If negative feelings act as 'switches', to enable us to deal with events in our lives which threaten us, what do positive feelings do? And what is happening in our bodies when we experience positive feelings? First notice that some feeling states seem to be a kind of mixture of positive and negative: excitement seems to be like this.
If we think of times when we are quite unmixed, unconflicted, there do seem to be several characteristics of such states: bodily relaxation, mental and perceptual alertness, and enjoyment of whatever is happening with a feeling of having lots of energy. Thinking about this, it occurred to us that it would be very useful for people to have a 'finished' switch. One that would put us into a state with maximum potential free for the next task. This would include a body alert for action, yet not focused onto any narrow area; senses fully alert to scan the environment, helping to choose what's worth doing next. Linking a pleasurable feeling to this useful state would then help to ensure that we worked to achieve it.
It is interesting that Martin Seligman, who seems to us to give an account of the genesis of some common chronic patterns, also suggests that positive feelings are the reward for the mastery of a task, (#5). This seems close to our ideas.
Footnote: By alert relaxation we don't mean resting or sagging. When people are alertly relaxed they're supporting themselves with no wasted effort, ready for anything. Resting involves letting go, being supported by the floor, a bed, someone's arms. Sagging is patterned--neither alert relaxation nor restful flopping. For Richard, some signs of sagging include tensely crossed legs, sitting off-balance in a chair, leaning crookedly up against the wall.
| Negative feelings | Positive feelings |
| Subjectively unpleasant. | Subjectively pleasurable. |
| Attention focused narrowly on distressing situation/object. | Attention free to focus as person wishes. |
| Body systems aroused and prepared for action to remove threat. | Body systems in a state of rest and high potential, or skillful performance. |
| Access to general memory and skills hindered. Responses are previously learned ones, whether appropriate or not. | Access to all of memories and skills. Appropriate already learned responses may be selected or new responses constructed. |
| Fine for dealing with emergency threats of straightforward kind. Poor if any problem solving required. | Aware decision making too slow to deal with physical threat. Fine for problem solving. |
| Learning possible but only conditioning type. This can mean acquiring blocks. | Aware learning of knowledge and skills can take place. |
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