Getting Happiness Help

The Huffington Post reports on Harvard’s most popular class: positive psychology. While psychology in the past, and even now, is associated with illness and problems, professors and doctors are reminding people that it’s also about mental wellness and self-help, a word itself that usually causes rolling of the eyes.

What exactly is positive psychology? Martin Seligman, a Harvard professor describes it as an area that “studies the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.” At the risk of sounding superficial, it’s about the “life of enjoyment,” the life that is full of positive emotions and events, that can be derived from work, home life, relationships, “extracurricular” activities and interests.

It’s worth taking a look at your current lifestyle and pointing out to yourself which aspects of it support the idea of a “life of enjoyment.” Are you satisfied with your relationship? With that language class you’re taking? How about your daily trip to the gym? At the end of the day, which activities can you honestly say increase your mental well-being?