Prof. Jitender Sharma,
Librarian & Marketing Manager - Journal of Marketing & Communication
writes...
Happiness
is a mental or emotional state of well-being
characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment
to intense joy. Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in
terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply
as an emotion. Scientifically, happiness can mean many things to many people.
Part of the challenge of a science of happiness is to identify different
concepts of happiness, and where applicable, split them into their components.
President of the
American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman is popularly known as the
father of Positive Psychology. He is one among world leading psychologists. Martin
Seligman also worked a lot on “happiology”. He has provided a systematic theory
about why happy people are happy and used scientific method to explore it. He
has also provided an acronym PERMA to correlate positive psychology's
findings that humans seem happiest when they have:
- Pleasure
- Engagement,
- Relationships,
- Meaning,
and
- Accomplishments
He writes that the
most satisfied, upbeat people were those who had discovered and exploited their
unique combination of “signature strengths,” such as humanity, temperance and
persistence. This vision of happiness combines the virtue ethics of Confucius,
Mencius and Aristotle with modern psychological theories of motivation. According
to Seligman happiness has three dimensions that can be cultivated: the Pleasant
Life, the Good Life, and the Meaningful Life.
The Pleasant Life is
realized by appreciating basic pleasures such as companionship, the natural
environment and our bodily needs. The Good Life is achieved through discovering
our unique virtues and strengths, and employing them creatively to enhance our
lives. The Meaningful Life is achieved when we find a deep sense of fulfillment
by employing our unique strengths for a purpose greater than ourselves.
Seligman’s theory
reconcile two conflicting views of human happiness, the individualistic
approach which emphasizes that we should take care of ourselves and nurture our
own strengths, and the altruistic approach, which tends to downplay
individuality and emphasizes sacrifice for the greater purpose.
People now live longer,
healthier, and most likely happier lives than ever before and this will almost
certainly continue in the near future. As life gets better, people increasingly
seek methods to fulfill their need for self-actualization and happiness. Positive
psychology theory guides people toward more meaningful lives by developing new
methods, testing of its theories and strategies, as well as the engagement of
professionals in the field in more quantitative and qualitative work. It tries
to understand, document, and promote the factors that make lives most worth
living and encompass strategies that help individuals and communities to
flourish. Research based studies in happiness reveal that we can teach
happiness and that we can understand what happiness is, what it means, and how
it can be attained, if we study it scientifically i.e. using positive psychology
theories.
Psychology practitioners while
dealing with clients those facing depression, or feeling low in life need to
recognize that they can help them the most by focusing on happiness, making the
understanding of what makes life worth living their primary task, and
amplifying their clients’ strengths rather than repairing their weaknesses.
Seligman advocates that the positive social science of this century provides the
probability of preventing serious mental illnesses by focusing on human
strengths, scientific understanding of happiness, and the building of what
makes life most worth living. Moreover, this provides a scientific
understanding of human strengths that can act as buffers against mental
illnesses.
The positive psychology and its
focus on happiness can help health professionals reconnect with the positive
side of life, make them and their clients stronger, more resilient, and happier
human beings. Seligman writes that there is no reason for people to fidget
until death. Happiness can add years to life, as well as life to years. In very
relevant phrase, he writes that we can learn more by lighting candles than by
cursing the darkness. After all, “those who understand happiness have the best
chance of attaining it”.
With an increased knowledge of
happiness, as we age and look back at our accomplishments and failures, we will
be able to ask ourselves how close or how far we are from a good life and using
happiness-enhancing strategies, we will be able to make vital adjustments.
Contact the author at: jitendersharmaji@gmail.com, jsharma@niilm.com
I agree with you positive thinking is need of healthy life. So think positive and stay healthy and fit.
ReplyDeleteThere is only one life that we have got. Why not to live it positively. Positive psychology impacts your over all personality.
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