Emodiversity is good for your health
Recently I have become very passionate about discovering rare and unique words used to describe our emotions and experiences. Why? Because language is limited. We have all of these feelings, experience such a range of emotions, and yet the words typically used to describe them, especially in the English language, just seem so simple, often lacking in uniqueness and depth. And not only are the words that we typically use limiting to the person describing an emotion or experience, but also difficult for someone listening to really get a sense of what another is feeling.
As I began my deep dive into finding rare words for emotions, I came across a research study by Harvard Business School called "Emodiversity and the Emotional Ecosystem." In this study, they found that "Emodiversity, whether positive, negative, or global, was associated with better mental and physical health across two large cross-sectional studies of over 37,000 respondents."
So what is emodiversity, exactly? Also known as emotional diversity, emodversity is defined as the variety and relative abundance of emotions that people experience. Even more studies done on emodiversity show that having a range of emotional expression can lower inflammation, improve decisions making, lower blood pressure, improve overall happiness, and much more.
So what are we waiting for? I want to find and use more words like Selcouth {odd, unusual, or extraordinary in appearance, effect, manner, etc; peculiar} to describe something that I have never seen before that strikes me as unique and different. Or how about the Greek Word, Eunoia {well-minded or beautiful thinking} to describe someone you met and had an intriguing conversation with.
Join me on this journey of discovering new words for our emotions and experiences. Every week I will post an Emodiversity word of the week. Actually, I already started...find the first Heal Wildly emodiversity word of the week here.
