The Positivity Lens

Stop to smell the flowers

In my podcast show, Positivity Strategist, episode 8, I'm excited to introduce a new segment called “The Positivity Lens”.

Weekly, on the show, I've been blessed to have gracious guests who generously share their stories and strategies of positivity.  They offer tips and tools that we all can model and try on for ourselves to strengthen our positivity muscle or positivity resonance.  So in this new segment, I’ll be recommending an activity for us to focus on each week to begin to develop our positivity lens.  Here’s an example.

Seeing through our own eyes

In the podcast episode, Appreciative Inquiry across contexts, cultures and generations with Linda Quarles, Linda finished with a beautiful story where she with her husband and two daughters were visiting the spectacular Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi – the only mosque open to non-moslems. They went through it in what seems to be typical tourist fashion, stopping to take a gazillion pictures.  After the walk-through was over, one of her daughters said, “mom can we go through again, but this time can we not take any pictures…so we can just appreciate and enjoy the mosque through our eyes.”  That was heart stopper.  I got chills.

Being present in the moment

I thought about that all week and I began to notice how much I relied on my devices to experience the world.  I decided I would use more of my own eyes and ears in addition to my handy devices.  There would be less grabbing for my smart phone all the time, or checking emails.  I was more consciously practicing being mindful and in the present moment to notice what was in my immediate environment or the task at hand.  This awareness enhanced my appreciation of what was present to me through my own senses.  I call it using my positivity lens.

How to look through the positivity lens

1. When someone in the office speaks to you,  you stop what you're doing and continue to look at them rather than turn your gaze back to your monitor.
2. On your commute, you put your device away or book down for a part of the journey to look around at people or the environment to just notice others to  go outside your own world for a few moments.
3. In the store or supermarket, you connect with the cashier and actually look into their eyes and stop still while you answer their “how are you today?” and ask them the same.
4. You complement a family member or a friend on something they say or have done or how they look.
5. You slow down your eating to taste the different foods on your plate.
6. You be still for a moment to experience your heart beat in your chest.
7. You feel the flow of your breath in through your nostrils down to your stomach and out again.

 How is this a Positivity Lens?

It's the little moments when we connect with ourselves, others and the world around us that we build our positivity resonance according to Barb Fredrickson's latest work outlined in her book Love 2.0

If we can accumulate those little moments, they add up to help us be more appreciative of who and what is in our immediate environment and the deeper connections that are possible when we stop to notice.

I've asked my listeners to begin to look at their worlds through the Positivity Lens as they hear good tips from my special guests each week.  You are encouraged to join us.