Make 2010 a Positive Year

New Year's Resolutions

Happiness and Positive Psychology


As a new year arrives, it is natural to think of goals or resolutions. Positive psychology principles can help individuals lead happier and more productive lives.


It seems a logical principle that a more positive attitude should lead to a happier life. Anecdotal evidence has been around for years, but it has only been recently that the field of positive psychology has been working on scientifically proving with peer-reviewed studies what causes happiness.


Positive Psychology and New Year's Resolutions


Since happiness is such an abstraction, positive psychologists have made this concept more concrete by examining the concept as one that is possessed by people leading pleasant lives, engaging lives, and meaningful lives.


At the end of each year, it is natural to evaluate the level of happiness experienced in the previous year and set goals for the next one. In making resolutions, people often decide to concentrate on vices: “I will quit smoking or stop overeating.” Similarly, the field of psychology traditionally has focused more on mental illness than mental health.


Positive Psychology – A New Field with a Literary Past


A refreshing change occurring in this field is positive psychology. “Positive psychology is an umbrella term for the study of positive emotions, positive character traits, and enabling institutions” (Seligman et al., American Psychologist, 2005).


Six virtues established by positive psychology are: wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. These virtues are not new. In his utopian work The Republic, Plato explored how man could best obtain wisdom and how a just soul paralleled a just society.


Self-Assessment Questionnaires and Goal-Setting


Making positive changes in life starts with self recognition. Instead of trying to work on every virtue at one time, decide to have one focus for each month of the year. A list of twelve ideas is provided below:


1. tend and befriend others;


2. master a new skill or topic of knowledge;


3. be aware of and thankful for good things;


4. organize a group activity and make it happen;


5. speak the truth and be genuine;


6. make careful choices that will not be regretted later;


7. forgive all who have wronged you;


8. finish what you start;


9. think of new and unique ways to do things;


10. live life with enthusiasm and vigor;


11. enjoy laughter – do something that will bring smiles to others; and


12. notice and appreciate beauty and excellence.


Choose one virtue to concentrate on each month; then write down one concrete item per week that would fall under that virtue. For example, if your virtue for January was “tend and befriend other,” you might write on each week of the month:


• go to dinner with a friend;


• visit my grandmother;


• reconnect with a college friend; and


• meet a new neighbor.


Remember your happiness aim is to have a pleasant, engaging, and meaningful life. Be sure to choose activities that will help you have a positive new year.


Read more at Suite101: Vickie Christensen: New Year's Resolutions: Happiness and Positive Psychology http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/new_years_resolutions#ixzz0beYefuEa:Dec 19, 2009