"Cheerfulness is the very flower of health."
To share a dose of positivity I wanted to talk about a word that is overlooked a bit in positive psychology - Cheerfulness. When you encounter someone that is cheerful it completely shifts your energy, bringing a smile to your face and a skip to your step. Not only will incorporating cheerfulness in your life improve your mindset and lead to more positive experiences, but it actually creates a positive cycle within your health and wellness. That is summarized in today’s quote “Cheerfulness is the very flower of health.”
The first and more obvious side of the cycle is how your happiness impacts your health. There are countless studies that show how things like gratitude and compassion generate measurable health benefits. More indirectly, cheerfulness helps you reduce negative self-talk and avoid stress-inducing thought patterns. Your happiness, mindset, and perspective produce good health.
The second, less obvious side of this is what’s referenced in the quote. “Cheerfulness is the flower of health”, meaning that a happy demeanor is also the byproduct of good health. This is because our psychology is extremely influenced by our physiology, and when we’re fueling our bodies right, exercising often, and getting good rest, it creates an environment for our psychology that is conducive to positive experiences.
Now for me if this is a self-fulfilling cycle the question becomes which comes first? Should I focus on my happiness and let that impact my health... Or should I focus on my health and let that influence my happiness? While the answer is of course "both", like the quote suggests I would advise to focus on the health side first. Your body is quickly responsive to changes, your psychology is notoriously slow at adapting, and if you want to be more cheerful I’d encourage you evaluate your health habits first.
To wrap this up let ask you this - In what area could you most improve your health?
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