Positive psychology encompasses the study of the things that make life worth living and it should be scientifically supported. It mainly focuses on the study of human thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. Positive psychology also focuses on picking the strengths rather than focusing on the weaknesses. It encompassed building good life instead of going back to repair the bad energy. It focuses on uplifting the lives of the average person instead of moving the lives of those struggling to normal.
It is more concerned with eudaimonia, which is another word for a good life. It tries to explain that individuals live based on factors of life that have the most outstanding value and those that contribute to better well-being. Positive psychology comprises certain elements: positive emotions, meaning, engagements, interest, and purpose. The above features are learned and help people flourish and live their lives in the best way possible.
A sense of feeling good and being happy demonstrates positive emotions. It is scientifically proven that people with positive emotions can create more connections which helps them develop more categories hence improving their creativity levels. By being emotionally positive, people perform to their best and improve work relationships. Engagement is another element of positive psychology; it includes flow. It states that for human beings to exceed a certain level of performance, they must be wholly involved in a task that is slightly above their skill level (Gulliford & Kristjánsson, 2017). Happiness is a result of people facing problems that can neither be grouped as challenging nor easy based on individuals’ capabilities.
Regarding the element of meaning, attitude, choice, and behaviors directly affect the well-being of an individual. Even though positive emotions are a ticket to healthy living, a more profound sense of living can only be realized by exploring the element of meaning. Someone achieves purpose if one uses his/her attributable virtues and strengths to achieve a result more significant than what they already have. People feel more satisfied by applying and developing extraordinary virtues and traits to achieve something bigger (Gulliford & Kristjánsson, 2017). People involved in achieving goals demonstrate higher levels of well-being and have good health than those who lack direction.
Human beings are meant to connect with others, forming the last element of positive psychology that is relationships. People need to interact through love and physical emotions. Through interactions, human beings can learn and develop navigations through the experiences and different perspectives of life. Studies have shown that people are closer together based on the good quality of their relationships. Poor quality relationships will have a shorter lifespan than good quality relationships (Gulliford & Kristjánsson, 2017). Good relationships will result in a more meaningful and happy life.
Every existing person has a specific vocabulary of love that he or she understands. One must learn to express love and affection to them. There are several ways of expressing love emotionally. One way is by the use of affirmative words. If one can continuously use words of affirmation to their respective spouses, they will realize growth and happiness in their marriages. Acts of service, if well-practiced, can improve spouses’ love life. One way of expressing love in current and old society is by giving gifts. People believe that if someone truly loves you, they are ready to provide you with anything. Receiving gifts may be one of the primary languages of love; when gifted, they always feel a more profound sense of love (Hendriks et al., 2020). The gifts can be done occasionally – on birthdays, Valentine’s day, and anniversaries.
One of the ways of expressing love is by giving time to loved ones. Sometimes spouse’s love language might be quality time; giving undivided attention will profoundly increase the sense of love. Physical touch is one of the love languages that can be understood even by those who can’t speak. Sometimes when spending some time with loved ones, spent a few minutes touching him/her while walking or even while driving.
The act of love might seem insignificant, but it will be significant in the entire love life. From the peer-reviewed article on why positive psychology is necessary, it can be concluded that people manage to live lives of purpose and dignity despite the many difficulties they encounter (Hotez, 2021). Positive psychology helps to understand the average person; one can learn what works for him/her, what might be suitable for them, and also have an opportunity to understand what is improving from the person daily.
The peer-reviewed article emphasizes that psychologists should empress an open and transparent perspective regarding human potential, capacity, and motives. Despite the difficulty, psychology illustrates that the reference to damaging abilities cannot measure human beings. Even though there arecsome hardships, human beings are still rating their lives as happy and satisfactory. Currently, psychologists have not been able to identify and pursue the thriving human nature and how to encourage certain traits.
References
Gulliford, L., & Kristjánsson, K. (2017). Five historic philosophers discuss human flourishing and happiness in positive psychology. In The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Positive Psychology (pp. 195–208). Routledge.
Hendriks, T., Schotanus-Dijkstra, M., Graafsma, T., Bohlmeijer, E., & De Jong, J. (2020). undefined. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 6(1), 1-21. Web.
Hotez, E. (2021). More than achievement: Grit as a key component of positive psychology. In Research Anthology on Rehabilitation Practices and Therapy (pp. 1066–1079). IGI Global.