One of the great pleasures in life can be found in the food that we eat. For me, my relationship with food started out as a challenge for many years. Involved in the very aesthetically-focused sport of figure skating, I was forced to be constantly vigilant about my weight. Consequently, I spent the first 16 years of my life with food as my sworn enemy. The food I did eat was tasteless, bland, nonfat, in powder form or compressed into bars that resembled the same particleboard which comprises my Ikea furniture. At that point in my life, I derived none, if very little pleasure from eating my food.

For me, as well as many others, “worries about eating have come to dominate the pleasure of eating: there is little doubt that these worries have eroded the quality of life and reduced the intrinsic and largely innate pleasure of eating” (Wresniewski, et al, 2003). Author Michael Pollan, in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, argues that the people of the United States are deeply engrossed in a national eating disorder, thanks to a huge surfeit of choices in available food (see “The Paradox of Choice,” by Barry Schwartz) coupled with the daily hailstorms of confusing messages about diet, nutrition, health, and obesity. Here, where the super-sized attitude of “more is better” appears to dominate our thinking, many appear to be fighting a daily battle to keep themselves from overindulging, and consequently, food – which should be “one of the major sources of pleasure for human beings” – has become a source of anguish for many (Rozin, 1999).

After my skating career ended, I made a concerted effort to re-establish a healthy relationship with food, and I’m at a point in my life where cooking and eating are two of my biggest sources of pleasure. Ten years ago, my perspective around having a positive relationship with food would have been very hopeless and charged with negative emotions. Here are some of the strategies I’ve employed in my own life to capitalize on the pleasure I get from food and eating. I hope that these strategies help you increase your own enjoyment:

Explore the cultural and historical roots of the food that you eat.
Michael Pollan argues that “[eating] is an ecological act, and a political act, too,” and “the way we eat is our most profound engagement with the natural world”. Since food is often a social construction, trying new varieties can be thought of as an exchange in history between cultures. Experience new flavors and cuisines, and learn about where and why those types of food emerged from the traditions, environment, cultures and people of that particular place. On the travel channel, catch Anthony Bourdain’s show “No Reservations” or Andrew Zimmern’s “Bizzare Foods” – you will learn why food is tied intricately and often inextricably to history, and how we have been culturally conditioned to feel disgusted by foods that are considered delicacies in other parts of the world.

Savor, Savor, Savor!
American society eats “a fifth of its meals in cars and feed fully a third of its children at a fast food outlet every day” (Pollan, 3). Slow down! Think of everything you eat as a fine wine. Use all 5 senses to indulge in food. Examine its appearance, color, and texture. Remember, your sense of smell has the strongest ties to memory, so when you’re celebrating a special occasion with a special meal, take time to breathe in the aromas – It might help you recall that occasion more vividly. Roll things around in your mouth or chew very slowly. Eat mindfully. Think about where the food comes from. Much as you would with a fine wine, imagine the land, the weather, the vegetation that contributes to its growth and flavor.

Eat smaller portions of really great tasting and nutritious food.
During recent trips to northern Italy, what struck me immediately was that it appeared as though people ate food and drank wine constantly throughout the day, and without much worry for calorie or fat content. In the supermarket, there were no diet cheeses, low fat milks, or sugar free candies. Amazingly, it was as difficult to find people who appeared overweight or obese as it was to find a diet soda in a café. Like the French, who “are legendary for their love of food and wine, their care in preparing, and the richness and variety of their cuisine,” the Italians also seemed to approach meals with much different perspective (Wrzesniewski, et al, 2003). People in these countries “decide their dinner questions on the basis of such quaint and unscientific criteria as pleasure and tradition, eat all manner of “unhealthy” foods, and, lo and behold, wind up actually healthier and happier in their eating than we are” (Pollan, 3). Eat foods that are seasonal and full of flavor to get more bang for your bite. You might be surprised how little of this food you need to feel content and satisfied.

