Dr. Martin Seligman was a pioneer in positive psychology and, at the beginning of the 2000’s, I worked with an 18-person international team he organized. Our job: to discover how to coach the skills that the research had indicated we needed to live a happy life. These led to hugely popular courses at most universities (and available on YouTube).
Dr. Seligman created the PERMA model to explain the five core pillars of authentic, lasting happiness:
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Positive Emotion
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Feeling good, experiencing joy, gratitude, and comfort in the present.
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Engagement
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Being completely absorbed in an activity, also known as being in a state of “flow.”
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Relationships
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Building strong, loving, and supportive connections with others.
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Meaning
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Belonging to and serving something that you believe is bigger than yourself.
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Achievement
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Pursuing success, mastery, and goals for the sheer sake of personal growth.
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According to positive psychology research, about 40% of our happiness capacity is within our control through our intentional actions and thoughts. The #1 predictor of our happiness is our relationships: that explains why it’s so important to “attend” to our beloved friends and family and see that they are meeting our needs too.
To be happier, here are some useful habits for us to develop more of;
– Focus on what’s going right
– Practicing forgiveness
– Keeping a gratitude journal
– Savoring the good times
– 10-minute brisk walk
– Consistent sleep hygiene :
– Doing the Breath Grounding Reset
Some things many of us do that go against our happiness;
– Miswanting what we don’t really need or want
– Comparing ourselves to others or to our “earlier” self
– Social Isolation
– Ruminating on the Past: Regret and Resentment
– Over-Scheduling and Hurry Sickness:
Research done by Becca Levy, PhD, at Yale**, has shown the power of both negative and positive beliefs about aging to impact our actual healthspan and lifespan. Levy found that those who had more positive images of aging (e.g., being healthy and active) lived longer than those with the more stereotypical views about older adults as weak, forgetful, and slow. She also found that those with a more positive mindset about aging were literally healthier, with lower blood pressure and a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
So now that you’ve begun to delve into how you can be happier, please continue to do so.
Let us know by your post: what are you doing? Learning? Noticing re. the impact on your life?
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* How to Do a 2-Minute Grounding Reset
Find a comfortable posture: Sit or stand with your feet flat on the floor and your shoulders relaxed.
Inhale through the nose (4 seconds): Breathe in slowly, letting your belly and chest expand.
Hold gently (2 seconds): Pause briefly at the top of the breath.
Exhale through the mouth (6 seconds): Release the air slowly and completely, like blowing through a straw, to trigger your body’s relaxation response.
Repeat: Do this cycle for 5 to 10 rounds, focusing entirely on the movement of the air and the physical contact of your feet against the floor.
** As summarized in Becca Levy’s book Breaking the Age Code