WHAT IS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? 

WHAT IS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? 

‘Happiness’ is considered to have the connotation of positivity. Have we ever given a thought as to what goes into the recipe of Happiness? What are the ingredients? Does happiness serve as a preservative? 

Positive Psychology is the study of “individual experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions… It promises to improve quality of life”. It focuses on the strengths for the well-being of an individual at the personal as well as societal level. What can we do to have a life worth-living and fulfilling? How often have we found ourselves brooding over our weakness? Are our weaknesses limiting us from reaching our goals and feeling helpless? Let’s try to remove those blinkers from our horse’s eyes and look at the wider picture. We, individuals, are a whole - made up of strengths and weaknesses, but we often minimize or overlook our strengths and maximize our weaknesses. Weakness looks like a brick wall on the path of the goal. Positive psychology emphasizes our strengths and strengthens us further. It helps us to acknowledge the strength, and creatively use them to achieve a sense of fulfillment. Fulfillment requires a considerable amount of hard work and there cannot be a shortcut to happiness and sustained well-being. 

Read Also: What is Mental Wellbeing?

What is wellbeing? How can we achieve it? 

Well-being can be achieved by enabling ourselves to flourish in all aspects of life. We can practice them one at a time every day and reap the benefits of our effort. We look forward to experiencing Positive emotions and we can increase them by practicing gratitude for what we have experienced in our past and be forgiving for things that brought unpleasant experience by not holding grudges and tit for tat attitude. Being able to make the best out of the present moment and hopeful for what the future holds for us without having rigid expectations about the outcome. 

Hobbies are something that tempts us to engage in the activity, with intense concentration, self-awareness, feeling of being perfectly challenged. We are neither bored nor overwhelmed. We sense that time is flying. Our concentration and attention are glued that we tend to use all our strategies to face the challenges. Counter attacking them feels rewarding and we want to carry on engaging with that hobby. Similarly, we can extend our interest and attention to other activities which are as rewarding as our hobbies. These can be learning new activities such as driving, new language, painting, learning new technical skills, to name a few. Other things that can fill us with instant gratification are as minor as helping elders or exchanging smiles with others. 

In this time of hustle and bustle where we are expected to be ready on heels to carry out responsibilities especially at the workplace, we can give ourselves the time to check in with the little things that lighten our mood and rejuvenates our soul. Paying special attention to what is our highest strength which we can use to face challenges especially during adversity as well as fill us with a sense of contentment will keep us going throughout the day.

Checking on our relationship - are we giving enough time to the people who matter to us? Do we have people to count on when we need emotional and moral support? Friends to spend time with? Do we feel responsible to be there for the ones dependent on us? We can look for ways to make the relationship better - Spending time with them to strengthen social life and keeping a check on them virtually if meeting in person is not feasible. Surrounding ourselves with people who celebrate us and compliment them for who they are and their importance in our life. 

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Finding meaning and purpose in life sounds like thoughts of the elderly. Positive psychology points out that the sooner we find the purpose and meaning of life it will help us to serve society better. Considering ourselves as an asset to society will help to ponder on how we can utilize our strengths and abilities for the betterment of others. Revisiting and modifying our beliefs will enhance our holistic growth. 

Keeping a Gratitude Journal has received major limelight since the pandemic, but why do we even need to have one of those fancy and catchy journals? We can have our way out by understanding the importance of gratitude journals. Practicing gratitude before going to bed can be done by recollecting what are the three things we were grateful for during the day, it can be as simple as waking up early without the alarm, helping someone, or anything. By appreciating our efforts and embracing accomplishment, we will be able to sustain our well-being on a day-to-day basis. This helps our brain to realize that despite a long day we did have something to be grateful for. This practice helps to a great extent to regulate your sleep and relax your mind from worries. 

By making use of the key aspects of wellbeing, we can track down the ingredients that make us feel positive and sustainable. Happiness is a process towards our goal and not the goal in itself. Peakmind offers two promising courses that can aid in developing a positive mindset towards life, which involves building a compassionate and healthy-happy mindset - Skills to cultivate gratitude and self-compassion and Skills to develop a positive mindset for professionals. Additionally, personal growth is a multi-faceted process, that may also require assistance from professionals such as counselors, therapists, and life coaches. Our one-on-one counseling services Emotional Wellbeing Coach | Booking Portal provides you with expert professionals in psychology to aid your self-growth. 

- Dipika Minj