Make dining as much about family, friends, and good conversation, as it is about eating.
In Italy, most places of business (outside of busy tourist hotspots) are required by law to close for 2-3 hours midday. During this time, they take time to eat a full course meal while sitting with friends and family. The dinners are often elaborate, multi-course meals composed of the freshest and finest ingredients, eaten slowly, accompanied by good company and great conversation. Many of our lifestyles are fast paced and hectic, requiring us to juggle multiple responsibilities. Carve out time in your day to eat and make it about nourishing your mind and body – try not to eat in your car while driving or stuff your face with a sandwich while walking around your office. Invite people over for meals and cook them together. Make dinnertime a place where busy family members can reconnect with each other and share the details of life that would otherwise get lost in the lightspeed of what is a day-in-the-life for most.

Grow your own food or visit local places that do.
Food is fast in our world today – Pollan calls this eating at the end of an industrial food chain. I order a sandwich at the deli, and in less than 4 minutes, it is sitting in front of me, ready to be devoured. But think about what it took to grow, care for, transport and prepare each portion of the sandwich – the lettuce, tomatoes, bread, ham, and cheese. While it is impossible and burdensome to get rid of these shortcuts and “eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake [all the time]… in practice few things in life afford quite as much satisfaction” (Pollan, 11). Every March, I visit a local gardening store and buy packets of seeds for the herb garden I keep on my tiny fire escape. I spend a Saturday afternoon filling little Solo cups with dirt and seeds and line them up on my windowsill. As the seeds being to sprout, I look forward to two things: The arrival of spring, and the replanting of the seedlings into their boxes. Until the first chilly frost of winter hits, I am blessed with fresh herbs with which to enliven the food I eat, and I feel humbled and awed each time I experience the delightful tastes that grew from those tiny little seeds, and great satisfaction that I cultivated those plants with my two little hands. Somehow, this sense of pleasure I helped to create means more, tastes better, and feels more robust to me than shaking some dried parsley flakes out of a glass jar I purchased at the supermarket.

In a broader discussion of the good life, “researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in promoting lives that could be broadly defined as “good”- lives that are exemplary in a variety of ways, in terms of fulfillment, moral character, physical health, success, or excellence” (King, 2004). Physical health, although named by many as one of the main substrates of a fulfilling life, is rarely discussed in depth from a positive psychology perspective. The United States, as a nation, is faced with the daunting task of overcoming obesity, one of the greatest public health issues to arise in decades: The latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics show that in 1999, 61% of adults in the United States were overweight or obese. This increase in obesity affected people of all cultures, races, ages and genders, and is cited to be associated with some psychological disorders, such as depression (Center for Disease Control, 1999). In this sense, eating habits and resulting health consequences should absolutely be factored into our conception of the good life. I realize this kind of change (on a grand scale) is rather ambitious, but I’m willing to bet that shifting our attitudes about eating would have a huge impact on our health, and the way we perceive the quality of our lives as a whole. We have to eat to stay alive: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if food could help us thrive by providing us with a source of joy and pleasure, and contributing to our satisfaction with life?

Gloria Park, MAPP, is a doctoral student in Exercise and Sport Psychology at Temple University. Currently, she works as a Program Coordinator for Oncology Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and is an Assistant Instructor for the Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program at the University of Pennsylvania. She was a competitive figure skater for over 14 years, and remains active in the sport as a coach. She received her BA in Psychology and Philosophy from Villanova University, and a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from UPenn. Contact Gloria: parkg7 -at- gmail.com

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

I don’t have any children – yet. The closest I have to a child right now is my dog, but as I grow nearer to the age of having children, I feel anxious, nervous, and excited all at once. Well, mostly, I feel nervous. Okay, let’s be honest here… I freak out. I worry if I will be a good mother…if I will have enough time to spend with my children…if I will drive them crazy…if I will say the right things…if I will remember to tell them to stop and smell the roses before rushing them onto the school bus in the morning. I worry if I will raise them to be responsible, kind, honest, courageous, and happy. Some nights, sleep just does not come to my eyes, and I lay wide-awake worrying about the “ifs”.

