Positive Psychology Week 1

When we take time to notice the things that go right - it means we're getting a lot of little rewards throughout the day.

-Martin Seligman

Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman is the Director of the Penn Positive Psychology Center and Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology in the Penn Department of Psychology. He is also Director of the Penn Master of Applied Positive Psychology program (MAPP).

His initiative of promoting Positive Psychology as a field of scientific study, increased the empirical research on human well-being, and as a result there is now a deeper and broader base of science-based knowledge of happiness and well-being. This month the focus is on a positive attitude resulting in more happiness and increased wellness. Dr. Seligman’s building blocks to well-being are called PERMA which is explained below. They do not depend on each other, but can be focused on individually.  https://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/people/martin-ep-seligman

Positive Emotion: Within limits, we can increase our positive emotion about the past (e.g., by cultivating gratitude and forgiveness), our positive emotion about the present (e.g., by savoring physical pleasures and mindfulness) and our positive emotion about the future (e.g., by building hope and optimism).
Some people are, by disposition, low in the extent to which they experience positive emotion, so this is individual.

Engagement: Engagement is an experience in which someone fully deploys their skills, strengths, and attention for a challenging task. According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, this produces an experience called “flow” that is so gratifying that people are willing to do it for its own sake, rather than for what they will get out of it. The activity is its own reward.
Flow can be experienced in a wide variety of activities, e.g., a good conversation, a work task, playing a musical instrument, reading a book, writing, building furniture, fixing a bike, gardening, sports training or performance, to name just a few. There is a flow state possible for many of us.

Relationships: Relationships are fundamental to well-being. Connections to others can give life purpose and meaning. Research shows that doing acts of kindness for others produces an increase in well-being.

From an evolutionary perspective, we are social beings because the drive to connect with and help others promotes our survival. Developing strong relationships is central to adaptation and is enabled by our capacity for love, compassion, kindness, empathy, self-sacrifice, teamwork, and cooperation.

Meaning: A sense of meaning and purpose can be derived from belonging to and serving something bigger than the self. There are various societal institutions that enable a sense of meaning, such as family, religion, science, politics, work organizations, justice, the community, social causes, among others.

Accomplishment: People pursue achievement, competence, success, and mastery for its own sake, in a variety of domains, including the workplace, sports, games, hobbies, among others. People pursue accomplishment even when it does not necessarily lead to positive emotion, meaning, or relationships.

This week, read each one again and then pick one of the building blocks that resonates with you. Ask yourself the question of what actions you take in that area and write down your answers. Each day this week look at them again and add something new. What we focus on grows!