Tip: Celebrating others' success is good for you too

It only takes a few minutes to build better relationships in work or life when you practice freudenfreude -- that's being joyful for someone else’s success. Most people are more likely aware of the term schadenfreude, which is defined as the secret pleasure people get when witnessing someone’s misfortune, troubles, or failings. These are people who author Nedra Tawwab describes as those “who don’t know how to show up for you in your most wonderful moments.”

In The New York Times article, “The Opposite of Schadenfreude Is Freudenfreude. Here’s How to Cultivate It”, writer Juli Fraga explains: “Finding pleasure in another person’s good fortune is what social scientists call ‘freudenfreude’, a term (inspired by the German word for “joy”) that describes the bliss we feel when someone else succeeds, even if it doesn’t directly involve us.”

Here's how to activate your freudenfreude:

– Show active interest in someone else’s happiness. And then celebrate it immediately.
– Remember you benefit too. “When we feel happy for others, their joy becomes our joy,” says psychologist Marisa Franco in, “Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make — and Keep — Friends.”

Action: Can you spend the next month being more attuned to the successes (even minor ones) of friends, family, and co-workers? Let them know you are impressed with what they achieved, happy for something good that happened to them–even if that ‘something’ may not have happened to you.

SHEPA LEARNING COMPANY WEEKLY POSITIVE NETWORKING® TIP?
?No. 1008, May 3, 2023?
?By Gayle Hallgren and Judy Thomson