In the United States 20% of the adult population report that they are living a flourishing life (Keyes, 2002). However, a high percentage reports feeling as if they are ‘‘stuck’’ or ‘‘want more’’ and are yet not diagnosable with a mental disorder (Fredrickson, 2008). Because happiness has been found to be the source of many desirable life outcomes e.g. career success, marriage, and health, it is of importance to understand, how languishing individuals can reach this ideal state: How can well-being be enhanced and misery reduced (Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). Over the past decade, research in the field of positive psychology has emerged to provide evidence-based methods to increase an individual’s psychological well-being, through so called positive psychology interventions (PPI’s). PPI’s are treatment methods or intentional activities used to promote positive feelings or behaviour. PPI’s vary from writing gratitude letters, practicing optimistic thinking and replaying positive experiences. A meta-analysis of 51 independent PPI studies demonstrated significant results in the effectiveness of PPI’s increasing well-being (49 studies; r = .29) (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009). Seligman (2010) found that positive interventions tend to be addictive and self-sustaining. I would like to analyze the effectiveness of PPI’s by speaking about my own experience participating in three PPI’s: “Expressing Gratitude”, “3 Good Things” and “Random Acts of Kindness”, to see if I can agree with Seligman’s argument. My journey of the process started with the PPI “Expressing Gratitude”. The task instructed to write down five things one is thankful for, each day, for a week. Wooh, Froh & Gerahty (2010) defined gratitude as a habit of noticing and being aw... ... middle of paper ... ... (2001) showed that grateful individuals were especially appreciative of the contribution of others to their happiness. Expressing gratitude and reviewing three good things highlighted this, and reminded me to show my loved ones my gratitude. According to my personal experience, I would not agree with Seligman saying that PPI’s are addictive but they are definitely refreshing. Participating in PPI’s once in a while raises ones awareness to remember the positive aspects of life with and to treat ones subjective-well-being. However, I do agree with his argument of the self-sustaining effect of PPI’s. Due to participating in PPI’s, I try to be consciously aware of being grateful and kind to others as it increases my well-being. However, but it has to be practiced consistently due to negatives and stresses of our everyday life in our society that are always persistent.
Gratitude is a gift that the earth urgently needs. Consistent gratitude is a form of recognition of the gift and the giver. Daily gratitude can help eliminate the need for more and practicing more of only what we need. Gratitude leads to a society of contentment rather than one that's always in need of more. We human individuals have conventions for appreciation; we apply them formally to each other. We say thank you. “We understand that receiving a gift
One of the articles discussed using gratitude and life satisfaction on children to help alleviate mild or moderate depression. I plan to incorporate this article’s techniques and ideas in my professional practices. Most of the adults that I work with have mild or moderate depression and lack satisfaction in their lives. This article’s ideas may be helpful in my practice because it can help the client gain positive feelings and behaviors. Incorporating hope, gratitude, and optimism helps the client to be able to identify their own resilience in
looking forward to, it will change my outlook on the day. According to studies “gratitude can
A multitude of programs are advertised towards businesses with the promise that they will improve their employee 's EI, and in return, their employees will be able to work more efficiently and hold a more positive atmosphere in the work area in general. Surprisingly, many businesses buy these programs too. EI promises so many improvements on a person 's life. Many programs guarantee that a person 's life will improve by increasing their EI, from their love life to their home life to their work life, sometimes even claiming that people with higher EI will more likely receive a promotion. EI has a ring to it that sounds appealing towards both business owners and managers, and employees alike. It is easy to market grandeur ideals towards business practices as EI presents itself as a win-win situation, making it fairly popular among many businesses in
been minimized, suicides and substance abuse. Recognizing the usefulness of positive psychology can minimize substance abuse along with the view that it is a suitable alternative to dealing with complex issues while also minimizing impacts to mission accomplishment.
