_1 Positive Experiences

The latest version of the MAPP Magazine is now available with articles about expectations of well-being during trying times, perspectives from Dr. Angela Duckworth on this past pandemic year, and the broad range of capstone topics chosen by the 2020 class of MAPP graduates. We invite you to read and subscribe.

These researchers ask, “Whose responsibility is happiness?” It does not rest solely on the individual, and it does not emerge solely from the conditions of society. The researchers suggest co-responsibility as the answer: “The idea that happiness emerges as a collective and cooperative endeavor that requires both favorable life conditions and individual effort.”

Like the burgeoning global MAPP programs springing up around the world, the high quality Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) experience leads people toward whole health, well-being, healing, flourishing, and love across all domains of life. CAPP is relatively accessible with more locations being established worldwide. It is helping to bring Martin Seligman’s 2051 moonshot goal to fruition.

Some people might be scared by a thunderstorm while others might be awed. In those moments, the person with the strength of Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence is able to transcend ego and instead be moved to an awareness of the vastness and amazement that the world has to offer. Time slows down. In such moments a person may feel drawn to future opportunities for using this strength.

The 7^th ECPP in Amsterdam from 1st-4th July was a fabulous opportunity to get up-to-date with the latest positive psychology research and practice. I was struck by how often the conference returned to the theme of connection and, in the widest-possible sense, well-being from a community perspective.

Don’t sit there too long waiting for happiness to appear, or wondering whether now is the right time to do something. Why not take a different approach? Why not act now and reflect afterwards on whether it worked? If it wasn’t quite right, you can change it, and in the meantime you will have learned something about yourself. This way, you can act your way into a new way of being happy.

The Flourishing Center, in partnership with the New York Open Center, is granting a Certification in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) through a 6-month program that has been approved by the New York Board of Education. The program covers all the topics that make positive psychology so fascinating, including gratitude, resilience, positive emotions, mindset, flow, strengths, and self-regulation. It also covers topics that are becoming mainstream in positive psychology, such as mindfulness, altruism, spirituality, neuroscience, and physical vitality.

We seem to be working harder and consuming more than ever before, but for all the stuff that comes with 21st century living to make our lives easier, less labor-intensive, and more comfortable, we don’t seem to be much happier. A growing number of people feel anxious and depressed. Can living a simpler life make us happier? The answer is not what you might expect.

With the boom of nanotechnology, brain implants, and increasingly sophisticated computing and intelligence technologies, we might be seeing a fundamental change in the “human” part of human flourishing. My purpose here is to explore how Positive Psychology might guide the efforts of emerging technologies in a transition to human life beyond biology

Is it better to pursue an individual flow activity, such as taking on a new skill or hobby? Or is it better to find flow interacting with others? Dr. Charles Walker set out to answer these questions.

During the Martin Luther King Day of Service, thousands of people across the United States volunteered to make a difference in their communities in a variety of projects such as feeding homeless veterans, cleaning parks, and collecting clothes and toys for local children. Volunteering not only strengthens communities and those being helped, but as anyone who volunteers knows, it feels good. But a closer look at the research shows that the benefits of volunteering extend beyond a warm feeling.

Two weeks ago, I gained first-hand experience of Hurricane Sandy, the largest hurricane to hit New York City in a long time. In the midst of subways being shut down and businesses being closed for days on end, there was no rush to get things done. No rush to be anywhere. I simply felt like I had time. That brought to mind the research by Melanie Rudd, Jennifer Aaker, and Kathleen Vohs concerning the question, “When do people feel as if they are rich in time?”

In various models of well-being, positive emotions seem to have less gravitas than other factors. One reason may be that they are often equated with hedonic pleasure. So it was with great curiosity that I stumbled across a philosophical approach to pleasure that suggests that there is more to the hedonic life than initially meets the eye.

If some happiness is good, is more even better? Now positive psychology researchers have conducted a meta-study to explore the costs of extremes. Researchers Barry Schwartz and Adam Grant have explored whether there really is such a thing as too much happiness or an extreme level of a given strength, to the point that happiness and strength become counterproductive for well-being.

The holiday season and the New Year can be pretty stressful, but this time of year provides us with some ideal opportunities for savoring – noticing, appreciating, and enhancing the things which are already positive in our lives – and there is nothing easier to do. The rules of savoring are simple to follow, and you don’t need any special skills or equipment. In fact anyone, young or old, rich or poor, can learn how to savor and reap the benefits.

Should positive psychologists be concerned that recent research based on expressing gratitude not only didn’t do the study participants any good, it actually lowered their self-esteem? What can we learn from this about fitness for purpose?

For those interested in positive psychology, there are many unanswered questions about the link between subjective well-being and needs such as those in Maslow’s hierarchy. That’s why new research by Louis Tay and Ed Diener caught my eye today. Some of the questions tackled in the study include whether needs really are universal and if so whether they are related to subjective well-being (SWB) in all cultures, and whether needs are individually required or whether they influence well-being synergistically.

New research by psychologist Iris Mauss and colleagues suggests that valuing happiness itself could be self-defeating and actually lead to disappointment. They conducted two studies, one a correlational study and another that manipulated how much people valued happiness.

Thanks to the industrious work of generations of scientists, we now know a great deal about the neuro-chemical mechanisms of ill-being, including what’s behind fear, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. However psychology has known little about the neuro-chemical mechanisms of well-being until very recently. A recent study by Carol Ryff explores some of the biological underpinnings of well-being.