Positive psychology – what can go right?

Written by Stuart Haden on November 23, 2016

Martin Seligman is commonly known as the founder of positive psychology viagra generico sin receta. He created a ‘positive’ counterpart to mental disorders. Rather than looking at what can go wrong; his work around characters, strengths and virtues is designed to look at what can go right. In his research he looked across cultures and millennia to attempt to distill a manageable list of virtues that have been highly valued from ancient China and India, through Greece and Rome, to contemporary Western cultures. The list includes six character strengths: wisdom/knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence.

In the quote below (from his book Authentic Happiness) Seligman introduces the concept of time – noting the differences between past and future emotions. This extra dimension allows us to better appreciate our feelings. Why is this important? Because how we feel about the past, present and future has a direct correlation with our ability to perform optimally right now. Equally your emotions allow a brief mapping of time. For example, if you feel calm you are probably in the present moment, whereas if you feel optimistic then the chances are you are considering the future.

“Positive emotion can be about the past, the present, or the future. The positive emotions about the future include optimism, hope, faith, and trust. Those about the present include joy, ecstasy, calm, zest, ebullience, pleasure, and (most importantly) flow

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