The less self-critical and mildly-deluded side of me says, “Hey… I have a degree in positive psychology. What could I possibly do wrong? With all of this knowledge, I should be able to raise super-kids!” When I shared this with my own mom, she chuckled and said, “Try not to over-think this too much. I think raising kids is more art than it is science.” Then she told me a story. “When you were young and our family first moved to the United States, your dad and I worked a lot, so we would take turns putting you on the bus to go to kindergarten. As a young father, your dad did the best he could, but would sometimes send you to school with your shirt on backwards and your brother’s pants on, with your hair in 3 jagged, freakish ponytails. In your lunchbox, he would pack you a cucumber sandwich – he thought that was a good meal. Your teachers called me so many times to ask if everything was okay at home, and I would sometimes cry at night feeling guilty that I was traumatizing you. And look… you turned out just fine.”

It turned out my parents did a lot of things right, doing much to promote my development while providing me with the most basic foundations for a good life – love, support, and a safe home. Here are some things I’ve learned from positive psychology (and my parents) about raising kids well:

• Opportunities for Mastery – Martin Seligman explains in The Optimistic Child that mastery results from a “contingency between action and outcome,” and “noncontingency or uncontrollability results in passivity and depression”.

My parents provided me with a wealth of opportunities to gain mastery in many different domains of life, not just in school. They urged me to play the piano, play the flute, take dance and art classes, write poems, sing in a choir, play soccer and go ice-skating. I wasn’t good at everything I tried, but I grew up feeling like I could do just about anything. This feeling led me to seek out new and novel experiences with a sense that I had control over my environment. The bountiful opportunities my parents provided for me also helped me learn about my character strengths by encouraging me to choose which interests to pursue. I learned quickly that I was good at some things, but not others, and that was okay. Although my mom wanted me to become a concert pianist, I could not sit still for more than 5 minutes. Instead of pushing her desires on me, she recognized my love for doing cartwheels and playing football with my older brother, and encouraged me to pursue activities that enabled me to harness my kinesthetic nature.

• Character Strengths – Discovering and finding ways to use character strengths in daily life correlate highly with life satisfaction, thriving and flourishing, in youth and throughout life: “Research shows that certain strengths of character—for example, hope, kindness, social intelligence, self-control, and perspective—can buffer against the negative effects of stress and trauma, preventing or mitigating disorders in their wake” (Park, 2004).

My parents modeled moral behavior and taught me to be fair and honest. Attending church provided me with yet more ways to strengthen my moral compass. Furthermore, they instilled in me good habits (like always saying “thank you” and keeping my promises), one of the foundations for developing good character. When I eventually chose to pursue figure skating, this activity also set the stage for me to experience persistence, self-determination, commitment, and dedication.

• Resilience – Over the last 2 weeks, I attended the Penn Resiliency Training and learned how to teach school-aged kids the skills to help them become more resilient. Many of this month’s contributors have already described the mechanisms behind some of these skills: Senia Maymin wrote about using the A.P.E. method, Nick Hall explained how to use our ABC’s in the face of adversity, and Kathryn Britton illustrated how reframing can help us cope with situations at work. Research has shown that there is a strong correlation between a mother’s optimism or pessimism and her child or children’s own outlook on life.

As with every family, we experienced many challenges and setbacks together. My parents never had resilience training, but in the face of trying times, both of my parents modeled resilient behavior, showing my brother and me that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel (or ways to find other tunnels), no matter how narrow that tunnel seemed. Conversely, they showed us how to celebrate our successes, and how to use that momentum to fuel our future endeavors.

With mother’s day behind us, and father’s day coming near, I can’t help but feel eternally grateful to my parents for all they have been to me throughout my life. We weren’t perfect family, but whose is? Perhaps the greatest gift I can give my child is to find happiness and success in my own life: To become an exemplar of optimism, hope, gratitude, and love, and to become a shining example of how to awaken to each day welcoming the wealth of experiences, relationships and opportunities the world has to offer. I hope, one day, I will become my child’s hero, as my parents have become to me, and I hope that my children will become someone’s hero someday as well. Maybe raising kids is indeed more art than science, but I have been sleeping a little better at night knowing that the science of positive psychology has provided me with better brushes and a more-vivid palette with which to craft my future as a parent.

