“Open Hearts Build Lives: Positive Emotions, Induced Through Loving-kindness Meditation, Build Consequential Personal Resources”.
October 28, 2008
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.
The Audacity of Hope and Dealing with a Chronic Illness
January 30, 2008
Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum in this charged election year, it’s striking to see the fire that has been ignited in many people, especially the younger generation by the emotional call of Barack Obama’s campaign for President. To those of us who study Positive Psychology it should come as no surprise. The power of hope can not be underestimated. Hope and optimism create positive emotion and as the research of Barbara Fredrickson teaches us, positive emotion broadens and builds our thought-action repertoire. Hope is akin to rocket fuel when elicited by a speaker who feels deep passion about his cause. Fear and terror elicit deep feelings as well but in a restricting, limiting fashion. Fear calls on survival mobilization. Fear can trump all other emotions when one perceives their life to be threatened. However, it does not lend itself to creative, expansive problem solving, like positive emotions such as hope do.
The attacks on 9-11 created an atmosphere of fear and terror in our country…it might be fair to say that we as a nation were “traumatized”. Terror management theory says that at such times, an authoritarian leader can be very appealing. The black and white, simplistic posture that such a leader represents can be reassuring to frightened people. The confusion, randomness of terror tactics can create a desire for order to return above all else. An authoritarian leader can seem very desirable in such a climate. “Tell me what to do, and promise that if I follow you, everything will be okay”. When the world is painted as black and white, good versus evil, things seem understandable again. As long as I am with the good guys, I’ll be okay, right? However, nothing in this complex world is simple, black or white or can be reduced to notions of absolute good and evil. Life can be random, unfair and maddeningly confusing, even during the best of times.
What does all this have to do with chronic illness, you may astutely ask? Well, having recently been diagnosed with a serious, chronic illness, I am no stranger to feelings of fear and terror. Will I survive? What does all this mean? Why me? How do I make sense of this? Which doctor or hospital can save me from this fate? All these questions and more are certainly part of my experience (and I imagine others in similar circumstance). Initially, survival is all one can think about. All of ones energy is mobilized in the direction of surviving. Sadness, grief, anger, fear are all part of the process. However, living “successfully” with a chronic illness requires the return of hope. Hope not only gets one out of bed in the morning (or off the couch) but begins to “broaden and build a thought action repertoire”. “How do I live now?” I’m still me, just rearranged in a new, unfamiliar fashion. What creative ways can I employ to live in harmony with this unwelcome reality? I need good doctors and good medical expertise but with an incurable, rare illness, there are no black and white simple answers. No doctor can keep me safe or predict the future for me. Statistics are nice but they never predict an individual journey through unknown territory. Hope and optimism broaden thinking, making creative solutions once again possible. When dealing with a chronic illness, “realistic optimism” is indispensable, in my opinion! Remaining optimistic, positive and hopeful gives you the fuel to creatively problem solve as you move through the many challenges that illness can present. I have relied heavily each and every day on the many cognitive techniques I learned though studying positive psychology principles.
This brings me back to what I originally began talking about and to what I’ve observed these last few days being played out on the larger world stage of politics. How does a country disheartened and traumatized (not unlike being diagnosed with an illness) find its center once again and move forward with a realistic sense of hope and optimism? Well, we can either stay stuck and overwhelmed in a state of fear or worse yet, apathy and cynicism….or we can focus on what is possible in this complex and ever changing world. Those leaders that know how to inspire hope, optimism, and bring about positive emotion have the best chance of helping our country thrive in our complex world. The inclusive, creative energy of a positive, hopeful leader can mobilize what is best in its citizenry. Positive emotion and energy in balance with realistic optimism will, in my opinion, be our best hope of thriving and healing. Not unlike those elements needed to thrive with a chronic illness.
