With the economic world melting down, its more important than ever to know what brings happiness and satisfaction.  Despite the constant media blast of negativity, we are considerably more adaptive creatures than we believe.  The expanding field of happiness research has shown that we tend to overestimate the long-term impact of negative events.  Negative events do affect us, but generally not as much as we expect-or for as long.  (Dan Gilbert, research psychologist, Harvard)

Yes, its true that thoughts of an uncertain future can bring on debilitating anxiety for some but we are surprisingly more resilient and can cope with a surprising amount of adversity once it is actually happening ,  said Andrew Ryder, a professor of psychology at Concordia University.

The work of Ed Diener, PhD and others in the research area of subjective well-being, tell us that in democratic countries, beyond a certain comfort level, money has little effect on happiness.  Therefore, if we allow the economy to determine our emotional state, we are allowing the source of our happiness to lie outside our control.  Wouldn’t it make more sense, considering the constant fluctuations in the market, to reassess your current life situation and focus on those areas in which you have some agency?

Marty Seligman outlines in his book Authentic Happiness three pathways to living a happy life…1) The Pleasant Life…2) The Engaged Life and…3) The Meaningful Life.  From my perspective, finding balance among these pathways gives the best chance for living an enriched life.  It seems fair to say that during these last several years,  many Americans (as well as Wall Street and the Halls of Congress) have been living beyond our means searching for the easy comfort and trappings of the Pleasant Life at the expense of balance. There is an emptiness inherent in seeking pleasure at the expense of the other pathways to happiness.  There is now an abundance of research that says that happiness is possible, but elusive.  It’s a state of being not what we do or have.  Deep levels of joy can come from working at what we love (The Engaged Life) especially compared to the more shallow, short-lived satisfaction that comes from accumulating consumer goods or mindless television watching.  We also now know without a doubt that the single most important variable in our level of happiness is meaningful relationships with others (The Meaningful Life) – with family, in love, in friendships and relationships at work.  If we worried more about the quality of our connection to others rather than our stock portfolios, we’d be happier people by far.

Despite the constant refrain, The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling, there are also many positive indicators that a new level of consciousness is arising.  Just the luxury of being able to pause and consider what might bring more happiness and fullfillment, is a luxury that millions of people around the world do not have.  Survival remains paramount.  Although we may have drifted culturally off course in our country, thanks to a myriad of forces….such as advertising designed to confuse fluff with substance, the search for the quick fix, and a stressed-out populace chasing some epherial idea of what will satisfy,….We may be closing in on some eternal truths….Relationships matter….moral and ethical behavior makes you feel good….meaningful service to something bigger than self brings deep satisfaction…. and the power to create your own internal experience, may be,  in large measure, in your own hands.   In the end,  we get to chose whether the Sky is Falling? or whether there is a New Moon Arising! 

A recent post in the “Huffinton Post” from Dec 3, 2008 discussed Barack Obama’s political campaign in which he communicated to the American public a feeling of hope and painted the possibility of a better future.  “Even amidst economic crisis and international turmoil, a shared sense of hope lifted and opened people’s hearts, seeding their better dreams.  And with Obama’s decisive win of Nov 4, hope erupted into effusive joy.  For millions of supporters, ‘Yes, we can’ morphed in to ‘Yes, we did’. ”

As we return to our daily routines and lives with all the challenges of paying the bills, work, raising children, etc., the highs will fade.  Millions of Americans are facing homelessness, joblessness and more.

“We need positivity, the complex web of causes and consequences of positive emotions, now more than ever.   Not just to sugarcoat bitter news or distract us from gloom.  We need positivity because we’re different people when we are under it’s influence.”

“Pleasant emotions like hope, inspiration, joy, and well-earned pride litterlally open us up.  As the blinders of negativity fall away, we take in more of what surrounds us.  We see both the forrest and the trees.  We appreciate athe oneness that binds us instead of the barriers that devide us.  Even race becomes irrelevant.”

The research of Barbara Fredrickson and her “Broaden and Build Therory of Positive Emotion” illuminates beautifully the power of positive emotion to engender creative and integrative thinking making hard-to-find solutions and compromises more possible.  With the problems we currently face as a nation, we desperately need expansive thinking.  Thinking broadly helps us to build new thought-action repitoires, build new skills and develop more resliency.  “Even mild positive emotions experienced regularly, set people on discernable trajectories of growth, making them better off next season than they are today.”

