Positive psychology

Positive Psychology Definition: Positive Psychology. “The study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. It includes positive emotions, positive individual traits and positive institutions.” In this article, I want to focus on positive individual traits, positive emotions and the strengths and virtues you as an individual possess. Positive traits that you have must be nurtured and cultivated in order to materialize and grow. During our moments of despair, we have a negative habit of running to drugs or alcohol in order to “feel better”. By doing this, we are nurturing the negative traits about ourselves. We are letting lack of discipline remain alive. We are destroying our bodies and minds. The outcome of such decisionmaking is, we still have problems to deal with. We will always have problems to deal with. Problems are a part of life. The key thing here is for us not to allow all of our problems to be the focal point of our lives. Positive psychologists focus more on an individual’s positive traits in order to increase the individual’s self-worth. Showing the individual all of the things he or she can do, positive psychologists feed people positive energy. In the wake of disaster we can overcome our struggles by using positivity rather than negativity. This teaches us that we are worth something, that we do have value and meaning, and that we don’t have to run and hide behind drugs and alcohol to feel good for that moment. We can deal with our problems and find peace and excitement doing positive things that we ourselves are good at, which will provide periods of joy and comfort than the drugs and alcohol would. The manner in which you treat yourself displays to the world around you and to yourself of how you value and view who you are. Reflect on some of the positive traits that you have. Are you a hard worker? A good reader? A caring mother or father? A good writer? A good sports player? A good mechanic? These are just some of the millions of potentially positive traits an individual could have. The key here is what individual positive traits do you have that you can strengthen? Allow these traits to replace your negative addictions. One of my positive addictions is books. I’m a phenomenal reader. So I absorb myself in endless hours of reading to educate my mind in place of endless hours of self-destruction. I utilize one of my positive traits to do something healthy that makes me feel good. My choice of positive addictions saved me from an additional problem arising in my life. 71 We as human beings have the ability to accomplish anything we put our minds to. I graduated high school at 18 years old with a 1.69 GPA. My motivation in school was practically non-existent. My mind was elsewhere. I didn’t take my education seriously. I recognized my academic potential but I never cultivated my ability. When I finally put my abilities to good use, I achieved a degree of paralegal/legal assistant from Blackstone Career Institute. Now I’m studying to be a psychologist and mental health counselor in order to help people. With a little self-devotion and telling myself “I can”, I accomplished many things academically. I cultivated and nurtured my positive trait of intelligence. I channeled all of my negative energy into something healthy and productive. There are so many negative aspects in each of our lives that if we focus on them will only keep us living in constant turmoil. There are also so many positive aspects of ourselves that can supersede our negatives as long as we nurture and cultivate them. Until next time, focus on the positive. The negative is too stressful. Remain strong and invested in your journey through change. Change is a life-long process. Sincerely, Christopher Balmer ©2013 72