WIN Wyoming and WIN the Rockies

Thought Bullets
for
February 2003

The principles of WIN Wyoming and WIN the Rockies are centered around the joy of eating, the joy of physical activity, and the inner-peace experienced by accepting yourself and others regardless of body size. With this in mind, it was with great interest I learned of a new book called Authentic Happiness by psychologist Martin E. P. Seligman. Seligman is considered a pioneer in a new field of psychology called positive psychology. His work is based on clinical findings that happiness is not the result of good luck or the absence of negative events in life. Seligman and others psychologists are finding certain traits can predict the level of happiness in our lives.

• A review of literature in the 1990's found that scientific journals published about 100 studies on sadness for every one study on happiness. Seligman and others are trying to spark a new movement on the scientific study of happiness. The goal of this movement is to help people focus on their strengths and talents, instead of their weaknesses. The early work in this field suggests that everyone has "signature strengths" and the happiest people use their strengths often.
• Although most people assume good physical health is one of the crucial characteristics to happiness, scientists are finding physical health may have less impact on happiness than is commonly believed. Plenty of people take their good health for granted, and do not seem to be any happier for this oversight. On the other hand, many people who are sick have the ability to find tremendous happiness in the very simple pleasures of life. Initial research findings do suggest that happiness is decreased in individuals who are very ill.
• According to Christopher Peterson, a psychologist from the University of Michigan, the queen of all virtues that has the strongest link to happiness is forgiveness. It seems the happiest people among us are not those who have not been wronged by their friends, family, and co-workers. Happier people do seem to have the ability to forgive more easily.
• The early work with positive psychology found that people who rated high on a happiness scale were able to engage in absorbing activities that often caused them to lose all sense of time. The activities could vary from sewing a quilt, to working on a puzzle, to playing the piano, to performing surgery. Happy people seem to find great satisfaction in their daily activities.
• Another characteristic of happiness was when people were able to judge themselves against their own yardstick, and never against the yardstick of others. If you don’t care about keeping up with the Joneses, chances are you are happier for it. Ed Diener, a psychologist at the University of Illinois, goes so far to say that a constant pursuit of materialism is often toxic to happiness.
  

Sources:

• Authentic Happiness - Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment, by Martin E.P. Seligman, Free Press, 2002, ISBN: 0-743-22297-0.
• "Psychologists now know what makes people happy," Marilyn Elias, USA Today, December 8, 2002.

Compiled by Betty Holmes, MS, RD

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