The Good Life: Strategies For Everyday Wellbeing
Gruman, Hart, and Ianni discuss how traditional psychology approaches have focused on treating individuals with negative symptomatology, essentially attempting to fix “what is wrong with people” instead of intervening prior to the development of the symptoms with tactics designed to increase wellbeing (Gruman et al., 2017). I recently took a Coursera UPenn course on positive psychology, Dr. Seligman discusses certain premises of traditional psychology, one that it is “highly deterministic” in that childhood development or the client’s history determines their future behaviors, or that either extreme in the psychological approaches of consciousness (psychoanalysis to behaviorism) and cognitions became “major blindspots” since they did not address the notions of wellbeing, optimism, happiness, virtues, character strengths, or the good in life (Seligman, M. E. P., 2021). Peterson defines positive psychology as the “scientific study of what goes right in life” noting that “what is good about life is as genuine as what is bad and therefore deserves equal attention from psychologists” because “human goodness and excellence are as authentic as are human flaws and inadequacies” (Peterson, C., 2006).
What is the Good Life and what can we do to get there?
“Not life, but Good Life, is to be chiefly valued.” ~ Socrates
A plethora of research and peer-review articles exist on the effectiveness of applied positive psychology interventions, simple strategies that you can easily implement into your daily life. Peterson states that the good life involves “how one rises to the occasion” with an “increased appreciation of what matters most in life” by finding a life of meaning through self-actualization, and boosting optimism that shifts paradigms into eudaimonia (Peterson, C., 2006). Abraham Maslow emphasized that self-actualization provided the ability to live the best life possible by being the best person possible by “being fully him(her)self” where through intrinsic learning “process of learning to be the best human being you can be” which is the process that self-actualized individuals chase (Maslow, 1965). If we combine intrinsic learning with a personal understanding of what makes us flourish and utilize proven applied positive psychology interventions to drive altruistic principles, virtues, and devotion to self-actualize.
Did you happen to take the self-assessment of optimism and pessimism on page 458 of our textbook? It was surprising to score 80 on the optimism level – how did you score? There are a few assessments that I would recommend, including the VIA Character Strengths Survey to identify your top virtues and character strengths, or UPenn’s Authentic Happiness Institute’s assessment center that includes the PERMA Questionnaire to measure flourishing, Optimism Test, Gratitude, Wellbeing and Grit surveys, Satisfaction Scale, and Meaning In Life Questionnaires. Dr. Seligman identified a model of positive wellbeing called PERMA that includes five essential building blocks – positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment – which he believes forms a “ solid foundation upon which we can build a happy and flourishing life” (Seligman, M. E. P., 2021).
Strategies To Promote Positive Emotions: One online resource that provides a wealth of information is characterlab.org, including researched-based playbooks that help guide interventions to deepen concepts of gratitude, kindness, growth mindset, grit, self-control, emotional intelligence, purpose, creativity, social intelligence, and honesty just to name a few (Character Lab, 2021). Several applied positive psychology interventions have been scientifically researched and proven to increase happiness and positive emotion and decrease negative or depressive symptoms, including the Three Good Things daily routine on what went well and Using VIA Signature Strengths in a New Way exercise, and the Gratitude Letter and Gratitude Visit exercises (Seligman, M. E. P., et al., 2005). I’ve been using the Three Good Things daily exercise for over a year now, and I can personally say that it has helped me just stay in an optimistic state of mind even during times of stress. What I like most about the Three Good Things daily practice is that it is so simple to do, it takes a few minutes, and you can involve your entire family in it. For example, my daughter and I will randomly say to each other “three good things – GO” as a cognitive-behavioral tactic to overcome pessimism and whatever daily challenge may present itself.
Seligman et al.’s research found that the two interventions which increased positive state and emotion for the longest amount of time of six months were participant’s daily use of the Three Good Things and Using VIA Signature Strengths in a New Way exercise while noting that the Gratitude Letter and Gratitude Visit had the largest amount of positive change within a month’s time (Seligman, M. E. P., et al., 2005). I would also recommend implementing a daily creative journal, which can either be digital or physical in nature, to use for writing or drawing as well as for daily motivation and inspiration to keep track of your self-actualization goals.
References
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Maslow, A. (1965). Self-actualization and beyond. THE NEW ENGLAND BOARD OF HIGHER EDUCATION. Published. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED012056.pdf
Peterson, C. (2006). A Primer in Positive Psychology (Oxford Positive Psychology Series) (1st ed.). Oxford University Press.
Playbooks. (2021). Character Lab. https://characterlab.org/playbooks/
Seligman, M. E. P., Positive Psychology: Martin E. P. Seligman’s Visionary Science. (2021). Coursera.org. https://www.coursera.org/specializations/positivepsychology
Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410–421. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.60.5.410
Tags: gratitude, optimism, positive psychology, self-actualization, seligman, three good things, via character strengths