Its practice has been seen to be efficacious in healing and improving the quality of life of many people. Whether in terms of enhancing mental health or preventing illness, gratitude is one of life’s vitalizing ingredients. Clinical trials indicate that the practice of gratitude can have dramatic and lasting positive effects on a person’s life. It can lower blood pressure, improve immune function, promote happiness and well being, and spur acts of helpfulness, generosity and cooperation (Emmons & Stern, 2013). Emmons and Stern (2013) from their experiments, assert that gratitude has one of the strongest links to mental health and life satisfaction in any personality trait, more so than even optimism hope or compassion. They maintain that people who experience gratitude can cope more effectively with everyday stress, show increased resilience in the face of trauma-induced stress, recover more quickly from illness, and enjoy more robust physical health.
“Seligman (1998) noted positive psychology’s focus is to make the lives of all people rewarding and to build positive experiences”(Costello & Stone, 2012). His concern and main focus was to train and support staff, faculty, and administrators of positive psychology approaches and overall, helping their students grow as learn...
Positive Psychology is the strengths and virtues a person or a community poses that lead to its optimal performance and allow it to thrive.This is a beneficial study that has the chance to improve the lives of many as well as preventing some negative situations. This review looks into what Positive Psychology is and how it impacts our lives. The sources I selected look into a broad overview of Positive Psychology, and it looks into deeper more specific aspects of Positive Psychology. This review has to lead me to believe that if we see ourselves and the future in a positive way it will have a positive effect on our lives.
“Wellness conceptualized as the paradigm for counseling provides vigor-predicated strategies for assessing clients, conceptualizing issues developmentally, and orchestrating interventions to remediate dysfunction and optimize magnification. Wellness counseling models have stimulated consequential research that avails to compose the evidence base for practice in the counseling field. The development of these models is explicated, results of studies utilizing the models are reviewed, and implicative insinuations for research needed to further appraise clinical practice and advocacy efforts are discussed”(Myers & Sweeney 2008).There is numerous wellness models used in the counseling field today. The two that are mostly used is “The Wheel of Wellness” which is more a theoretical approach model and “The Indivisible Self” which is an evidenced based model of wellness.
This led Grant and Dutton to observe three main things. The first being reciprocity; A sense of obligation to help that person who helped us and reflect on what we have received from the person. The second, is a feeling of dependency and shame in reflecting on what we have received from others. Finally, short-term emotional behavior. Researchers wondered if thinking about the times when we gave something to others might be more effective in promoting aid. Therefore, both researchers hope to find and hope that in reflecting on the granting of benefits to other people will produce a greater increase in prosocial behavior.
Positive psychology utilizes five pillars in order to flourish, achieve fulfillment, and satisfaction in life: Positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment (PERMA). The five mainstays of positive psychology are not intended to be means to some other end; these foundations are selected for their own value in personal efforts to flourish, and are fundamental to human well-being. Positive psychology describes the “good life” as being pleasant, engaging, meaningful, and full of achievements and connections. Seligman proposes positive subjective experiences illicit and promote positive emotions. Positive psychology distinguishes two types of happiness that can be derived from experiences and events: Hedonic and eudemonic happines...
When people have gratitude it makes ths country a better place. The people of this country could be caring, or helpful, and our country suffers from the selfish people in it. Gratitude makes a person an American, because they show respect to each and every person they meet and will meet in the future. They have the caring ways to help their friends, and family out at anytime. Gratitude is a trait that should be in any American citizen, because it shows the people of this country that it could be a better place if people would start treating others with kindness. The truth is, as I was growing up, I didn’t see much kindness in the world. People were treating others lousy, worthless, and, horrid. If more people had gratitude ther would be less murders, more love, and so much more faith in the world. Today we see people die, and are used to it. We hear about attacks and absolutely do nothing for the people that need it. Obviously, we need to find more of this stuff called
Snyder, C., & Lopez, S. J. (2003). Positive Psychological Assessment: A Handbook of Models and Measures. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
When we sacrifice our time to help someone in need, whether it is a great or small need, we become a part of their life and can help alleviate heavy burdens. We feel good for looking outside ourselves and contributin...
...s thank you to others makes them incredibly happy. We also must express gratitude for ordinary things such as a beautiful blue sky during the daytime or sparkling stars at night. Get in the habit of finding at least 10 things to be grateful for each day to increase your happiness level.