Fredrickson suggests that when we expereince emotions in a 3-to1 ratio of positve to negative, we cross a psychological threshold and function at our very best.  The trick is knowing how to cultivate this positve outlook and how to call upon it on a regular basis.  “Tools developed and sharpened by the science of positive psychology allow us to self-generate positivity whenever we choose-even during these trying times.  Indeed, positive emotions are at the heart of what allows people to bounce back from hardship and become stronger than ever.”

“Many of positive psychology’s science-tested tools hinge on the stance we take toward our current circumstances.  Are we truly open to what is?  Do we savor and celebrate the good?  Do we see adversity with clear eyes that resist stoking catastrophe?  Do we connect with others earnestly and with kindness offering up our best selves?  When we adopt these stances, we considerably raise the odds that positive emotions will bloom.”

In order for positve emotions to have a transformational impact, they must be geniunely felt with the full knowledge that they are a feature of moments, not a permanet emotional state.  Forced or fake positivty does more harm than good.  We are looking for realistic, optimistic thinking that leads to heightened sense of possibility.  “Positive emotions fundamentally change our biochemistry and our worldviews.  In time, we can even change who we are-helping us become better versions of ourselves”.  Even though it may seem like we are helpless to control the waves of negative emotions that enter into all our human experiences., we each have much more control than we realize over what we feel and when.  As president -elect Obama has warned, it will most likely get worse before it gets better.  How will we rise to the challenge of indivdually and collectively stoking the the fires of positivity?  The answer will determine to a great degree our futures, both personlly and as a nation.

Barbara Fredrickson and her colleagues just published some interesting new research in the “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology”.  Here is the abstract:

B. L. Fredrickson’s (1998, 2001) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions asserts that people’s daily experiences of positive emotions compound over time to build a variety of consequential personal resources. The authors tested this build hypothesis in a field experiment with working adults (n = 139), half of whom were randomly-assigned to begin a practice of loving-kindness meditation. Results showed that this meditation practice produced increases over time in daily experiences of positive emotions, which, in turn, produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms). In turn, these increments in personal resources predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms. Discussion centers on how positive emotions are the mechanism of change for the type of mind-training practice studied here and how loving-kindness meditation is an intervention strategy that produces positive emotions in a way that outpaces the hedonic treadmill effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved)

This research has many important implications for coaching, psychotherapy, education, personal practice and health enhancement.

While enrolled in Marty Seligman’s first “Authentic Happiness Coaching” class in 2003, I created a new family tradition designed to maximize a sense of gratitude during the Thanksgiving Holiday.  I purchased an inexpensive wooden box from a local Target store…it looks like a small “treasure box”.  I set the box on the end of our kitchen counter along with several strips of paper and some pens.  I asked each of my four sons to fill out a slip of paper each day stating one thing they were grateful for in their life….anything at all.  My husband and I also filled out slips daily for the box.  Since I knew my parents would be joining us for Thanksgiving, I sent small slips of paper to my parents in Florida asking them to do the same thing and then to bring them along to our family celebration.  I started this ritual the day after Halloween so that there would be at least three weeks of gratitude slips.   My sons needed a little “nudging” at first to remind them to fill out a slip each day but they soon became engaged in the ritual and it was apparent that it was having an effect on everyone’s attitude around the house.  It was already our practice each night at dinner to go around the table and ask each person, “What was the best thing that happened to you today?”  This ritual not only set the mood for the rest of the evening but it was a great way to engage the kids in talking about their day.

On Thanksgiving just before we sat down to our much anticipated feast, I asked everyone to gather in a circle and pass around the “Gratitude Box” drawing out a slip at random and reading it aloud.  I was surprised by the powerful emotional reaction that this created.  As the box went round and round the circle and the slips were read aloud, eyes became moist and there was an obvious loving glow created in everyone.  It was clear that this ritual would become a permanent feature of our family’s tradition.

The Gratitude Box is now a five year long tradition and many things have changed in our family.  Our oldest son lives in Chicago,  our twin sons moved out into their own home, and my youngest son is in the Navy.  In preparation for Thanksgiving, I’m sending strips of paper in a special letter to each of our sons and asking that they continue the tradition and bring their gratitude strips along to Thanksgiving Dinner.  I’m sure they will. 

One of the most precious parts of this ritual is that I have kept all five years of strips…..reading them not only touches my heart but gives a “historical account” of all the growth and development of our sons and the family over these last five years.  Counting one’s blessings is indeed a powerful way to maximize feelings of gratitude but the added dimension of doing this exercise as a family centered around a holiday such as Thanksgiving, is priceless.  I highly recommend that you consider ways to create rituals that reinforce the practice of gratitude.  It surely adds happiness to our lives and meaning to our connections to one another!  Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

People often feel determined to make a commitment to do something new and different and decide a resolution for the new year. My new year’s resolution is that I go either jogging or walking, depending on my physical condition and the weather, for 30 minutes in the early morning every day for at least 5 years. I have decided this because I signed an important business contract recently. No failure is allowed in this business contract. So I must sustain myself for 5 years and maintain good physical and mental health conditions. I think that regular jogging or walking is ideal for this purpose. Let’s take a look at some literature regarding this.

