Authentic Happiness - Signature Strengths

As a follow up to the lecture on Positive Psychology I visited this website. There are a number of tests and resources on the site and they're all free. According to one of the tests (240 questions) these are my "signature strengths":

Your Top Strength

Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way. You are down to earth and without pretense; you are a "real" person.

Your Second Strength

Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness Thinking things through and examining them from all sides are important aspects of who you are. You do not jump to conclusions, and you rely only on solid evidence to make your decisions. You are able to change your mind.

Your Third Strength

Bravery and valor You are a courageous person who does not shrink from threat, challenge, difficulty, or pain. You speak up for what is right even if there is opposition. You act on your convictions.

Your Fourth Strength

Fairness, equity, and justice Treating all people fairly is one of your abiding principles. You do not let your personal feelings bias your decisions about other people. You give everyone a chance.

Your Fifth Strength

Kindness and generosity You are kind and generous to others, and you are never too busy to do a favor. You enjoy doing good deeds for others, even if you do not know them well. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the results. If you take the test yourself let us know whether or not you feel the results are accurate.

Positive Psychology in a Negative Environment with Nathan Cooper

In a word - excellent. I hope I do it justice here.

Positive Psychology is designed to pick up where Cognitive Therapy ends. The way it was explained is Cognitive Therapy is considered "successful" in the absence of symptoms. Positive Psychology builds on that to help people achieve positive emotion, engagement and meaning in their lives. If Cognitive Therapy can make you well, Positive Psychology can help you feel fulfilled.

It really comes down to mindset. Where the focus of Cognitive Therapy tends to be negative (talking about problems, negative experiences etc.) Positive Psychology focuses on what's positive. People who are optimistic enjoy better health, perform better at work, are less likely to experience depression, etc. Some people are naturally happy and optimistic, some people have to work at it. Nathan emphasized that the crux of Positive Psychology is that anyone can learn to be optimistic. Anyone can learn to be happy.

People who are pessimistic tend to have external explanations for success (good grade because the Leafs scored while my prof was marking exam) and internal explanations for failures (failed the exam because of stupidity rather than lack of preparation, etc). The way to move from pessimism to optimism is to challenge the way you think, then change it.

Two of the key concepts are gratitude and savoring. One recommended exercise is to keep a gratitude journal. Each day write down three blessings and what was behind them (ie. Lulu and I had a great run today because I put a lot of time into training her and it's starting to show). Savoring comes down to mindfulness, and allowing yourself to be fully in the present. If you slow down every day experiences (hot shower, cup of coffee, walking the dog) you will take more away from them which will increase happiness.

The definitive book on Positive Psychology is written by Martin Seligman, PhD and it's called Authentic Happiness: Using the new Positive Psychology to Realize your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. There is lots of empirical evidence showing that Positive Psychology is effective. It's definitely something I want to learn more about.