Positive Psychology: 6 Ways to Live a Healthier and Happier Life.

January 01, 2015


By: Anna Agoncillo | First Seen on: SGPsychStuff

One of the common New Year's Resolution is to be happier and to live healthier.

 Instead on focusing on what is wrong with you, Positive Psychology helps you to celebrate what is going right and improves that even more. It highlights your strengths and use it to your advantage.

 Following its principles, here are 6 Ways you can lead a Healthier and Happier Life...

1. Know and live by your values.
© IMGUR
Authentic values (e.g. curiosity, bravery, loyalty, forgiveness, persistence, kindness, leadership, and humor) are very important because these are in lined with your behavior. Identifying your core values will direct you to your personal strengths (Peterson, 2006).

2. Be the master of your own emotions.

 According to Daniel Goleman, the Psychologist who developed the emotional intelligence appraisal test, having emotional intelligence or being the master of your own emotions help you to become effective in various aspects of your life including work.

Watch this short video (1:52 mins.) to find out more.

3. Try to be as positive as possible in a negative situation.
© IMGUR
Thoughts lead to feelings which lead to behavior. As the great Mahatma Gandhi once said: "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."

 4. Never compare yourself to others.

 On one hand, aspiring someone else's success and knowing more about how they got there can become a great motivation. On the other hand, unrealistically desiring what others have can lead to depression (Coster, 2013).
Image Credit: Jiddu Krishnamurti via IMGUR
It's unhealthy to measure your self worth on what you don't have. Furthermore, beating yourself up for not being exactly as them is irrational. Instead, get up the couch and work your way up to your goals!

5. Give more to make others smile.;)


Studies showed that happier people give more and later experience levels of happiness from doing so (Piliavin, 2003; Thoits & Hewitt, 2001). Even giving constructive feedback to others can lead to your personal academic improvement (Rouhi & Azizian, 2013). 

 6. Finally, make the most of what you have even in a seemingly unfortunate situation.:)
Image Credit: Pygas via Distractify
Share your own thoughts!
Who or what makes your life brighter? How will you make the life of others brighter?

Click here to read the previous post: 2014 Countdown: Best Miss Psychobabble Articles of the Year 

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References


Cheok, C. & David, A. (2014). Achieving Happiness in Singapore: Happiness Toolkit. Retrieved on September 27, 2014 from http://thrive.org.sg/simple_event/detail/21

Coster, D. (2013). Comparing Yourself to Others: The Grass May Be Greener, But…. Retrieved on September 29, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/04/05/comparing-yourself-to-others-the-grass-may-be-greener-but/

Peterson, C. (2006). The values in action classification of strengths. In M. Csikszentmihalyi & I. S. Csikszentmihalyi (Eds.), A life worth living: Contributions to positive psychology. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Piliavin, J. A. (2003). Doing well by doing good: Benefits for the benefactor. In M. Keyes & J. Haidt (Eds.), Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well lived (pp. 227–247).
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Rouhi, A. & Azizian, E. (2013). Peer review: Is Giving Corrective Feedback Better than Receiving it in L2 Writing? Retrieved September 28, 2014 from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813034873

Thoits, P. A., & Hewitt, L. N. (2001). Volunteer work and well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42, 115–131.

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4 comments

  1. Big_Bad_Bald_BastardJanuary 1, 2015 at 10:46 PM

    You have some very good advice here, Anna. I think that one important measure of happiness is a person's devotion to a community- family, friends, neighbors. Selfish, self-centered people are rarely happy, and they usually try to bring others down to their level rather than improving their own lives.

    Happy 2015! I am looking forward to a year of insight and good advice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anna AgoncilloJanuary 2, 2015 at 4:50 AM

    Hi! :) Thank you so much for your comment and for your fruitful point. You are right, authentic happiness shall transcend beyond your own interests. Being aware of the community other than yourself seems to be a tough job for others. Thus, I admire your pro-social awareness. Have an Awesome 2015 and I will do my best to bring forth good advice and insights in the coming months.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Char PaulJanuary 2, 2015 at 11:46 AM

    Gratitude for what we have is definitely a way to health and happiness. As an Archetypal Psych I find Positive Psych 'too positive' lol; I think we also need to see the value of a negative head space~ it's important IMO not to be stuck/polarised within either state tho

    "The roses rarest essence lives in the thorns"
    ~ Rumi

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anna AgoncilloJanuary 3, 2015 at 2:13 AM

    That's a fair point. Although this article only focuses on Positive Psychology and its application on happiness, I cannot deny fact that two poles exist. We must not neglect the negative part; but, we shall not dwell on it either. It's our own job to find the balance between the two.

    ReplyDelete

What is on your mind? I will get back to you as soon as possible! Thank you. :)

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