Positive Psychology, Anyone?
Before I get suspected of having forays into Psychology, I need to admit that WHAT enamors me with POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY boils down to the fact that it posits that you are happy WHEN you feel as if your life is going well. And beyond just offering strategies for recovering from mental illness, POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY is about achieving an optimal level of functioning by building upon a person's strengths in both personal and professional life even as it focuses in increasing our experience of POSITIVE states like happiness, joy, contentment, life satisfaction, gratitude, optimism, love and so on. This is how far reaching POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY can be POSITIVELY impactful into our life. Positive Psychology, Anyone???
Picking the brains of psychology experts, they tell us that HAPPINESS has three components namely:- MOMENTARY MOOD - How you feel right now
- LIFE SATISFACTION - Your overall life evaluation
- ASSESSMENT of SPECIFIC DOMAINS - Work, relationships, finances, health, etc
So, WHY are POSITIVE emotions and life satisfaction important for us to increase our consciousness???
Do you know that POSITIVE EMOTIONS mean: - Better immune functions, even faster healing
- Longer life [WHO doesn't want this?]
- Increased success at work [that's good tidings]
- Better ability to cope with challenges
- Better quality of relationships
- Improved prosocial behavior
So much verbiage. The question you might ask me now is, WHAT IS GOOD LIFE anyways? Dr Seligman, a respected expert in POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, uses the PERMA Model, i.e.: - Positive emotion - that's what we feel
- Engagement - that's being in 'flow'
- Relationships - that's nurturing, rewarding
- Meaning - serving a purpose bigger than you
- Accomplishment - Pursuing towards mastery
