If you have noticed new ways to be happy or are one of the cheeky tricksters out there contributing to nurturing talent and improving normal life, you might be unwittingly participating in the growing field of something called Positive Psychology.
In 1998, Martin Seligman chose this theme for his tenure as the president of the American Psychological Association. Whose inspiration gave us the term? Maslow coined the term in 1954 in his book, Motivation and Personality.
Positive psychology might have gone against the grain, since prior to Seligman, “the previous 50 years had been primarily dedicated to addressing mental illness rather than mental ‘wellness’.”
I have always felt a draw to nurture talent and to improve normal life. I found, while growing up, there wasn’t as much support for that as I would have liked. My own studies in the field took me down the path of looking for the problems, because those were the resources available to me educationally at the time. Can anyone say, OUCH! Perhaps, you, like me, find this newer direction in psychology a big plus.
Three overlapping areas highlighted in the field of Positive Psychology that are being explored are:
- The Pleasant Life or the “Life of Enjoyment”
- The study of the Good Life or the “Life of Engagement”
- Inquiry into the Meaningful Life or “Life of Affiliation”
Like “Mental Wellness”, “Green Wellness” – personal ecology – has a nice ring to it, if you ask me!
To find out more, check out this link and peek around on the web, too. Answer the call to wellness on every level and enjoy an outstanding life.
Image: Victor Bezrukov