Gratitude - Cultivating Positive Emotions for Optimal Performances: Part 1

The P in PERMAformance Design: Part 1 Gratitude

Photo by Dave Worfel

Seligman’s PERMA theory in music performance design.

Martin Seligman introduced PERMA in his 2011 book Flourish: The New Positive Psychology and the Search for Well-being as five research based pillars that collectively contribute to a flourishing and thriving life. Seligman, considered one of the founders of positive psychology, and others have demonstrated the significance of each of the following elements as contributing to a rich and full life including: 1) Positive Emotions, 2) Engagement, 3) Relationships, 4) Meaning, and 5) Achievement.

In a previous article we observed performance design through a PERMA lens in a live concert video of the band U2. This week we will look deeper into the first of the five elements of PERMA, Positive Emotions, and begin looking at the potential for this element in musical performance design to contribute to the creation of optimal experiences for audience and performer(s). First we will focus on the well-being of the musician.

Positive Emotions as an element of Music Performance Design

The Positive Emotions pillar refers to a much broader concept than just happiness. Positive Emotions include joy and awe as well as positive approaches to managing other inescapable emotions of the human experience such as pain and sadness. We can build Positive Emotions based on past experiences by cultivating gratitude and forgiveness. Encouraging experiences such as awe, savoring, and mindfulness builds positive emotions in the present, and nurturing experiences of hope and optimism grows positive emotions about the future.

Here are four pictures created by Dall-E when given the following description: “Create a sense of joy awe inspiration thriving and flourishing music in an abstract style painting.” For some reason Dall-E left one space blank. Does the one empty space imply the impossibility of completely describing joy in music through a non-music medium? Maybe ask ChatGPT?

First Cultivate Your Own Well-being

Music is an interesting field in that those on the outside believe that 1) you are so lucky to be a musician, 2) you must have so much fun because you get to make music, and 3) that you must absolutely love what you do. The reality from a musicians’ perspective, however, is often very different. In future writings we will address issues of stress, anxiety, and depression that many musicians deal with in future articles with some helpful practices for navigating a positive life in and through music.

For now, we will focus on developing positive emotions from your inner self. Are you thriving and flourishing in life? Do you find joy in each day? Are you elated at every opportunity to perform and connect with an audience? Before building positive emotion into a performance, we must first consider our own well-being and our personal ability to experience and share joy.

As we are just beginning to explore positive psychology, we will focus on practicing gratitude as part of developing our own Positive Emotions. The following includes research based activities shown to increase happiness and decrease depression, with additional activities that are derived from this research. These same activities are also used as part of understanding and reducing performance anxiety in our Performance (Anxiety) Weekly Workout. They take only a few minutes, but if made a regular part of your practice, they can make a great impact on how you approach life including your music practice and performance.

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Gratitude Exercises for Building Positive Emotions

Choose the activity or activities below that connect with you. Then develop a habit of including them in your every day routine. As you grow, the activities that didn’t connect with you before may become more interesting later. You may find that you develop your own activities. Consider blocking out 5 minutes of your practice sessions for your Gratitude Exercise for Building Positive Emotion activity.

1. Gratitude exercise - 3 things: Write down 3 things that you are thankful for.

2. Gratitude exercise - call or text: Think of someone who did something to make your day or helped you in some way. Reach out to them through text or phone call to thank them.

3. Gratitude exercise - turn a negative into a positive: Consider something that you are “hooked” by, meaning something that is upsetting to you that you can’t seem to let go of. Meditate on the issue, breathing deeply, while working to find a positive that you can take from the negative. Perhaps there is a positive element that you hadn’t considered, or something that you can learn or grow from, or perhaps some opportunity that you could turn from a negative into a positive. Be thankful for an opportunity to shift into a positive space.

4. Consider a performance that you either have planned or might do in the future. Write down the people involved in the performance that you are grateful for. Include the audience. How can you show your gratitude for the audience?

5. Consider a musical performance that you either have planned or might do in the future. Contemplate if you would rather receive praise or gratitude from your audience? How do they differ? Write down 3 ways that a performance might differ to elicit each of the two audience responses.

6. Try practicing your Gratitude Exercise for Building Positive Emotion in different parts of your practice session (beginning, middle, and end). Reflect and write down what you notice from changing the placement of the gratitude exercise.

7. Reflect and write down what you notice from the addition of the gratitude exercises in your routine every few days.

8. Bonus activity (this one takes a little more time but is worth it): Gratitude letter: Think of someone who has made a difference in your life, write them a thank you letter, and deliver it in person.

   Guided Gratitude Meditation recordings will be uploaded separately in this substack for additional approaches to this activity.

Creating a Purposeful Positive Emotion Event in Performance

In our next article we will look at specific examples of designing positive emotional experiences into your performances. As you begin your journey to having a flourishing life, consider the following as you work through the well-being exercises:

1. How each activity could be utilized in a music performance to connect you and your audience.

2. Going a little deeper to explore how your approach to each activity can create a unique experience for the audience.

3. Explore how you can use your unique knowledge and experiences as your “partner” on the stage in creating a genuine interaction with your audience.

Community Activities: Post answers to the “comments” section, create a music performance design journal, and/or create your own brainstorming group.

1. The connection of music and emotion is universal, however the emotional experience is unique to the individual. In designing a musical performance, how might you tap into the potential of both the universal and individual perspective of positive emotions?

2. Do you believe that it is possible to connect with an audience on an individual level utilizing elements to cultivate positive emotions? What would this look like?

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