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.

When we use the term "Quantum Leap" in colloquial English, we usually mean an abrupt change, or a sudden increase.

The term is derived from its use in physics meaning the sudden jump of an electron from one energy level to another. And electrons make all or nothing "jumps" with NO in between. 

So there is a scientific basis for making a quantum leap in your personal aspirations, be it financial, health, personal, relationships, etc.

Terms such as "overnight success", "get rich quick", may have merit if you believe in yourself and expect the best. This can also apply to getting your health back (or raising it to a higher level) or any noble desire or dream.

Who wants to get rich slow, or achieve your goals and dreams in a distant future; when there is a magical process in creation that mirrors back to you your strongest thoughts and beliefs about yourself and your world right now! You can make a quantum leap to your desired life; but a shift in consciousness is required that is equally commensurate to the "size" of the leap desired. 

The problem is most of us, have a byzantine matrix of beliefs; a bulwark of hand-me-down religious notions, parental inculcations, teachings from our years of education, social and media gossip, beliefs picked up from friends and coworkers, etc, etc, etc. 

Purify your mind in the fire of awareness, meditation and watchfulness... Discover the limiting beliefs that reside in your infinite mind and lovingly resolve them back into pure consciousness. 

Decide to make a quantum leap in your life towards financial abundance, perfect health and happiness (whatever that may be for you) and know that a net will appear to catch you and your dream together as one!

The "Outer" and Objective Universe is a fluid and magical hologram that rearranges itself with reflections & manifestations that mirror your "Inner" and Subjective Universe. Both are equally real and shape and form one another in the Eternal dance of evolution. You Stand at the center and focal point of your Universe and your thoughts, beliefs, and intentions ripple into the vast pool of Infinity and reflect back to you as Creation.

The "problem" is that most evolving souls see the outer universe as the only true reality; dismiss the subjective realm of dreams, visions, intentions, and superconscious experiences; and lose sight of the magical process of Creation from the inside out. 

You are 100% responsible for the Life and World that surrounds you down to every last detail. It's You, and it has always been YOU .... Truly and Literally, the Universe begins with "U"!

Whatever Religion, Ideology, Worldview or Belief System you think is Truth, It will Be.

Why not dare to Dream your own Dreams and Create your Own Universe, untainted by anything, anyone or any belief system except your own Noble Desires. 

In this world and the all worlds, the Magical Power of Creation will always reflect back to you what you Declare as Truth.

Break away from the masses and have your very own mass each moment on the alter of your very own Self Awareness; and Boldly Follow your Own Path, Your Own Bliss and Dare to Dream Your Very Own Dream... Not someone elses!

Walking the beach here on Siesta Key, FL (about a week ago) I saw the most beautiful and prominent arching rainbow I think I had ever seen. It was enormous, covering a full half circle and extending from one side of the horizon to the other.

Rainbows provide a beautiful analogy to the workings of consciousness. A rainbow is created at a very precise 40-42 degree cone from incident sunlight to raindrops then reflected and refracted back to a conscious observer. 

You will never "find" a rainbow because it is not in any physical location, rather a unique cone of light entering each observer's eyes. The key is "observer" because a rainbow does not exist without an observer standing at a relative angle to the sun and rain droplets.

So each person gets reflected back his or her own unique rainbow. Even if you are standing next to someone, you are both seeing two different rainbows stemming from two different cones of light with unique photons carrying the frequencies of the spectrum of colors.

This is analogous to the overall workings of consciousness as seen in quantum mechanics, certain quotes in religion, philosophy, the "law of attraction", success books, and psychology.

That is, we are all unique observers, with unique reflections coming back to us from the Universe of outer reality. But it goes deeper than seeing a rainbow, because what is reflected back is the entire 4D Universe you would call outer reality. And instead of the sun illuminating the clouds, we illuminate the matrix space-time/matter-energy with the light of our awareness. 

These reflections are precisely based on our own unique thoughts and beliefs. We and we alone create our reality and universe.

We have all heard the saying "As a man (or women) thinketh, so is he" as a verse from Psalms or the title of James Allen famous book, but have we really taken to heart the truth of this as THE fundamental law of Creation? 

Similar sayings pervade religion, philosophy and some of the best selling books on success (like Think and Grow Rich).

This idea is also sometimes referred to as the Law of Attraction as made popular in the movie, "The Secret", and the books of Jerry and Ester Hicks. Basically whatever you hold in your consciousness as thoughts, beliefs, and mental images, you "Attract" or into your own unique outer reality reflection. 

The Universe is actually fluid and magical and will always reflect back to you that which is in your own awareness.

So the big question is "What do you want"? If you had all the money, and all the time in the world, and could do anything, have anything and become anything you want, what would it be?

Its time to free your mind from the cobwebs of other peoples thoughts and ideas; free your mind of the myriad limited religious beliefs; free your mind of the years and years of parental inculcation and educational brainwashing; and free your mind of limited cultural and media driven/ fear-based perceptions of the world (except of course ideas and beliefs that are empowering and help you achieve your dreams).

Doing so can clear the clouds and open the unlimited vaulted blue skies whereby the Universe will reflect back to you YOUR own unique rainbow, with the Treasure of your choosing at the end…

But you have to free yourself, and follow your Own Rainbow, by Following your Bliss!

So, What Treasure lies at the end of your Rainbow?