Last
week I posted a book report, as I often do. The week before that I
began the discussion of paradoxes. This week I want to talk about
emotions. Well, specifically, I want to talk about one emotion;
happiness. There is a ton of research, currently being conducted, on
happiness. This area of academic endeavor has been titled Positive
Psychology. Though this field has a long, and storied, history,
going back to people like Abraham Maslow and Carl Roger, it was
officially launched, as a discipline, in the year 2000 by Martin
Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Seligman
and Csikszentmihalyi are juggernauts in the field of psychology and
you really need to know about them. Today I will talk about Mr.
Seligman. Martin is a professor of psychology at the University of
Pennsylvania. His work has been extremely influential. In fact, it
was one of Seligman's observations that played a big part in
overturning behavioralism and ushering in the era of cognitive
psychology. But I won't get into that right now. What I want to talk
about is Marty's latest book. It's called Flourish.
Previously, Seligman had written a book called Authentic Happiness. And, though he is one of the fathers of the field of positive psychology, he no longer likes the moniker “Happiness Research.” Martin
believes the word happiness has been so overused as to become
meaningless. He wishes to establish a new word to define the field he
created. This word is “Flourish.” Seligman's goal is to help the
people of the world flourish.
In order
to help people flourish Seligman needed a framework. And his new book
spells out that very structure. As you know, acronyms help us remember stuff. So
the acronym Martin came up with is PERMA. You'll want to remember
this. You can think of PERMA as the five levers, or pathways, to
happiness. Once you know what the five letters stand for, you'll be
able to make a quick reference in your mind, and then course-correct
immediately. I do it all the time.
The P
stands for Positive Emotions. This is the most commonly understood
definition of happiness. It's that hedonic pleasure we experience
while feeling good. It exists in the moment. The opposite would be
things like sacrifice. Sacrifice is important but it only feels good
after the fact. Upon reflection. Positive emotions feel good right
now. They are things like joy, excitement, exuberance, etc. And there
are definite ways to increase your level of positive emotions. One
example would be listening to music that you really like. In addition
to that music perhaps you might dance a little. Humans universally
enjoy moving to music so dancing might be just the thing you need to
lift your spirits. Another option would be to plan a vacation.
Anticipation is a big element of excitement and planning a vacation,
in vivid detail, is a great way to get excited.
The E
stands for Engagement. This means paying attention, but it's even more
than that. In 1990, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote an amazing book
called Flow. If you haven't read it, you should. Flow is the
psychological state of optimal experience. And it's all about
engagement. Csikszentmihalyi was studying artist and trying to
figure out how their minds were working while they were engaged in
their craft. Repeatedly he heard people talk about being caught up in
the flow of the experience. Flow is that concentrated focus we
experience when still flies by (or stands still) and we completely
lose ourselves in what we're doing. Rock climbers often report being
in flow, as do surfers. Surgeons can experience tremendous bliss
through their job because surgery is fertile grounds for flow. Few of
us climb rocks of operate on people. So two other options are reading
a good book and participating in a great conversation.
The R
stands for positive Relationships. It is quite coincidental that the
R falls right in the middle of the acronym. Because scientists tend
to agree that positive relationship are the most central aspect of
happiness. Humans are gregarious creatures and we find joy and
happiness being around other people. Of course, people can also make
us miserable. So what really matter is what we do, the work that
we put in. Cultivating positive relationships isn't all that
different from growing a garden. It takes work and effort but the
dividends are significant. It goes without saying (but better with saying) that we should
always be working on building positive relationships.
It's what I'm doing right now, with you, my friend.
The M
stands for Meaning. This one should be pretty self-explanatory. It's
simple but not easy. We tend to enjoy ourselves when we are doing
things that are meaningful to us. Obviously a prerequisite would be
to know what is meaningful to you. This is the part that isn't always
easy. It can take some reflection to identify those things that are
important to us. It may be spending time with your family. Or it could
be service to others. Whatever it is, it's your job to figure it out.
Socrates may have been overstating the case when he said, “The
unexamined life is not worth living.” But he wasn't all that far
from the truth.
Lastly,
the A stands for Accomplishment. The English language doesn't really
have an exact word for my favorite emotion. The closest we can get is
“Triumphant.” The Italians happen to have just the word. It's
“Fiero.” It's the triumphant feeling we experience when we accomplish
something worthwhile. It's an exuberant state that, at least to me,
is the very embodiment of happiness. Obviously, the bigger the
accomplishment, the greater the feeling of happiness. However, it
works on all levels. So go for it. Strive to achieve the goals you
have set for yourself. Because that accomplished feeling is true bliss.
