"There are three roads to happiness: the Pleasant Life, the Good Life and the Meaningful Life. People who enjoy all three have the most life satisfaction"
Martin
Seligman, author of
Authentic Happiness and Learned Optimism
PATHWAYS TO HAPPINESS
It is easy to recognize pleasure as a pathway to happiness. We don’t need experts to advise us about pleasure in our own lives; we know better than anyone what pleases us and makes us happy. And yet studies have shown that we have limited control over our ability to experience pleasure. It is closely linked to our genetic make-up and we habituate very easily. If pleasure is ephemeral, what else might lead to lasting happiness? There are two other pathways that offer great possibility—engagement and meaning, both of which require a good understanding of our personal strengths. Pathways to Happiness provides the latest research, tests and practices to explore strengths and use them to create a deeply satisfying life.
In his groundbreaking work on ‘authentic happiness’, Dr Martin Seligman* describes how we can build happiness by deliberately creating more pleasure, engagement and meaning in our daily lives. The Pleasant Life consists of thinking and feeling positively about our past, present and future until we are experiencing life at the top of our ‘set range’. The Engaged Life grows when we know our highest strengths and recraft our lives to use them as often as possible. We experience fullness and flow; we lose track of time and feel a deep sense of satisfaction. The Meaningful Life is possible when we use our strengths and talents to serve something greater than ourselves. There is no limit to meaning – it is completely adjustable and plastic.
This is not to say that happiness is easy to come by. We are also learning how our evolution and genetic make-up can get in the way of happiness. The Pleistocene brain, which evolved over thousands of years of famine, ice and flood, is much better at remembering failure than success. This was essential to survival 100,000 years ago, but works to defeat happiness today. Unfortunately, many of us still spend a lot more mental and emotional energy ruminating on the negative than the positive. To compound the problem, we each appear to have a genetically determined ‘set range’ for positive emotion. During the course of our lives we move up and down within this range. This explains why, contrary to prevailing cultural myth, money does not buy happiness nor does tragedy permanently destroy it. Recent studies show that even lottery winners drift back down to their set range within twelve months of their big win. Similarly, paraplegics drift back up within 1-2 years of their trauma. What, then, can we do to swing the balance of life from win-lose to win-win?
Happiness
measures up
The emerging field of Positive Psychology is looking for the answers.
Scientists are conducting fascinating research into the concepts of happiness,
life satisfaction and mental wellness. One of their recent findings
is the Losada Effect. This demonstrates that individuals and groups are
most productive, creative and resilient when their ratio of positive affect
to negative affect is 2.9 to 1. In other words, humans need three
positive experiences for every negative experience in order to thrive
and flourish. This holds just as true for business teams as it does for
marriages. We become measurably happier when we create a wealth of positive
experience in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
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Lead alife that is happier, more engaged and more deeply meaningful Happiness is not just a consequence; like the peacock’s tail it causes things to happen. Happiness serves evolution by building psychological capital and strengthening resilience, positive affect and basic goodness. Pathways to Happiness supports you in knowing your strengths and using them to set concrete goals for pleasure, engagement and meaning. You may wish to look at your work, parenting, close relationships or life-in-general. You can choose to focus on one particular pathway or build all three and develop practices tailored to your needs. This work is unique in that it is evidence-based. Free on-line surveys will document your progress, demonstrate lasting effects and contribute to Dr Seligman’s research: www.authentichappiness.org
What's
right in your life and how can I help build it?
I work with individuals, business teams, couples and families. I specialize
in supporting people in life transition, be they 27 or 57 years old. Contact
me if you want to explore ways to make your life flourish and grow.