
This number is called the Losada Line. This number has been tested for decades in different environments, and the same pattern emerges. It is the melting point for flow and success – choose to act and speak above this line and there is a gathered effect. Our actions become synergistic with others, helping them grow, be more productive and ripple out joy. Your smile at work, on your commute, in the grocery store and at home really does matter.
Barbara Fredrickson applied Marcial Losada’s ratio to her research on positivity with individuals. Flourishing is a term that describes a state that continues to generate happiness, resilience and an ability to stay the course despite the natural ups and downs of life. This is not about people who are stuck in only being positive, this is about regular people who thrive despite the natural events of difficulty and challenge we all face.
Barbra Fredrickson applied Marcial Losada’s ratio to her research on positivity with individuals.
Barbara had years of research and data she had collected on how people acted, perceived and remembered their day and week. Barbara could identify the individuals who flourished, who experienced happiness throughout their days and were resilient when bad things happened, and she had data on those who languished. Astonishingly, she found that the people who flourished lived above the magic ratio – those who flourished and lived fulfilled lives experienced greater than the 3 to 1 ratio of positive interactions on a daily and weekly basis.
ACT POSITIVELY, SPEAK POSITIVELY, IT WORKS
Are you willing to try this?
If you can write, act, speak, and gesture more positively and move above this magic ratio, then you can see exponential results at work, in your projects, team work, within your relationships and your family life.
I am constantly reading, integrating and testing Happiness Principles and Habits from the latest research in positive psychology and applied ancient wisdoms for you.
Some of what I have shared here is from the researchers who brought you the Losada Line, Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D. and Marcial Losada himself, as well as other experts in the applied positive psychology movement. This movement is transforming our lives, the way companies work and review employees and the way we build teams as entrepreneurs and teachers.
Positive Psychology has been around for over 30 years now, but it has exploded into our lives the last few years showing all of us how to live more inspiring, fulfilled, successful lives. It is my absolute joy to share these principles with you and help you cultivate Happiness Habits which will propel you toward your dreams, ignite positive change and help fuel sustained success in your life. That is part of my highest purpose – to help you be the best YOU.
Here is what you can do to start applying these principles right now.
Write a positive sentence about your day so far. Share it in an Instagram, text or email with a friend or post it on our Facebook post about this topic.
Simply click here to go to our Facebook page
Watch the positivity spread.
Ask yourself each time you speak, or contribute in a meeting or on social media, is what I am about to say either..
(1) Positive or negative?
(2) Self-focused or other-focused?
(3) Based on inquiry (asking questions) or advocacy (defending a point of view)?
When we share a positive communication, even a positive non-verbal nod, are focused on others, and are asking questions (even if it is related to what you want to say or give as an answer) you are cultivating an environment where thriving, creativity, solutions, success and happiness reside.
HAPPINESS AT HOME
Can you commit to increase the amount of positivity in your day by just one more smile, gesture or comment? It might be the one statement that bumps you from 2.5 to 1 to over 3 to 1 and the successful results that come with it!
I am committed to your success and happiness.
As a biochemist, researcher, acupuncturist, Vedic Astrologer and seeker, I am immersed in the latest positive psychology research and love weaving the modern truths with the ancient wisdom from Eastern practices for health and joy I have lived for the past 30 years. Happiness can be cultivated, easily. The ancients have documented this well, and modern society is just now returning to the foundations of these secrets. Remember, this is just ONE habit that I am sharing. There are more to come.
If you are up to the experiment, try these this week:
Start with some simple positive “reframes” of what you speak and write each day, and smile just one more time a day.
These habits will grow, and before you know it, and the ripples of positively affecting others expands, naturally.
To Your Happiness!
Kathleen M. Whalen
M.S. Acupuncture and Oriental medicine
CEO, founder and creator of Conscious Calendars and your Vedic Astrology Guide