by Nikki Ayles | May, 2015 | self-development
How to Amplify PP Practice I have recently become poignantly aware of how practicing and living not just one of the positive psychology principles in isolation, but combining and blending a handful of exercises (what Martin Seligman calls a ‘package of positive interventions’) [1] can have a powerful impact on well-being. Inspired by Mindfulness guru, Mark Williams [2], I’ve been practicing Mindfulness meditations for several months now, particularly enjoying mindful walking and exercises that focus attention on the senses. They are incredibly effective ways of grounding myself in times of stress and help bring my mind back to the present, out of worries about past difficulties and concerns over future events. At a recent Positive Psychology Masterclass, having just shared a story of ‘me at my best’, a colleague flatteringly described me as a ‘Master of Savouring’. In the context of PP, savouring is “noticing and appreciating the positive aspects of life” and involves “conscious attention to the experience of pleasure” [3] (see also Lynn Soots’ blog on The PPP – The Art of Positive Savouring). Reflecting on the compliment, I realised the Mindfulness exercises I enjoy most tend to involve indulging in appreciation of the object of my focus, whether this be a chunk of rich, melt-in-the-mouth, dark chocolate, high in cocoa, lower in sugar, full of fruity notes and firm to the bite, OR, a stunningly beautiful cherry blossom tree in full Spring bloom, its scented pale pink blossom blowing in the breeze and floating through the air like confetti……. I believe the reason these activities have such personal power, is that not only do they blend...
by Loretta Graziano Breuning | May, 2015 | Health
Say Yes to Stress. Your brain learns from stress. In the hours after a stressful experience, your brain builds new wiring so you can avoid similar threats in the future. This is the survival mechanism we’ve inherited from our animal ancestors. Stanford Professor Kelly McGonigal researches the benefits of embracing stress instead of running from it. Here are 3 simple ways to enjoy the benefits of your stress: 1. View stress as evidence that you have a meaningful life, not as evidence that you have a flawed life. 2. View stress as energy you can use, not as a debilitating affliction. 3. View stress as a free high-performance training program that strengthens you rather than weakens you. If you believe you need to escape stress, you are more likely to engage in behaviors that increase stress in the long run, says Professor McGonigal. If you believe you can manage stress, you will avoid self-destructive behaviors. Accepting stress as a natural learning tool will improve your life significantly. Stress in nature You may believe that happiness is the state of nature, and stress is caused by “our society.” The truth is more complicated. Stress is as natural as pleasure. Animals live with threat and see their children get eaten alive sometimes. They survive by scanning constantly for threats. So how do they manage their sense of threat? The animal brain responds to potential threats by releasing cortisol, known as the “stress chemical.” Cortisol paves neural pathways that put an animal on high alert when it gets a whiff of anything similar. A lot of cortisol results, but animals don’t make...
by Dan Collinson | May, 2015 | Positive Psychology
PERMA – P Is For Positive Emotions The idea of PERMA being action oriented implies that words or ideas have to be changed into a specific actions or behaviors that guide the path. In the previous blog we learned that PERMA is the acronym for the five vital elements that accompany the journey: These include: (P) Positive Emotion; (E) Engagement; (R) Positive Relationships; (M) Meaning; and (A) Accomplishment/Achievement.1 Positive emotions relate to how we feel and evaluate our own level of happiness. Something has to happen for us to get to the level we want to experience. For example; do you know what truly makes you happy? Can you get up on a given day and know the action you can put in place to make your day more meaningful or fulfilling? Perhaps it is something as small as saying “I am going to call my best friend today because I know that is a source I can rely on to boost my spirit”. Telling someone to just “be happy”, “smile or “don’t worry about it” is a very inapplicable and unrealistic statement to many of the ups and downs of life. However, even in valleys of life, being tied to the glimmer of hope and possibility is a sign that positive emotion plays a role in binding a person to the upward climb. Thus, we can look at the idea of the Push-Pull phenomenon of positive emotions. Push- actions that we mind fully set out to do to create and perpetuate happiness regardless of emotional state at the time: be with friends, get into FLOW, enjoy a movie...
by Lesley Lyle | May, 2015 | self-development
The Art of Alone Many people feel, and the media supports the belief that we are supposed to be part of a romantic relationship unit. Psychology has long proposed that people not in a relationship fare much less well than those in a relationship, and even lifespan has been negatively implicated in singletons. Positive Psychology however expounds the virtue and benefit of savouring and of mindfulness and getting in the correct mind zone, all of which fare very well for being conducted alone first, and then perhaps shared with others. Being in ‘relation’ needn’t involve being in a relationship, particularly if you are currently not your best self in relationships (which you can work on). The benefits of relationships are tangible and widely acknowledged, but I would like to take this a more logical step and suggest that it is not necessary for this to be a relationship with a partner in the typical sense, rather it is the being in relation with self first and then with others. This can be friends, family, neighbours, the wider community, groups and all manner of other things. The point is to be in positive relation. A bad relationship has to be worse than no relationship, and is usually feeding something within a person that they don’t feel ready to step away from. Just like the Japanese art form of mending the broken with gold to make it more beautiful (Kintsugi), so can we use our alone time to become our best self and get to know and love ourselves. Cultivating a love of being alone is a big step towards self love...
by Rita Siborro | May, 2015 | EMAPP Portugal, self-development
Let your words enrich your life: The benefits of writing If you’re a fan of notebooks, if you write on a blog or if you have a journal, keep those habits in your daily routine because studies indicate that writing is an activity with proven health benefits. For those who enjoy writing it’s easy to recognize that this activity is enjoyable and rewarding. I felt in love with writing because I’ve realized that metaphors helped me to appreciate the beauty of the days, like if they have the ability to smooth the toughest moments of life turning them into silk. But let’s look to what science says about the experience of writing. Several researchers have tested the relation between writing and well-being proving that writing is much more than a hedonistic practice once it contributes for both objective and self-reported health of individuals. Studies on expressive writing dictated the early days of research in this area. James Pennebaker(1), a psychologist from Texas University, was responsible for the first studies on the effects of expressive writing in situations of negative and traumatic experiences. The author concluded that the group who wrote about traumatic experiences for 15 minutes on 4 consecutive days, showed greater health benefits than the group who had just written about superficial topics. One of the reasons for this direct relation between writing and health lies in disclosure. The majority of people, who had the opportunity to disclose personal aspects of their lives, said that the writing experience was valuable and meaningful in their lives. The importance of disclosure seems to be based on the fact that talking...