Positivity refers to the quality or state of being positive, optimistic, or constructive. It involves having an attitude full of hope and confidence towards life, focusing on opportunities and possibilities rather than problems and limitations.
What is positive psychology?
Positive psychology is a branch of psychology that promotes well-being and a better life. While psychology often focuses on the illness model, which is concerned with what is clinically wrong, positive psychology differs by emphasizing what is right. It focuses on an individual’s strengths rather than weaknesses, and it is based on the good in life rather than focusing on the bad, allowing us to live a happy and fulfilling life.
Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, explains that most psychotherapists and pharmacologists try to eliminate conditions that make people unable to live. However, these techniques differ from those that help create favorable conditions in life, which is the goal of positive psychology. This means that these practices can improve the lives of those who suffer from or do not suffer from mental illnesses. However, they should not be used as a substitute for traditional therapy but rather as a supplement. Similarly to chakras and chakra stones, they are used as a supplement to traditional medicine.
How does positivity affect our well-being?
Personal well-being is subjective, as individuals enjoy, appreciate, and experience things differently. An individual’s subjective well-being (SWB) represents how well a person feels in life and includes aspects such as happiness and life satisfaction. High SWB leads to many positive effects, such as:
- Better health and longevity
- Improved work performance
- More satisfying relationships
- Stronger immune systems
- Better physical health
- Lower levels of exhaustion
- Fewer sleep problems
- Increased self-mastery
- Improvement in mental health
Positive perspective vs. negative perspective
A positive outlook on life is essential for improving your well-being and achieving success. A positive attitude can help you stay motivated, persevere when faced with challenges, and avoid negative thoughts from taking over your mind. On the other hand, having a negative perspective can lead to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, resulting in low self-esteem and lack of motivation.
Positivity means believing that everything eventually happens for the best and seeing opportunities in every failure. You focus on solutions rather than problems and see challenges as opportunities for growth. Conversely, having a negative perspective can have the opposite effect – you may become pessimistic and believe that nothing good ever happens.
Benefits of a positive mindset
Studies from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that positivity is beneficial for health in many ways. Positivity is associated with reduced mortality rates, lower rates of depression, lower levels of stress and pain, greater resistance to diseases, better psychological and physical well-being, and improved cardiovascular health.
- Reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases: The reduction of cardiovascular mortality is one of the most studied outcomes associated with positivity. Research has shown that those with a more optimistic outlook are significantly less likely to die from cardiovascular diseases and strokes than those who are overly pessimistic. This is partly because people with an optimistic attitude tend to take better care of themselves, feeling more in control of their health.
- Lower stress levels: Positivity is linked to improving mental and emotional responses. Positive individuals tend to react to stressful situations with resilience and determination rather than a negative outlook. This means they are better able to cope with everyday life stressors, leading to a stronger ability to handle difficult situations.
- Boosts physical health: Individuals with an optimistic outlook tend to engage in healthier behaviors, such as more frequent physical exercise and a balanced diet. This contributes to improving cardiovascular health and overall well-being.
The PERMA Model
Dr. Seligman’s well-being theory of PERMA consists of a model that includes five building blocks, which, when cultivated, enable greater well-being. Individuals will achieve greater well-being with varying levels of each of the five constituent elements, as what constitutes a good life varies from person to person. The PERMA model is as follows:
Positive Emotions: include feelings such as happiness, pleasure, and comfort. We can enhance our mental positivity regarding the past through gratitude and forgiveness, in the present through mindfulness and savoring experiences, and in the future through building hope and optimism. While these positive emotions alone will not significantly boost well-being, experiencing these emotions is still important and can lead to immediate satisfaction and pleasure.
Engagement: involves deep levels of engagement in a particular activity, often defined as “flow.” Flow is a state in which a person focuses on a challenging task, while self-awareness and sense of time fade away. Flow applies to various activities such as playing a musical instrument, engaging in physical activities, cooking, and conversation.
Relationships: include social connections, feeling loved and cared for by loved ones, and a sense of integration into society. These relationships often have the power to amplify experiences that contribute to well-being. Relationships often give meaning to life and provide support when one feels down. In a relationship, “givers” often experience more meaning, while “receivers” experience more happiness. Give to others and accept the generosity of others.
Meaning of Life: refers to finding a purpose and direction in life and a sense of belonging to something greater than oneself. Recognizing one’s strengths and using them to belong and serve something greater is an excellent way to find meaning. Doing something philanthropic to help others has a strong impact. An example illustrating this shows that spending money on others has a more positive impact on an individual’s happiness than spending money on oneself.