The benefits of regular physical activity as described by Mayo Clinic article (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2007) are that it improves mood, combats chronic diseases, helps one manage one’s weight, strengthens one’s heart and lungs, promotes better sleep, can put the spark back into one’s sex life, and can be – gasp – fun.

Japanese physicians (Arita, H., 2003; Hara, K., Sato-Suzuki, I., and Arita, H., 2006) describe the serotonergic system in the brainstem as being activated by various regular rhythmic physical activities, including jogging, walking, Hula, Zen, etc., and thus observed remarkable improvements in psychophysiological measurements after long continuation of these activities, especially after 100 days.

A current well established public health recommendation of 30 munites’ light to moderate activity on most days of the week (U.S. Surgeon General, 1996; Japanese Ministry of Labour and Welfare, 2006) is considered effective for achieving these benefits.

I myself value jogging and walking because they provide me with a sense of control and management in my work and life. They thus blow depressive feelings away and let me feel strong confidence in my future success.

Wouldn’t you like to join me in jogging or walking to help your physical and emotional health?

Hisao Kano

Today our sunrise was at 8:35 am and our sun-

set was at 4:49 pm. 8 hours and 15 minutes of

daylight. Everyday between now and 12/21

we lose more than 5 minutes of daylight.

After the 12/21 we savor the idea that we are

getting more daylight each day until June 21st

when we only have a few hours of colorful

twilight and total darkness.

This time of year most people go to work in

the dark and come home in the dark.

The positive side of our darkness is that here

in southern Alaska we have long and

colorful sunrises and sunsets and the

light of the white snow.

We also have Northern Lights and as one

travels north ( and lose more daylight)

they become more vivid and prevalent.

While we Alaskans love our sunny

days and nights in the summer, our winters

challenge each of us. Winter teaches us

new things about what keeps us going

as we figure out how to make it through

another dark, cold day. For me it is a com-

bination of developing close friendships, broad-

ening my mind, enjoying my work, being physi-

cally active outdoors and being involved with

communities of people.

Anchorage is alive with opportunities to be

active in anything imaginable and things that

only Alaskans could dream up (snowshoe

softball, ice bowling). However, the biggest

obstacle can be getting out of bed or off the

couch on a dark, cold day.

On Saturday and Sunday whether it’s 20

degrees above zero or below zero, I head off

to cross country ski, down hill ski or walk.

If I really have it together it’s mid day when

what sun we have is the strongest and the day

is the warmest. I found that having really

warm and comfortable winter gear is critical.

In the darkest part of the year I

use a high intensity (SAD) light to

keep my energy and mood positive. I can tell

that my mind wants the light and my body

wants that warmth of a bright thing shining

on me.

Last year some medical professionals in

the community started testing people for

Vitamin D deficiency. They discovered that

most Alaskans could feel lots better if they

took D supplements. Our bodies get vitamin

D naturally from our skin being touched by

sunlight for a period of time on a daily basis.

It turns out that feeling positive here in

Alaska takes determination, initiative

and an astute medical professional.

Elayne Hunter

Much to my surprise I saw a comic in the San Francisco Chronicle that actually was in the positive psychology realm. The first box was an event that was ucky, then the hero came in and “Reframed” the event to something positive. He called this his “Reframing Studio,” and invited everyone to come to it whenever they wanted. I have carried this image with me as I go about my daily business and step into negative situtations, i.e., standing in line at the bank while someone is yelling at the teller. I enter my “Reframing Studio,” with the negative event and shape it into something positive on my own time.

The bank was a challenge. OK, to the Reframing Studio.

As the man in line vented, a fellow teller quietly walked over and helped the harried one, gently and effectively. The angry man got his banking done and left, yea. Studio work – The angry man, who was able to dump some emotion, created a situation where someone could be helpful to another. I hope the teller under assault felt gratitude about the help. Hmmm, this masterpiece may need more work but at least it’s a start.

What I like about my Reframing Studio is it gives me a place to take situations that I find disturbing, not in a good way, work on them, leave them there to come back to, if needed. I can lock the door when I’m ready to leave the disturbing event and reframing work and go about my day more at peace.

Let me know what you think about this practice.

Linda