Miss Psychobabble: Positive Psychology - How to Live a Healthier and Happier Life

Much like the world news, most of Psychology’s branches tend to highlight the negative side such as the roots of abnormal behavior and the effects of dysfunction. This separates Positive Psychology from the rest. Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, its forefathers, used positivity to flourish one’s well-being by focusing on how human beings can live a healthier, fulfilling, and meaningful life.

Instead on focusing on what’s wrong with you, celebrate what can go right and become the best version of yourself! These are some of the ways that you can lead a healthy and happier life...

Simple Ways to Live a Healthy and Happier Life

1. Know and live by your character values and strengths.

(Image from http://imgur.com/gallery/6fxZ3oW)

Authentic strengths (e.g. curiosity, bravery, creativity, persistence, kindness, leadership, or humor) are very important because these are in lined with your behavior. Identifying your core values will direct you to your personal strengths (Peterson, 2006). Using these strengths can improve your well-being and performance in all aspects of life.

2. Be the master of your own emotions.

According to Daniel Goleman, the Psychologist who developed the emotional intelligence appraisal test, having emotional intelligence or being the master of your own emotions help you to become effective in various aspects of your life including work.

Watch this short video (1:52 mins.) to find out more.

3. Try to be as positive as possible in a negative situations.

As the great Mahatma Gandhi once said:  

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."  

Thoughts lead to feelings which lead to behavior. Talk more about your blessings than you do with your problems. Better yet, share your blessings and make others smile. Studies showed that happier people give more and later experience higher levels of happiness from doing so (Piliavin, 2003; Thoits & Hewitt, 2001).

4. Never compare yourself to others.

On one hand, aspiring someone else's success and knowing more about how they got there can become a great motivation. But, unrealistically desiring and measuring your self-worth on what others have can lead to depression. Beating yourself up for not being exactly as famous celebrities is irrational. Instead, get off the couch and work your way up to your goals!

5. Finally, make the most of what you have even in a seemingly unfortunate situation.

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Conclusion

Instead on focusing on what is wrong with you, Positive Psychology helps you to celebrate what is going right and improves that even more. It highlights your strengths and use it to your advantage. Following its principles, here are some ways you can lead a healthy and happier life...

1. Live by your character values and strengths.
2. Regulate and master your emotions.
3. Have a positive outlook when faced with negative situations.
4. Never compare yourself to others.
5. Finally, make the most of what you have.

References
Peterson, C. (2006). The values in action classification of strengths. In M. Csikszentmihalyi & I. S. Csikszentmihalyi (Eds.), A life worth living: Contributions to positive psychology. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Piliavin, J. A. (2003). Doing well by doing good: Benefits for the benefactor. In M. Keyes & J. Haidt (Eds.), Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well lived. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Thoits, P. A., & Hewitt, L. N. (2001). Volunteer work and well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42, 115–131.