WHAT IS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY?
Positive Psychology has been described in vary many ways and with many words, but the most commonly used definition of the field is
“Positive Psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living” (Peterson, 2008)
To push this brief description a bit further, positive psychology is a scientific approach to studying human thoughts, feelings, and behavior, with a focus on strengths instead of weaknesses, building the good in life instead of focusing solely on moving those who are struggling up to normal.
Focuses of Positive Psychology!
Positive Psychology focuses on the positive events and influences in life, including:-
- Positive experiences (life ,happiness,joy,inspiration and love)
- Positive states and traits (like gratitude ,resilience and compassion)
- Positive institutions (applying positive principles within entire organizations and institutions) Why Positive Psychology is very important in our life?
Positive psychologies main aim is to encourage people to discover and nurture their character, strengths, rather than channeling their efforts into correcting shortcomings. Positive Psychology highlights the need for one to shift their negative outlook to a more optimistic view in order to improve quality of life.
Positive Psychology is important because it does not deny the existence of flaws and foibles in our thoughts & behavior, but it argues that equal consideration should be given to people’s strengths and virtues.
Positive Psychology is also very important because discovering what leads people to live more meaningful lives can translate to better strategies for managing mental illness, correcting negative behaviors, and increasing our happiness and productivity.
In order to have a positive life we have to have state of wellbeing because without wellbeing there is no happy and positive state of mind. To know better about wellbeing we need to focus on the PERMA Model.
Positive Psychology and the PERMA Model of Well-being!
Fostering well-being is a primary focus in Positive Psychology. Higher levels of well-being are linked to increase in productivity, a longer life span and more satisfying relationships. So, this model was proposed to explain and define well-being in a broader sense. PERMA is an acronym for the very important 5 elements of Well-being without which it can’t be attained and so it became the recognized model in the field of Positive Psychology.
Let Us know a bit briefly About the Five Elements present in the PERMA Model!
P: Positive Emotions.
It has a major impact on boosting Well-being because if no positive emotion no positive life, things will be messy and chaos all over.
E: Engagement.
To enhance our Wellbeing, it is also important to develop a sense of engagement .This Sense of engagement produces an experience known as “flow”, a sensation you have when your skills are sufficient for a particular challenge with a particular goal.
R: Relationship.
As a social being in individuals often rely on building connections with other people who thrive and the support we derive from those connections can give life purpose and meaning.
M: Meaning.
Experiencing positive emotion alone is not enough to lead a happy life but finding meaning is the highest form of happiness.
A: Accomplishment.
There is no doubt that when we achieve our goals and succeed, we feel a sense of fulfillment .if the drive to accomplish those goals doesn’t exist, a true sense of well-being is difficult to attain. So as a Psychologist I want to say that Positive Psychology is incomplete without Well-being and Wellbeing is incomplete without Positive thinking and positive doing in life. Positive Psychology means a better and a happy life so do learn the importance of Positiveness in our daily life. Life is happy when our mental health and well- being is present and healthy.
Dr. Nisha Choudhury (Clinical Psychologist)
“Always train your mind to see the good in every situation to lead a happy life.”