The Science of Positive Psychology (Part 1)

“You can't fly with the eagles if you continue to scratch with the turkeys.” – Zig Ziglar

There is too much focus on the NEGATIVE in main stream media (especially the news and reality TV), healthcare, psychology, politics, education, religion, and of course whining, complaining family, friends and coworkers… Too much focus on what is WRONG with us and FIXING what is wrong with us (and life), instead of focusing on what is Right with us (and our lives) and strengthening our good qualities (and being grateful for everything we have).

Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy has a strong influence even to this day on the writings and research of Sigmund Freud. But Freudian psychology has a big emphasis on what is WRONG with our childhoods, our relationship with our parents, our lives, etc. As valuable as it has been, It has a HUGE focus on the NEGATIVE (ie, what is wrong with us).

We need a shift! A shift to focusing on what is right with us, our good traits and qualities and our strengths, talents and gifts.

There is a new branch in Psychology that started in the early 1990's and is getting growing research, support and funding called Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology looks at Positive Human traits instead of disease, illnesses and pathology. For example, in Positive psychology it is now known and scientifically proven that happy people are more creative, more charitable, more productive at work, earn more money, have better health, better immunity, and even live longer.

The idea of helping normal people be happier instead of just fixing mental illnesses now has solid scientific research in the psychology and psychiatric community (with random assignment, placebo controlled and long term studies)!

Martin Seligman, one of the Pioneers in the New Science of 
Positive Psychology, says there are 3 major tenants:

1) Positive Psychology is more concerned with building the Strengths of people instead of repairing or fixing the weaknesses or problems.
2) Positive Psychology is interested in building on the best things in life, instead of repairing the worst.
3) Positive Psychology is focused more on helping normal people lead more fulfilling and happy lives and also nurturing high level genius in people than it is with treating pathology, illness and disease.

These studies were done with as much rigor and care as typical disease-treatment type of studies, only the focus is not on treating problems, but rather to help people live a more pleasurable, happy and accomplished life.

What is so fascinating to me is that Positive Psychology research gives a scientific credence to the power of positive thinking, the Law of Attraction, and the teachings of the best known motivational and spiritual speakers.

(stay tuned for Part 2)

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Studies done by Dr Martin Seligman and other notable and prestigious "Positive" psychologists found that generally there are THREE types of Happy lives we can live (generally speaking) and various exercises that could be done to amplify the happiness (much like a treatment , but only in the positive sense of making someone happier, not treating a disease).

╰☆╮The 3 levels of Happiness╰☆╮
1) The Pleasant Life (The Pursuit of Pleasure)
2) The Good Life (The Pursuit of Engagement)
3) The Meaningful Life (The Pursuit of Meaning)

Briefly:
The Pleasant Life is a life filled with pleasurable emotions such as eating fine food, drinking fine wine, hearing rapturous musics, seeing wonderful sights/art, romance and sex, laughter, massage, touch, smells and anything that evokes sensory pleasures and positive emotions, but in a way that is instantly gratifying. These type of experiences and feelings are wonderful, but we can easily habituate to them by overdoing (eating, sex, etc). 
This type of life is signified by the word PLEASURE.

The Good Life is a life of flow where time stops and you are totally absorbed in something, your work, hobbies, conversation etc. There may not be any positive emotion because you are not just listening to the music , you are one with it. I think we have all had the experience of being with someone, doing some project we were 100% into and being totally engrossed to the point where time literally stopped YET ironically looking at any clock, time flew by. Basically we are totally engaged and connected to life. This engagement and absorption is the very OPPOSITE of boredom.
This type of life is signified by the word ENGAGEMENT (also flow or absorption).

The Meaningful life is a life where you know your signature strengths, gifts and talents and you use them in the service of something higher, bigger or greater than yourself. Something larger than you like a positive institution, a big dream or vision that can change the world on a large scale (or even a small scale) but the key is that it is something greater than yourself that can touch the lives of multitudes.

In the Positive Psychology studies done by Dr Seligman and others, they found that the longest lasting happiness was found in the meaningful life, followed next by the Good Life. There was hardly any lasting happiness with the Pleasant Life alone… BUT, here is the KEY… When you Lead a Meaningful and Good Life, these studies found the pleasures become like the whipped cream and cherries and gives a DEEP richness, sweetness and reward to living. So the pleasures of life become exponentially more pleasurable when you Know your strengths, You follow your Bliss and Make a Difference. But pleasures alone will not bring lasting happiness. It seems living all 3 together has a profound synergy in giving the ultimate experience of lasting happiness.

Here's the Billion dollar question for YOU (and for me) that we should ask ourselves:
What is it that I would do if I had $1 Billion Dollars in the bank, time freedom and perfect health? 
What would YOU DO to make a difference and lead a RICH, MEANINGFUL, GOOD and Pleasurable life? This is a question I am personally asking myself to begin 2013 and I invite you to really go deep into the heart of what matters to you in life and ask this questions to yourself as well.

Follow your Bliss, Live Life on Purpose, and Be the example you wish to teach!

In the words of St Augustine (399AD), Man travels 100's of miles to gaze in wonder at the broad expanse of the ocean. He looks in awe at the heavens above. He stares in wonderment at the fields and the rivers, the mountains and the streams, and then he passes himself by without a thought, the most amazing creation. 

I love this quote, not for its religious overtones, but in the simple truth that we spend our lives searching and seeking the outer beauties of creation, sometimes going to the other side of the world to behold them; forgetting that they all are a projection from within our own Self. 

The real beauty is within; the real love is Self Love, and when we see that beauty in ourselves we can easily see it in each situation, person and place in the Now. We need not journey a hundred miles, because the heart of the Universe with its Infinite Beauty and Majesty is just an inch away.