Positive psychology is a "new direction" in the field of psych that focuses on theory, research and application techniques to understand what is best about us, including well-being, creativity, resilience and fulfillment. It is the study of the average person and their ordinary human strengths and values, and how to improve their day to day lives. Positive Psychology attempts to advocate for a balanced life, and teach people to flourish and thrive.
People everywhere want to be as happy as possible. Most everyone's goal in life is to increase their happiness levels. Some positive psychologists believe that we have a happiness "set point" that is genetically determined; however, research has shown that it is possible to change one's level of happiness and reprogram the brain. There are five key aspects to increasing one's happiness including: focusing on positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment.
The phrase, "fake it till you make it", is critical when focusing on an increase in positive emotion and happiness. Studies have shown that simply smiling, even if you are not particularly in a good mood, can improve your positive emotions and overall happiness. The self-perception theory states that when you act "as if" you are happy, you can change your emotional state. Our thoughts heavily influence our emotions, so it is important to focus the way we perceive events in our life in an optimistic light. In fact, optimism is one of the strongest predictors of a high subjective well-being, or happiness indicator. Optimism is cognitive and can be acquired with hope and practice.
The second part of improving one's happiness involves engagement in our life. To simply go through the motions of life is an easy way to remain unhappy or even just complacent in life. Instead, we ought to aim to be mindful and truly absorb the ongoing experiences in life. To be fully present can increase our positive emotional states, increase self-awareness, reduce stress and improve physical health. Positive psychologists further concentrated on the experience of "flow", meaning to be completely focused on the task at hand, merging action and awareness until the rest of the world is temporarily shut out. According to Mihalyi Czikszentmihalyi, happiness involves achieving control over the contents of one's consciousness and increasing our time spent in the state of flow. To experience flow is to be working at the peak of your ability, spending time in a task you have chosen for its own sake, and feeling a total sense of control. Mindfulness and engagement can be increased by finding activities that are conducive to your personal flow experience. Total engagement and absorption in life allows one to discover their true sense of purpose, increasing happiness.
The third aspect that is necessary for optimal levels of glee is strong relationships. Healthy relationships with other people can positively effect one's entire life. People who have close relationships with others are less vulnerable to poor health and premature death and they are generally happier with others than when by themselves. Families are our first and most critical social environment. They ought to provide a goal for existence, appropriate challenges and skills and provide a sense of acceptance, control and self-confidence. Strong close friendships consist of a trust, genuine concern for one another, interdependence and commitment to remain in the relationship through its ups and downs. In relation to romantic relationships, it is chemically proven that the feeling of love increases our happiness, as brain scans of people in love show higher levels of dopamine and oxytocin, both of which decrease stress and anxiety and increase feelings of intimacy. However, romantic relationships in which the pair follows these four rules can not only last longer, but improve positive emotions between the two persons involved.
1. Share appreciation for small favors
2. Celebrate your partner's successes
3. Make relationship enhancing attributions for behavior (optimism, positive emotions, acceptance, etc.)
4. "Mind" your relationship, try to be engaged in your partner and your lives
Understanding the meaning of our lives, or simply belonging to and serving something bigger than yourself, can infinitely increase our day to day happiness. Having a purpose in life provides people with a reason to get up and move everyday, other than simply going through the motions of life. We are all on this earth to serve a greater cause, and though that may be different from person to person, we all have a purpose to help make this world a little better each day.
Finally, focusing on more goal-directed behavior can increase our well being significantly. Goals that express our personal needs, wants and motives as well as have specific intentions for completion enhance our achievement and happiness in life. Intrinsic and authentic goals rooted in one's core values improves our subjective well being and in return, our happiness.
Each of these five aspects of life can help one flourish and therefore, increase their overall happiness. Positive psychology aims to focus on how to improve each of these key aspects in order to make people happier, making it a significant field of study for everyone on earth.
