by Lesley Lyle | October, 2024 | Positive Psychology
It is with great sadness to report that Dr. Paul Wong has passed away peacefully, leaving a legacy that will continue to inspire generations. Known for his wisdom and compassion, Paul dedicated his life to exploring the human spirit, advocating for the importance of meaning in our lives, and helping people find resilience even in life’s toughest moments. Beyond his impressive career, Paul was, first and foremost, a devoted family man. Paul became a beacon for those searching for purpose, bringing together research and personal insight. From his meaningful work on Meaning-Centered Therapy to his generous mentorship of students and colleagues, Paul helped countless people see their potential, find hope in hardship, and understand that true well-being is so much more than just feeling good. Those who knew him were touched by his warmth and humour. Even during his battles with his own health, he remained a tireless source of support and positivity for others, embodying the very resilience he taught. Paul had a unique gift for making everyone feel seen and heard, always ready with a word of encouragement or a fresh perspective on life’s mysteries. Paul’s influence will live on in the countless lives he touched. His teachings, his kindness, and his unwavering belief in the power of meaning will forever remain in our hearts. He lived a life filled with meaning, purpose and joy and encouraged us all to do the same. ‘We Are The Positive Psychology People’ ...
by Sandra Gut | March, 2024 | Positive Psychology
Introduction What if everyone was born a hero? What if it’s just a matter of tapping into that potential? According to Joseph Campbell (1949), we are all heroes of our own stories. In Joseph Campbell’s book, ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces,’ he explores the concept of heroism beyond individual acts of bravery. This pattern, known as ‘the hero’s journey,’ follows a specific path that ordinary people take when they are called to embark on a challenging and unfamiliar adventure. Along this journey, they face trials, tests, and challenges that ultimately transform them. Finally, the hero returns to their original world, now as a changed and heroic individual (Campbell, 1949). Campbell described the function of the journey as necessary, designed to ‘wake you up’ (p. 12). This hero’s journey consists of three stages: departure, initiation, and return Stages of the Hero As the hero begins their journey, they are immersed in a familiar, ordinary world. Everything is normal, and nothing unusual has happened. It is the ‘pre-period’, before traumatic events, illnesses or injuries, for example, occur. Departure: This stage represents the beginning of the journey. It begins with a certain event or situation that serves as a ‘call to adventure’. The call ‘signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred their spiritual centre of gravity from within the pale of his society to a zone unknown’ (Campbell, 1968, p. 58). It is possible for the traveller to initially refuse the call due to a fear of potential dangers, involving leaving their comfort zone, embracing new challenges and venturing into the unknown. This phase often includes an initial struggle,...
by Lisa Jones | January, 2024 | Lisa Jones, Positive Psychology
Third wave positive psychology and positive communities For this blog post I want to deviate away from focusing on the individual to reflect on what it might mean to apply a positive psychology intervention at the community-level. As a researcher and practitioner embedded in third wave positive psychology I’m moving towards asking questions about the impact interventions have on whole communities and not just the individual. This post will cover individual and community-level interventions by sharing what these are, and considering whether third wave positive psychology should care about positive communities and not just the individual. Individual and community-level interventions When Marty Seligman first started talking about positive psychology over twenty years ago he included positive communities. Currently positive psychology is said to be in its ‘third wave’ meaning it is now concerned with systemic and environmental factors. Yet for the most part we are still focused on the individual. At an individual-level a positive psychology intervention (PPI) aims to promote positive life experiences, such as flourishing, in the individual. Definitions differ but overall the individual is invited to experience such interventions as gratitude, strengths development, resilience growth, compassion, and meaning. Often the end game is to improve psychological or subjective wellbeing. Some of these PPIs are likely to have a knock-on effect towards the people that surround the individual, and this ‘pay-it-forward’ outcome is an implicit expectation for PPI application. Yet recent criticism points out that PPIs are often undertaken by privileged members of the population, with little regard to whether a PPI might actually harm or disadvantage other people less fortunate. A personal vex of mine...