*Note: A song inspired this post – If you would like to hear a wonderfully inspirational song about parenthood, please download Corinne Bailey Rae’s song, Butterfly. The lyrics to the song can be found here. I’d also love to hear comments and thoughts from parents about how positive psychology has influenced your role as mom or dad.

References

Park, N. (2004). Character Strengths and Positive Youth Development. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 591, No. 1, 40-54.

Seligman, M.E.P., (1996). The Optimistic Child: Proven Program to Safeguard Children from Depression & Build Lifelong Resilience. New York: Houghton Mifflin. (Paperback edition, 1996, Harper Paperbacks, ISBN 0-06-097709-4)

Gloria Park, MAPP ‘06, is a doctoral student in Exercise and Sport Psychology at Temple University. Currently, she works as a Program Coordinator at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and is an Assistant Instructor for the Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Contact: parkg7 [at] gmail [dot] com.  Gloria’s bio.    Gloria writes on the 8th of each month, and her past articles are here.

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

Body and Mind Intertwined

Runner's High

The CDC currently recommends that every adult should accumulate 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week. If you are thinking to yourself that you are not coming anywhere near meeting these guidelines, you are not alone: in 2005, almost 40% of surveyed adults over age 18 reported that they were not involved in any type of leisure time physical activity, and only 30% of those who were active reported that they met the physical activity guidelines.

Centuries ago, Descartes (both philosopher and scientist) argued that mind and body were separate entities, entirely independent of each other in function and condition, intersecting at just one point – the pineal gland. We now know, through burgeoning fields such as neurobiology and psychoneuroimmunology, that mind are body are intricately intertwined and are, in many ways, one and the same. George Engel’s biopsychosocial model explains how psychological, social, and biological factors all impact human functioning. The term “wellness,” popular in culture today, also refers to a holistic conception of well-being that is inclusive of all aspects of a person’s life. Well-being is more than just a state of mind – it is a state of being.

How are Physical Activity and the Good Life Related? 

So, from a positive psychology perspective, what role does physical activity play in cultivating the good life and in human flourishing? What good is physical activity?

Some of the answers are well-known, well-researched, and intuitive. On the physical level, exercise builds and maintains bone health, helps keep weight in control, builds lean muscle and reduces the fat ratio, reduces blood pressure, improves the efficiency with which your body processes glucose, and decreases the risk of many chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, and colon cancer, to name a few. It also helps us maintain our aesthetic goals of looking younger and leaner, or fitting into an itsy bitsy, teenie weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini (or Speedo) in time for the summer beach season.

A recent review article by Scully and colleagues in the British Journal of Sports Medicine also presented support for positive relationships between physical activity and psychological well-being.

• Battle the Blues: Exercise can help aid in the recovery from depression (particularly with clinical populations), but more importantly, may help individuals become more resilient to depression. Aerobic forms of exercise, such as jogging or cycling, appear to be more effective in this role.

• Ward off Worries: Exercise, sufficient as short bursts of physical activity, can have a positive impact on anxiety as well. Effects can be magnified if you follow a regiment continuously for several months.

• Safeguard from Stress: Regular physical activity can also serve as a preventive role in buffering you from the stresses of daily living. For this purpose, aerobic activity is best in enhancing stress responsivity and adaptability.

• Modify your Mood: In many studies, exercise has shown to enhance and elevate mood, although it is unclear whether this is an effect caused by hormonal or biochemical changes. For this effect, a wide variety of aerobic and anaerobic exercises can help.

• Step Up your Self Confidence: Physical activity provides a rich playground to experience mastery and skill building, the development of which can lead to increased perceived and experienced competence. Improvements in body shape and condition can also promote positive self-image. Find challenging and engaging activities, and celebrate your accomplishments!

