Finding Happiness,Well-Being and Success (3)
Monday, June 26, 2017
Happiness and Well-Being
This continuing series is based on an informational website developed by Lawrence J. Danks, Assistant Professor of Business at Camden County College. It features selected summaries of articles in positive psychology, motivation, innovation, reinvention and management, as well as writings and commentary from Professor Danks. Log in information to access the entire website, rather than just the selected segments here, is shown at the end of this selection.
Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and
Well-being - Martin Seligman
Through further investigation, research and consideration, Dr. Seligman in Flourish says that, "happiness underexplains what we choose...that the modern ear immediately hears "happy" to mean buoyant mood, merriment, good cheer and smiling... I changed my mind about what the elements of positive psychology are and what the goal of positive psychology should be. He says now that "the gold standard for measuring well-being is flourishing, and that the goal of positive psychology is to increase flourishing", not happiness alone, although he includes finding happiness in his theory of well-being." They are contrasted below:
Authentic Happiness Theory
Topic: happiness
Measure: life satisfaction
Goal: increase life satisfaction
Well-Being Theory
Topic: well-being
Measures: positive emotion, engagement, meaning, positive relationships, and accomplishment (achievement)
Goal: increase flourishing by increasing positive emotion, engagement, meaning, positive relationships, and accomplishment
Well- being theory has five elements:
1. Positive Emotion: "Happiness and life satisfaction... are now demoted from being the goal of the entire theory, to being one of the factors included under the element of positive emotion
2. Engagement
3. Meaning: Belonging to and serving something you believe is bigger than the self
4. Accomplishment (Achievement): "is often pursued for its own sake, even when it brings no positive emotion, no meaning, and nothing in the way of positive relationships."
5. Positive Relationships: When asked what, in two words or fewer, positive psychology is about, Christopher Peterson" ( a University of Michigan psychology professor and one of the founders of positive psychology) replied, 'Other people.' Other people are the best antidote to the downs of life and the single most reliable up", Seligman says...we scientists have found that doing a kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in well-being of any exercise we tested.
"What is flourishing? Felicia Huppert and Timothy So of the University of Cambridge have defined and measured flourishing in each of twenty-three European Union nations. Their definition of flourishing is in the spirit of well-being theory: 'to flourish, an individual must have all the core features below and three of the six additional features':
Core Features
Positive emotions
Engagement, interest
Meaning, purpose
Additional Features
Self-esteem
Optimism
Resilience
Vitality
Self-determination
Positive relationships
Many more details and supporting information are contained in Dr. Seligman's books.
Thrive – Ariana Huffington
Arianna Huffington, in her book Thrive, says there are three simple steps we can take that have dramatic effects on our well-being:
1. Get just thirty minutes more sleep than you are getting now.
The easiest way is to go to bed earlier, but you could take a short nap during the day - or a combination of both. (She calls this a "keystone habit", after Charles Duhigg, in The Power of Habit: Keystone habits start a process that, over time, transforms everything...success doesn't depend on getting every single thing right, but instead relies on identifying a few key priorities and fashioning them into powerful levers." Huffington said, for her, the most powerful keystone habit was getting more sleep. After that, she said many other things became easier. This is truly an important, and encouraging, concept. You don't need to be perfect. You just need to find what some key habits would be for you to develop, and you will see subsequent improvement in other areas too.
2. Move your body: Walk, run, stretch, do yoga, dance. Just move. Anytime.
(Don't sit too long either. It's not good for cardiovascular health. Take breaks, and get up and move around. Sometimes when I'm at the computer for a while, I'll go downstairs and throw some clothes in the washer or dryer, load an unload the dishwasher or clean up in the yard for a while. Not exactly model exercise, but it's better than sitting non-stop.)
3. Introduce five minutes of meditation into your day
(She provides a number of meditation techniques and benefits in the book.)
Overall, the important thing to do to be happier, and to increase well-being, is to identify the proper things to do, then take action by forming the habits to do them regularly.
The Secret to a Good Life According to the Longest Happiness Study Ever
by THE LIVESTRONG.COM TEAM Last Updated: Mar 27, 2017
"According to the 75-year-long Harvard Study of Adult Development, the most important predictor of true happiness and well-being is the right kind of relationships with family, friends and spouses.
Study director Dr. Robert Waldinger,professor of psychiatry at Harvard — explains his team’s findings: “The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.” In a TED Talk from last 2016, Waldinger noted that fostering and maintaining strong relationships helped protect against mental illness, chronic disease and memory decline.
“The chronic stress of being lonely, of being unhappy, gets into the body and breaks it down over time.” But the secret to well-being isn’t constantly surrounding yourself with people and locking down a romantic partner. The truth is, you can be lonely in a crowd as well as in a romantic partnership in which you and your partner are emotionally distant. “It’s not the number of relationships, but the quality and depth of relationships that matters,” Waldinger explains.
So we know strong relationships lead to health and happiness, but how do we cultivate those quality relationships? “Giving people our full, undivided attention is one of the most important things we have to offer,” says Waldinger. That means disconnecting from your electronic devices when you’re in the presence of your friends and family and prioritizing interpersonal relationships over money and notoriety.
But just how in-depth is the Harvard Study of Adult Development? The Grant and Glueck study followed 724 men for three-quarters of a decade to identify the psychosocial predictors of healthy aging. The study tracked two very different groups: 456 men from inner-city Boston and 268 Harvard grads, including president John F. Kennedy. The researchers collected blood samples, conducted brain scans and analyzed self-reported surveys and actual interactions with the participants.
—Erin Mosbaugh
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To access the complete “Happiness, Well-Being and Success” website:
Log in to: ccc.webstudy.com
User Name: happiness Password: success
Click: Happiness Course
Then “Timeline”, then “Expand All”
To register for Professor Danks’ online Management, Legal Environment/LawI or Business Law II courses throughout the year, check the Camden County College website for course offerings: www.camdencc.edu. Register through the Registrar’s Office or WebAdvisor.
CNBNews Note: The author is an assistant professor of business at Camden County College, Blackwood, NJ and is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia and Gloucester Catholic High School alumnus Class of '63