Week 6

The lesson for Week 6 taught me a lot about positive psychology along with the PERMA elements and how they play into our lives.
So what is Positive Psychology?
What is PERMA?

Positive Psychology as explained in this weeks lesson is, "a recent branch of psychology whose purpose was summed up in 1998 by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: “We believe that a psychology of positive human functioning will arise, which achieves a scientific understanding and effective interventions to build thriving individuals, families, and communities.” Positive psychologists seek “to find and nurture genius and talent” and “to make normal life more fulfilling,” rather than merely treating mental illness. Positive psychology is primarily concerned with using the psychological theory, research and intervention techniques to understand the positive, adaptive, creative and emotionally fulfilling aspects of human behavior."

PERMA as explained in this week lesson, 
"The PERMA Model was developed by respected positive psychologist, Martin Seligman, and was widely published in his influential 2011 book, “Flourish.” “PERMA” stands for the five essential elements that should be in place for us to experience lasting well-being. These are:

1. Positive Emotion (P) For us to experience well-being, we need positive emotion in our lives. Any positive emotion such as peace, gratitude, satisfaction, pleasure, inspiration, hope, curiosity, or love falls into this category; and the message is that it’s really important to enjoy yourself in the here and now, just as long as the other elements of PERMA are in place.
2. Engagement (E) When we’re truly engaged in a situation, task, or project, we experience a state of flow : time seems to stop, we lose our sense of self, and we concentrate intensely on the present. This feels really good! The more we experience this type of engagement, the more likely we are to experience well-being.
3. Positive Relationships (R) As humans, we are “social beings,” and good relationships are core to our well-being. Time and again, we see that people who have meaningful, positive relationships with others are happier than those who do not. Relationships really do matter!
4. Meaning (M) Meaning comes from serving a cause bigger than ourselves. Whether this is a specific deity or religion, or a cause that helps humanity in some way, we all need meaning in our lives to have a sense of well-being.
5. Accomplishment/Achievement (A) Many of us strive to better ourselves in some way, whether we’re seeking to master a skill, achieve a valuable goal, or win in some competitive event. As such, accomplishment is another important thing that contributes to our ability to flourish." 

We also were required to take a quiz this week that informed us what our signature strengths are. To do this you go to http://www.viacharacter.org/www/Character-Strengths-Survey#nav and take the survey and then it splits your strengths and labels them from 1-24. It is said that the first five are our Signature Strengths. When we do activities to help develop these Signature Strengths it makes us happier. I have done this activity before and I really enjoy it. I think it is interesting to see how your strengths change over a year when you take it different times. It also helps me reflect on maybe what I want to be able to answer next time I take it. So I can try to develop that in my life.

Now, back to positive psychology. I love the things I learned and researched about meditation and positive psychology. I got really into meditation last year and I think it can help a lot with depression, anxiety, ect and promoting positive psychology.
https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/mindfulness-positive-psychology-3-great-insights/

I was going to copy and past the whole website page but I figure it's easier for you to click it and read it :) Till next time!