Long day at work and still grocery shopping to do, I wandered through Publix getting more than I needed because, well, I was hungry. Cart full of the requisite fresh healthy vegetables, other perishables, and of course my gluten free honey mustard pretzels, I rolled to the checkout lane.
TIME – SPECIAL EDITION – THE SCIENCE OF EMOTIONS
It caught my eye.
Nestled in the corner rack next to Star and US magazine (fodder for gossipers everywhere) the cover was a picture of father and toddler daughter, she in midair, father’s arms outstretched, ready to catch her. I grabbed it and threw it in with my groceries. So what if I was already over budget. I rationalized it as being good ‘Nurse’ reading. We are in a profession expected to have skills coping with all ranges of patients emotions. Plus, I’ve always been intrigued…how much emotion is physiologically derived.
There is reference to Emotional Intelligence, Hedonistic adaptation (adapting to whatever we think will make us happier and taking it for granted), and the brain’s amygdala (the area responsible for emotions, survival instincts, and memory.) Little of the writing was scientifically driven, but then, it was TIME, not The American Journal of Medicine. So I read on. Here’s a summary of my favorites:
The Upside of Bad Moods by Susan David: My favorite quote: “Negative moods summon a more attentive, accommodating thinking style that leads you to really examine facts in a fresh and creative way.” Yeah! So there, I don’t have to be a Pollyanna all the time.
Natural Mood Changers/ Subtitled How Six Mainstays of Modern Life Tweak Our Neurochemistry, By Kate Rockwood: Here are the six: Alcohol, Marijuana, Caffeine, Orgasm, Sugar, and Exercise.
Essay by Jancee Dunn, Instagram Envy, Tamed: She tells you right off the bat she understands that posts are curated and edited. It still doesn’t stop her from deleting a pended post she determines not to par amongst peers posting Bermuda vacations and completed half marathons. Her life seems to ‘pale in comparison.”
“We have taken our relationships online, and with a need to present our best selves, we edit. We look to social media to validate what we want to believe about ourselves.”
When she referred to social media as a fluff fest, I guffawed. She nailed it on the head. Her advice, “Either get away from it or get behind your posts 100%. There’s more to you than pictures of the smoothies you made this morning.
So, here I go.