Much wisdom can be gleaned from the field of Positive Psychology. It is not just a “feel good” exercise. The research and knowledge about powerful concepts such as gratitude, hope, optimism and positive emotion, just to name a few, have answers to many human dilemmas tricher poker en lignejeu de poker gratuitspoker online argentpoker multijoueur gratuitesregles tournoi pokerjeux poker tour en lignele pokersites de poker onlineregles poker 2play seven card stud onlinejeu de poker internetjouez pokerpoker games networld of series pokerstrategie poker onlinetelecharger partie pokerjouer poker omaha en lignejeu de carte poker gratuitesjouer poker mact?l?charger de poker onlineworld champion pokerjouez au poker en lignepoker gratuites hors ligneкомпютриjeu poker freewarelogiciel jeu pokerholdem poker onlinetilt pokertable de poker en lignepoker gratuites bruelregles de jeu poker,regles poker,regles poker hold hemjouer de pokersexy poker onlineprofessional poker tourregles poker holdemjouer poker en ligne gratuitestricher au poker en lignejouer o poker gratuitementpoker gratuites sur internetregles du jeu de pokerjeux poker a telechargerstud poker onlinebonus pokervideo poker a telechargerpoker gratuites cadeaujeu poker portables ,jeu de poker en ligne,jeu pokerwam poker comsalle poker onlineregles du poker texas holdemjeu poker a telechargerpoker en ligne paypal and I believe provide the best illumination when an individual or nation has temporarily lost its way!
My New Year’s Resolution
December 30, 2007
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
Positive psychology and managing serious diseases
August 18, 2007
As you may know I am struggling through a difficult period with an
autoimmune illness, Wegener’s disease. I dislike being a “patient” in every sense of the word but I have had to learn new adaptive skills to weather the storm.
Managing this illness has been life changing to say the least, and my
training in positive psychology has never been more useful. I am no stranger to stress caused by serious disease processes. I’ve been managing much too much stress, especially during the past two years due to my husband’s recurrence of cancer.
I also have many mothering demands and a really full practice to manage. Well, God had other plans and most of the way my life was structured has been turned upside down. I have had to close my psychotherapy practice for now which saddens me greatly. I am taking powerful immune suppressant drugs to put this disease back into remission. If I even catch a cold, its not good!
Its hard to watch yourself transform from a person of relatively good health into a patient. Not fun but temporary! I hate being dependent on others but I am learning. Illness is a wonderful teacher when God can’t get your attention in other ways!! There are so many gifts and blessings, even for “slow-learners” like me! 
. . . So on many levels, things are really transforming! I have been using all the wonderful things I’ve learned over the years from Positive Psychology. I meditate each day, use guided imagery and hypnosis and practice all the “learned optimism” and cognitive techniques to get me through! Helping facilitate mind-body communication is key!
When it comes to medical decisions and taking tests, too much Optimism is not good. Marty Seligman suggests realistic, accurate optimism (maybe even pessimism) when making medical decisions. This makes a lot of sense to me now.
Gratitude and forgiveness of self are key to moving through! I love to
learn and do research on new things and I have marshaled all sorts of help from integrative and alternative medicine. It’s so exciting and I am VERY open to using all sorts of cutting-edge information. Curiosity is a good strength to have at this time!
Thanks for your good wishes, prayers and love… onward!
Positive Psychology And Weight Loss Coaching
July 27, 2007
Weight loss coaching is usually a combination of coaching, consulting and counseling. I’m a big believer in blending our expertise with our coaching skills. In this way, every coach is a weight loss coach — this issue is going to be raised by many coaching clients, because people are often successful in every area of their lives except weight loss. It’s frequently a symptom of people who are overachieving, taking care of everyone else . . . of our overresponsible, overdone lives.
Weight loss is about your whole life. If we only ate when we were hungry and stopped when satisfied, then no one would have a weight problem. If we only talked about food and weight issues in coaching, it would get pretty boring — and it wouldn’t be getting to the real issues. So we talk about stress, and what’s getting in the way of getting to the goal. It’s about overcommitted schedules, managing stress and managing feelings — using food to push through the day.
Positive Psychology exercises can help clients manage their mood and energy levels, give more time to themselves and change their self-talk.