by Lynn Soots | January, 2016 | Education
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”— Winston Churchill Before Taking Positive Psychology my thoughts about the course were that I would basically just learn how people are able to maintain happiness. After taking the class I now realize that positive psychology is so much more than just happiness, such as anger and sadness and how they play a role in positivity. Is there such a thing as too much optimism? An Ah-Ha moment for me was learning about how optimism can be both helpful and not so much at the same time. I always thought to myself, before I took this class, that being optimistic about everything was the way to be happy. However, after coming to learn that being overly optimistic can actually be detrimental to your health in certain aspects of your life. For example, if you are always being overly optimistic, you can be let down more and more which can lead to sadness! Seeing through clear lenses Positive Psychology opened my eyes to the skills people can use in their everyday lives that can help lead to having a positive life. Simple things such as what you would tell yourself in a situation that would normally upset you, and it can get you into a mindset so that you train yourself to be able to handle situations that would typically anger yourself. I can definitely see how I will continue to use these concepts in my everyday life because I feel like staying positive leads to a healthy lifestyle. Especially since I consider myself a...
by Lynn Soots | January, 2016 | Classroom Reflections, Education
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe,deserve your love and affection” Buddha Before taking Positive Psychology Before taking Positive Psychology all I could really think of how this class might help me improve my current and future life. Honestly, I didn’t know how it would change my mind set or heal my emotions but I was eager to find out. For the past few months or so I have been on a ‘spiritual journey’ trying to find peace from my past mistakes, live in the present moment and eventually find meaning in my life. The one book I started reading but still haven’t finished is The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle. This book helped me refocus my energy and the present moment, appreciating life and everything and everyone around me. But that light slowly dimmed, life caught up with me and I had to put my head back in the books, majority of my time went to homework and a full time job, putting most of my free time aside. The one part that didn’t seem too dreary was this course, Positive Psychology. Once I felt overwhelmed with my other two courses I signed on to e-college and found sanctuary in this class. Finding mindfulness and self-love An Ah-Ha moment for me was learning about mindfulness. Since I previously took Health and Stress and read Ekhart Tolle’s book I couldn’t help but instantly connect with this topic. Honestly, mindfulness was not easy for me to practice but the one thing that helped was attending my bikram yoga class, I was able to clear my mind...
by Lynn Soots | January, 2016 | Classroom Reflections, Education
Before Taking Positive Psychology my thoughts about the course were skeptical, I didn’t think that I would be able to keep up with the work and the assignment but I manage to do okay. Being a full time mom and working full time, I really have to discipline myself to find time to do class work. I thought that this class was going to consist of a bunch of studies from old philosophers and psychologist. I love the psychology field in all aspects, but this class by far has been my favorite so far. This class requires you to think outside the box; it so hands-on even though it is online. My reason for taking positive psychology was to help myself become a more positive person. I recently had a lot of thing happen in my life that I have no control over which cause me to feel depressed and down a lot. So my hope before taking this class was to somehow use the knowledge from this class to help myself mentally. From the inside An ah-ha moment for me was learning about what really creates happiness; truly the only person that can make you happy is yourself. We have the power to control our own thought to being more positive. Instead of thinking you are always being affected by things and circumstance around you, you can change your thought pattern about the situation or circumstance. Happiness is an inside job that requires work to be done in other words you has to work on changing your outlook on things. Centering the see-saw Positive Psychology opened my eyes...
by Lynn Soots | January, 2016 | Classroom Reflections, Education
I was not sure what I expected for this course because I never heard of it so I did not really have thoughts about it. When we began the first week’sreading assignments, exercises and questions, it became clear of what this course was about. An Ah-Ha moment for me was learning about: Positive Self Positive Self focuses on the self as an object and as a subject. Carr says that these two aspects of the self are constructed under social, cognitive, behavioral, and narrative psychology . . . self agent theme is to central theories in the evolutionary theory that highlights the biological aspect (234). This chapter really put into perspective of how we view ourselves and how we are designed/strive to be. Positive Psychology opened my eyes to: The journal exercises made a huge impact for several reasons and I keep talking about them but it really stuck with me or should I say, I had an ah-ha moment–Coming up with new habits is really simple but actually following through is the hard part. Over the semester we utilized the journals provided to us to track our habits and how we can create/break habits. The science of coming up with the plans was tricky because it forced me to really think about my habit, my reason for it, the plan of action, following through, and journaling it. Each step took effort and time. As I always say, I never really have time to stop and reflect, this exercise forced me to reflect on my poor habits and good habits. My poor habits were easy to pick out but...
by Lynn Soots | January, 2016 | Classroom Reflections, Education
“True wisdom is knowing what you don’t know” —Confucius A reflection of the journey As I reflect on this journey, I can’t help but feel a profound sense of accomplishment and relief. As with all of my previous courses, I jumped in with an open-mind and I attempted to make the most out of this opportunity to grow. This may come as a shock to some but I actually enjoy learning and I make no apologies for this. My initial thoughts coming into this class were mostly favorable due to the course content and the professor’s ability to connect with her students. I had never heard of the term “Positive Psychology” but I had been exposed to and even taught many of the lesson concepts we explored during this term. More than anything, I wanted to see how others view the world and attempt to understand their actions, decisions, and behaviors when life happens. I would argue that most rational people can remain positive when things are going well and life stressors are near non-existent (i.e. financial, relationship, legal, etc…). This becomes much more challenging when an individual is faced with loss, such as the death of a loved one, or they are on the receiving end of negative feedback for performance. My goal throughout this course was to observe how cultural norms influenced an individual’s response to stress and learn about different coping methods to remain resilient throughout a stressful situation. I am at an advantage because I have taught many of these lesson concepts; however, learning doesn’t stop at comprehension of the terminology. It is amazing what...
