Stop!
Yes you…Stop what you are doing and tell me how your mood is.
Up? Down? Or just, meh.
Did you know that your mood is contagious?
I guess it’s ironic, in today’s world, to frame being contagious as a good thing but let’s not go too fast.
Studies show that if you are around someone who is positive, upbeat and happy your mood can be infected with mood boosters. Just like germs you can catch the moods of those around you.
But you can catch a bad mood just as easily as a good one!
Researchers call this phenomenon Emotional Contagion or EC.
I was reminded of EC while listening to one of my favorite podcasts, The Tim Ferriss Show, last week.
Tim was interviewing Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Weil, with much enthusiasm, was explaining how important it can be for us to take note of who we hang with and what effect, good or bad, it can be for our happiness.
It is important to note our brains are wired to focus more on negative images and memories. Negativity “germs” are more contagious than the positivity microbes and like any contagions distance matters.
The closer you are the more likely you can be infected so focus on being close to the fun folks!
If you are close to people who are smiling, laughing and happier your mood can benefit more than if those happier folks are farther away or less accessible to you.
Absence may make the heart grow fonder but happiness infection is an up close and in person kind of thing.
Who are you hanging with?
It is important for your mood and long-term happiness to reduce your daily interaction with the curmudgeons in your life.
Take note and identify the folks in your life that lift you up, make you laugh and infect you with their happy moods.
Maybe it’s time to realize how you are infecting those around you with your mood.
Be the first to say hello, the first to smile and the first to lift the spirits of everyone you meet.
Let’s all create a new Pandemic. One that delivers germs that infect with joy and laughter and one that requires no vaccination!
Please follow me on Instagram (@daveraymondspeaks) or connect with me on LinkedIn so we can boost each other’s moods.
