Headspace Studios. Hi, welcome back to Radio Headspace Space. It's Dora. It's Tuesday. And today we're talking about toxic positivity in the workplace.

I recently had a student of mine share with me in a mentorship session how her company that she

worked for experienced a round of layoffs. And she was just expected and told to just be happy

she still had a job.

And she felt deeply dismissed.

If you're new to this term toxic positivity,

it's the expectation that we should always have a positive outlook on life,

even when we're experiencing something painful or distressing.

In my own quest to better understand the flavorful dynamics of corporate America, I've been doing my own research, and I came upon an interesting writer and speaker, Barbara Enright, who spoke about the function of positive thinking in the workplace. It has two purposes.

To encourage people to continue working and be productive, and to distract people from the reality of how despairing it can feel when there's constant change and uncertainty in the workplace.

Now, I'm all for positivity, but as a mindfulness teacher, I'm also all for balance.

And the pendulum swing to only focus on being optimistic, even in moments where we should feel

upset, sad or angry, is quite harmful.

There's research that shows how repressed emotions can lead to various physical and mental

illnesses.

So we need to feel our feelings, and do so in a way that is responsive and not reactive.

That is the key, and this is where mindfulness can come in handy.

Continuing on with my mentor's obsession with my student experiencing toxic positivity at her job,

we ended up taking some time to be with what she was actually experiencing.

Positivity was far in that moment.

She had lost her coworkers and also friends she loved.

She was thinking about their families and how they would also be impacted as well.

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