by Sarah Monk | November, 2023 | Positive Psychology, Sarah Monk
Evolutionary Psycho-Neurophysiology and Positive Psychology: How our evolved brain can impact wellbeing. I am not a neuropsychologist. However, as a clinical and coaching psychologist, I share a number of insights with clients on the way the evolved brain can impact wellbeing. These can be extremely helpful in normalising the challenges we face in everyday life, understanding how problems with mental health can arise and providing routes to address them. In this blog I highlight the key issues as I see them, noting that neuroscience is really complex, we don’t have the full picture yet and what is presented here is a huge simplification intended to be helpful but “held lightly”. I draw on the work of Paul Gilbert (2014), Ryan and Deci (2000) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. The legacy of evolution As humans evolved, a number of characteristics became embedded in the way our brain and body worked because these made it more likely that the individual would survive and reproduce. These characteristics were relevant to the context of man in a hunter-gatherer, survival based world. They persist as part of our biological inheritance because change at this level takes a long time to happen so there is a significant lag. Indeed our context in modern society changes so fast I wonder if our biology will ever catch up! The point is that some of the design adaptations of the human brain and body don’t work as well in the 21st century as the environment they were developed to work in. Plus some of our “newer” human abilities such as verbal behaviour and higher level cognitive functioning can...
by Sarah Monk | October, 2023 | Positive Psychology, Sarah Monk
Introduction In this blog I look at the role of control in our wellbeing and talk about my model of the things we can control with a practical example of how this might be used to support mental health. Is control good for us? Most of us like to feel in control. It helps us feel safe and ordered. Ryan and Deci (2000) highlight autonomy as a key psychological need (along with competence and relatedness, see my previous blog on Self Determination Theory for more detail). The fulfilment of this need for autonomy is associated with good mental health and improved motivation, whereas when it is blocked, motivation and wellbeing decrease. Autonomy involves the idea that we are in control of our actions, we are free from pressure from others and we have the ability to make our own choices. When we have this sense of this control, we feel authentic which boosts eudaimonic wellbeing. Many types of psychopathology stem from people seeking control in maladaptive ways when it is blocked in important areas of their lives. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and eating disorders can be extreme examples of this. How much control do we really have? So a sense of autonomy is good for us. But how realistic is this in everyday life? Often external circumstances can’t easily be changed and we certainly can’t control other people’s attitudes and behaviour, although we can sometimes influence them by how we act. Actually even our own thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations are also not as much under our control as we might like to think. For example, if I tell...
by Sarah Monk | July, 2023 | Positive Psychology, Sarah Monk
Introduction: In this blog I talk about one way in which Positive Psychology (PP) Coaching can be applied to help people live flourishing lives. I aim to explain what this might involve and when it might be helpful. An applied science PP has always been an applied science aimed at providing evidence-based practical approaches to help improve wellbeing for individuals, organisations and societies. Perhaps the most well-known application is through Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs). These are “self-help” type packages aimed at individuals without mental illness which; “enhance well-being through pathways consistent with positive psychology theory” (Carr et al. 2023 p1). This includes key PPIs such as promoting gratitude in various forms, using your strengths, pursuing intrinsically motivated goals and cultivating savouring, mindfulness, optimism, kindness and forgiveness to name a selection! There is an inevitable debate about exactly which interventions should be included in this definition and the veracity of the evidence base (Boiler et al. 2013, Carr et al, 2021, Carr et al. 2023, White et al. 2019). However, there appears to be some consensus that many PPIs show evidence of having a small to medium positive effect on well-being indicators and a reduction in markers of mental ill health and stress and that these improvements are maintained over time (Carr et al. 2023). What is not really clear is; who is most helped, by which interventions, under what conditions and context, and through what mechanisms. We know that “person-activity fit” or finding the right intervention for the individual and addressing internal and external barriers to implementation, is important. We also know that sustaining the effects of interventions through...