Other emerging research in the field supports that there is a positive link between physical activity and brain health, cognition, and memory. Brain imaging studies have shown that exercise can help keep the brain young by stimulating the expression of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which encourages neurons in the brain to forge new connections with other neurons, and strengthen existing connections, resulting in a more capable and efficient structure with a denser network of neurons.

Dream about and aspire to be you at your best, but don’t forget to be cognizant about your health and physical fitness. After all, what good would it be to set goals, land your dream job, raise wonderful kids, and find happiness and meaning if you aren’t around long to enjoy it? As is often the case, living a healthier and more active lifestyle is a choice and decision, and takes hard work and dedication. The reward? Your BEST possible self, from head to toe.

References
Anderson, RN. Deaths: Leading Causes for 2000. NVSR 50(16). Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics.

Mokdad, AH, et.al. Actual Causes of Death in the United States, 2000. JAMA 291(10): 1238-1245. March 10, 2004.

Scully, D., Kremer, J., Meade, M.M., Graham, & Dudgeon (1998). Physical exercise and psychological well-being: A critical review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 32:111-120.

World Health Organization: Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (The Nation’s Health – APHA, March 2004).

Image
Turkey Trot Runner’s High courtesy of pixonomy

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

Learning to skate

In athletics, and in just about every other realm of life, talent alone is usually not enough to produce optimal performance and bring bounties of success. This is no secret. Hard work, dedication, and discipline usually hold more weight in the development of skills and ability, although having the talent to start never hurts. K. Anders Ericsson and Neil Charness introduced the concept of the structure and acquisition of expert performance, which helped counter previous notions that expert performance reflects on innate, god-given abilities and capacities. Through their research, they found that deliberate practice is one strategy to attaining peak performance. Deliberate practice involves skill-focused goal-setting, intense involvement in structured training sessions, self-monitoring of process outcomes, and receiving feedback. This is great news, since we don’t all naturally possess the ability to excel in everything we do.

Now that I have transitioned from competitor to coach, one of my main roles is to provide feedback to the students on their progress – an integral part of deliberate practice – so I’ve started to think about how applying principles of positive psychology could potentially impact the nature of feedback I provide for them. I can cheer them on blithely with unconditional support and acclamation, but then I would be doing them a disservice. Coaching is supposed to promote growth, improvement, and skill-building, so how do I encourage my students while simultaneously supporting their growth? Researcher Carol Dweck has found that praise is a powerful, effective, motivating force in realms of academic achievement. But all praise is not created equal. Praise that is focused on effort rather than ability, is sincere rather than disingenuous, and is specific rather than general, appears to contribute to enhanced performance. With this in mind, I’ve tried to use phrases like, “Your back leg on the spiral looks much higher – you must have been practicing at home!” Effort-focused praise can promote a sense of control and accountability in the final outcome, which makes sense given that expert performance is more likely the product of sustained effort rather than talent alone, although most likely it is some combination of both.

Dweck’s research further showed that ability-focused praise could potentially be the cause of underperformance. Students praised for being smart often chose easier tasks to try when given a choice to avoid making mistakes and looking stupid. During Monday evening’s session, when prompted to practice camel spins, one of the girls pulled me aside and said in a shy and quiet voice, “I hate spins. I’m not good at them. Can we practice jumps instead?” I could relate. My coaches always praised me for being a great jumper. I wasn’t a fantastic spinner, but I wasn’t terrible either. So when given the chance to choose between practicing jumps or spins, I always chose jumping. When I practiced jumps, validation and praise were plentiful, and I always felt good about myself. The converse was true when I would practice spins, so I would avoid them altogether to my detriment. I encouraged my student to put more effort into practicing those skills that did not come naturally easy to her, and by doing this, I hope to promote agency thinking by increasing self-efficacy, and an I-can-get-better-at-anything-if-I-try attitude.

There are some people in this world who are exceptionally gifted at what they do, like Beethoven and Einstein, but they didn’t go from womb to world entirely self-actualized. It’s easy to forget that it probably took much time and persistence for them to reach their zenith. We are not all natural born classical composers, physics geniuses, or swizzling machines, but with effortful practice and the right kind of praise, we can all grow and aspire to be or do anything our hearts desire.

