Feb 2

Positive Psychology: The Wellbeing Study

Posted in News
This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Positive Psychology

As I mentioned in a recent post, with the times the way they are I think it would be good to have a small series on “positive psychology”, the branch of psychology that is concerned with why and how we can be happy.

Let’s begin with an opportunity for you to participate in some research on positive psychology. There’s an international study on wellbeing being led from New Zealand which starts in March, and you can sign up for it at, where else, wellbeingstudy.com. As the researchers state there:

There is considerable research measuring negative health indicators (such as depression and disease) and negative economic indicators (such as growth and wealth). However, there is only a modest amount of research measuring positive indicators – such as wellbeing, strengths, engagement, and happiness. Most studies only measure wellbeing at the surface level, and only provide a snapshot in time as they do not follow people and how they change over time. The Wellbeing Study looks in depth at wellbeing, with the aim being to learn more about the positive aspects of human nature, and how these change.

(If you’re reading this after March 2009, you can still join at intervals up to March 2010 – check the web page for details.)

I’ve signed up – I make a lot of use of scientific research, and I feel it’s only right to take every opportunity to contribute to it as well. I encourage you to join me in helping to extend and deepen our understanding of wellbeing.

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Feb 4

Positive Psychology: “Four Statements to Happier”

Posted in Tools
This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Positive Psychology

Continuing my Positive Psychology series, where better to look for material than the blog Positive Psychology News Daily? And there we find Dave Shearon’s post “Four Statements to Happier“, a simple outline of what he’s learned about what makes us happy.

His statement goes like this:

“Hi. My name is ________. I want to be happier. I am willing to work at it.”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that simple doesn’t mean easy (or trivial). Built into these four straightforward sentences is most of what you need to know about improving your life.

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“Hi.” Because your life is not a solitary life. Your life is lived, inevitably, in a social context, and by greeting and welcoming that social context – even if you dislike parts of it; by engaging with it, and by making use of it in a positive way, you’re able to improve your life.

There is really no such thing as “self-help”. Think about it. When you buy a self-help book, who is helping you? Yourself, obviously, because without application the book does nothing, but also the author, and everyone the author has learned from.

So, “Hi.”

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“My name is __________.” We all know what our names are, but how many of us know who we are? Knowing something about who you are is an important first step to change. And change is how we become who we are.

If that sounds like nonsense, it isn’t. Most of us cover over who we are because we’re afraid that, if we told other people who we really are, nobody would want to know us. Freeing ourselves from that fear is part of the journey to happiness.

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“I want to be happier.” You may think, well, everyone wants to be happier, so what? But if everyone wants to be happier – why are so many people unhappy? Why are so many people doing nothing to become happier? Do you really want to be happier? Do you have a powerful desire for happiness that draws you forward past obstacles and challenges? Do you want to be happier more than you want to be safe? Because sometimes that’s the choice.

Do you want to be happier more than you want to not work at it?

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“I am willing to work at it.” That’s what changes “I want to be happier” from an idle dream to a plan. Happiness, for most of us, doesn’t fall off the tree into our hand. We have to climb.

In the rest of the series I’ll look at some of the techniques that are around for improving our happiness, but for now, contemplate those four statements:

“Hi. My name is ________. I want to be happier. I am willing to work at it.”

How far through the four statements can you get and mean it?

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Mar 16

Happy at Last

Posted in Reviews
This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Positive Psychology

I’ve recently finished reading Richard O’Connor’s book Happy at Last: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Finding Joy. O’Connor doesn’t identify himself as part of the Positive Psychology movement, and in fact has some criticisms of it, but I am putting this review in my Positive Psychology series because it is definitely in the same general zone: learning how to be happy.

The author’s previous books include Undoing Depression and Undoing Perpetual Stress, and he is a psychotherapist who works with depressed people and who himself has struggled with depression. Good credentials. Although he doesn’t go into scientific studies in depth in the body of the book, preferring the more layperson-friendly approach of endnotes without explicit markers in the text, he does base what he says on current science. This isn’t just a survey of knowledge, though; it’s a practical guide, with techniques and exercises.

O’Connor, like me, thinks very highly of the potential of meditation (specifically, in his case, mindfulness meditation) to help us improve our lives. It’s the main technique he recommends, in fact. He also puts forward a strong critique of contemporary culture and its consumerism, and makes it very clear that money does not buy happiness. But he’s not just a hippy. He emphasizes taking pleasure in what we have, dealing appropriately with grief and pain when they come to us, and looking for meaning in our lives. He discusses how the brain’s innate mechanisms are set up to produce desire, not happiness, and how we can work around this; talks about defense mechanisms and their uses and dangers; and knowledgeably expounds on the inner critic, stress, how to improve your personal relationships, and the importance of daily gratitude. (He recommends reminding yourself each night of three things you are grateful for about the day. It’s a good exercise.)

There’s a mass of good stuff in here. I don’t agree with everything he says, of course; for one thing, he’s a psychotherapist and so tends to believe that change takes a long time and a lot of self-exploration. Time and self-exploration are important, but people who are ready to change can do so surprisingly quickly and without an archaeological expedition, in my experience. Minor quibbles aside, though, this is an excellent resource and I recommend it to anyone who would like to increase their overall level of happiness in life.

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