Achievement: is success, competence, and the feeling of personal achievement that allows us to develop. The sense of personal ambition and drive is essential for our well-being, and people pursue achievement even when it does not lead to the other aspects of PERMA. Flow
Achieving a state of flow is a key component of an engaging life. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the creator of the flow theory, describing it as a “positive state of well-being that ideally balances the level of challenge with a person’s skills.” It’s a state of hypofrontality, where there is reduced blood flow in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, except for a person’s executive attention. This allows for the intense concentration experienced in flow by selectively disengaging other higher cognitive skills of the prefrontal cortex.
When in flow, the individual enters an ecstatic state, different from everyday life. They experience maximum focus, working at their full capacity, and begin to lose the sense of time. Practitioners achieve this state when they have completed a challenging task and have developed a set of sufficiently strong skills.
When achieved, individuals lose their focus on time and self, engaging solely in the task at hand, leading to high levels of performance, creativity, and enjoyment. This happens because the individual is too engrossed to have cognitive resources spent on anything else.
People who spend more time in a flow state report higher levels of concentration, creativity, and positive emotions, leading to a higher quality of life. Achieving flow can only happen if the challenge is easy enough to match someone’s skills that are strong enough to match the challenge.
How Flow Feels
- Fully engaged in what we are doing – focused, concentrated
- A sense of ecstasy – being outside of everyday reality
- Great inner clarity – knowing what needs to happen and how well we are doing
- Knowing the activity is doable – that our skills are adequate for the task
- A sense of serenity – without worries about oneself and a sense of growth beyond ego boundaries
- Timelessness – completely focused on the present, hours seem to pass in minutes
- Intrinsic motivation – Everything that produces flow becomes its reward
Positive Thinking
Positive thinking is quickly becoming a popular health trend among health departments nationwide. Studies have shown that having a positive attitude and perspective on life can lead to several health benefits, such as improving immune system function, enhancing sleep quality, reducing stress levels, and even increasing longevity. Positive thinking means approaching unpleasant situations in a more positive and productive way.
Developing a positive attitude and a positive perspective on life requires consciously recognizing and replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. This can be achieved through simple practices such as smiling more, setting achievable goals, and reframing failures as learning opportunities. Additionally, the health department encourages people to speak positively to themselves and engage in mindfulness activities such as yoga or meditation. With the right mindset, it is possible to reap many health benefits from positivity.
What is Positivity Ratio?
The positivity ratio indicates the proportion of positive emotions that people experience in a given period. It helps assess how well a person is coping with emotional positivity and helps identify areas where they need to improve their perspective. This ratio can also measure overall happiness, as positivity is essential for overall well-being. People can calculate their positivity ratio by measuring the number of positive emotions they feel compared to the total emotional experiences in any given period.
Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations are positive phrases and statements used to challenge negative thoughts. The self-affirmation theory explains that individuals strive to maintain positivity and good opinions about themselves and resist factors that threaten self-competence ideas. When these ideas are threatened, self-affirmations can restore the sense of self-competence, providing a broader view of oneself and allowing focus on self-appreciation sources beyond the threat (Cascio 2016). A general sense of self allows us to become more resilient to these threats. It reduces reactivity to danger, weakening any threat to personal integrity and protecting overall psychological well-being.
While affirmations can be helpful, according to the self-affirmation theory, an essential aspect is that the affirmations used should reflect one’s core personal values. Self-affirmations should center around positive actions that strengthen the sense of self-identity, rather than around arbitrary ideas that contradict the person’s core values. One’s strengths should be used to guide affirmations.
Affirmations can reduce stress, increase well-being, improve academic performance and relationship outcomes, and make people more open to behavior change. However, while practicing self-affirmation, individuals often need to be explicitly aware of the effects of self-affirmation, which can make introspection on the experience challenging.
Practitioners should repeat affirmations three to five times a day to strengthen positivity. Writing affirmations in a journal and practicing them in front of a mirror are good methods to make them more effective.
Daily Affirmations for Positivity
- I am confident and capable of what I do.
- I am the architect of my life; I build its foundation and choose its contents.
- I am superior to negative thoughts and low actions.
- I have the qualities needed for outstanding success.
- Happiness is a choice. I base my happiness on my accomplishments and the blessings I have been given.
- My future is an ideal projection of what I envision now.
- I am at peace with all that has happened, is happening, and will happen.
- My marriage is becoming stronger, deeper, and more stable every day.
- My business is growing, expanding, and thriving.
- I deserve to be employed and well-paid for my time, efforts, and ideas. Every day, I am closer to finding the perfect job for me.
- My perfect partner arrives in my life sooner than I expect.
- I have set high standards for my academic achievements. If I put in the time and effort, I can achieve what I set out to accomplish.
Disclaimer
The content of this article is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. It is always recommended to consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making any changes related to your health or if you have any questions or concerns about your health. We are not responsible for any errors, omissions, or consequences that may result from the use of the information provided.