References
Ericsson, K. A., & Charness, N. (1994). Expert performance: Its structure and acquisition. American Psychologist, 49(8), 725-747.

Dweck, C. S. (1999). Caution—praise can be dangerous. American Educator, 23(1), 4-9.

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

Flow is often characterized by the sensation of distorted time and space, where the self and environment cease to exist in conscious perception, tasks become seemingly effortless, and total immersion in the present enables long periods of concentration and focus with minimal effort. Achieving a flow state is likened to striking a delicate balance between relinquishing control of certain variables, while exerting perfectly orchestrated control over others – It requires unconscious control and conscious surrender. Flow experiences are also autotelic, or intrinsically fun and rewarding. It is being consumed by what you do until you no longer exist in the equation.

Flow is one part consciousness, one part attention, and two parts magic, but the good news is that the likelihood of experiencing this enigmatic state of being can be increased, given there are specific conditions in place. First, a balance between challenge and skill must be present. This balance is one of the fundamental ingredients to achieving flow states, and is found at the intersection where your skills and competencies match the challenge. The activity should be just challenging enough to stretch your limits, but not too easy as to bore you.

Two other ingredients necessary for attaining a flow state are clear goals and unambiguous feedback. Having a clear proximal goal will enable you to attend to pertinent stimuli in the environment that will help you achieve the goal. Unambiguous feedback provides information on the progress of reaching the goal, and also serves as an important motivational agent to keep you moving forward toward that goal.

Unfortunately, even with all of the components in place, it’s not guaranteed that you will experience flow. There are certain activities, however, that are especially conducive to flow experiences, such as engaging in sport or physical activity. As a recent graduate of the MAPP program, and as a doctoral student in Sport and Exercise Psychology, I was happy to learn that Csikszentmihalyi discovered that those involved in sports were more likely to have flow experiences than those who were involved in just about any other profession, since this intrinsically challenging activity provides the ideal incubator for flow. The reason why sport is such a fertile ground for flow is because the challenges inherent are never clearly defined. The varying challenges (physical, mental, technical, environmental, or meeting nutritional and energy requirements) provide a myriad of opportunities calling athletes to action, while the skills (and confidence in skills) always have room to grow.

Figure skating in flow

What does this mean for the rest of us? While it is important for many to be accomplished in their respective sports, enjoying and appreciating the activity has value in its own right, something competitive athletes often forget. Ultimately, satisfaction with a sporting experience comes from the process and challenge, rather than from the outcome. In this sense, winning and losing are truly irrelevant, and by experiencing flow (both on a small and large scale) we can all reap the benefits, experience the beauty in sport, and marvel in the glory of sport participation without ever standing on top of an Olympic podium. As my colleague John Yeager presented in a previous post, sport and physical activity can be a vehicle for happiness. Pursuing an active lifestyle in the quest for the flow experiences that can help us all grow as humans, and enable each of us to experience this aspect of the good life.

Handbook of Positive Psychology. 89-105. New York: Oxford University Press.

Jackson, Susan A. & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). Flow in Sports: The keys to optimal experiences and performances. Human Kinetics, 178 pp. ISBN: 0880118768

Csiksentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience.. New York: Harper Perennial.

Images
Tyler’s Cake courtesy of Fays cakes
Japan Open – Figure Skating in flow courtesy of tpower1978

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.

Gloria Park, MAPP, is a doctoral student in Exercise and Sport Psychology at Temple University. Currently, she works as a Program Coordinator at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and is an Assistant Instructor for the Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program at the University of Pennsylvania. She was a competitive figure skater for over 14 years, and remains active in the sport as a coach. She received her BA in Psychology and Philosophy from Villanova University, and a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from UPenn. Contact Gloria: parkg7 -at- gmail.com

This article first appeared on Positive Psychology News. To see the original article, click here. To comment on this article, click here.