March e-news
Dr Suzy Green & Associates
Welcome back and hi to new subscribers! Whilst I have worked with many individuals in assisting them to make changes and enhance their well-being, I have a growing interest in the application of positive psychology to groups, teams, organisations, the community and society overall. So keep in mind that many of the theories and techniques presented here can be applied much more broadly. I will be discussing this further in future e-news. At this stage, just consider how you might start to enact the “ripple-effect” in your life to your family, workplace or community.
Last month I suggested you develop a “fuzzy vision” of your future. Hopefully you committed to taking the time out to develop this inspirational vision, which can significantly impact on both your shorter-term goals and your daily life. It’s good to review this from time to time and see just how far you have come. I have had many clients create their fuzzy vision in a much shorter period of time that they had initially thought possible! We tend to overestimate what we can achieve in a year but underestimate what we can achieve in 5 or 10!
Month 3 – Self-Actualise!
Most people nowadays have heard of “self-actualisation” as
this term has leaked out from the compendium of bizarre psychological language
into everyday life! Abraham Maslow, the originator of this term was ahead
of his time! He was one of the first positive psychologists. In fact, he
first used the term “positive psychology” back in 1954! Maslow
conducted 20 years of research on people who had the "full use and exploitation
of talents, capacities, potentialities”. He believed that humans have
a natural drive to healthiness, or self actualization. He believed that there
are basic, (biological and psychological) needs that have to be fulfilled
in order to be free enough to feel the desire for the higher levels of realization.
He also believed that the organism has the natural, unconscious and innate
capacity to seek its needs. In other words, humans have an internal, natural,
drive to become the best possible self we can be.
This Month’s Action Plan – Identify your Best Possible Self
This exercise was taken from an article by Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, two leading US positive psychologists, and appeared in the new Journal of Positive Psychology last year. The task is a writing task, so I would encourage you to purchase a journal prior to doing this. You can then use the journal for future positive psychology exercises. Significant amounts of research within psychology, has shown that writing expressively about oneself and one’s feelings has numerous benefits for health and well-being.
I have used the exercise both in my individual sessions and in the course I run through the University of Sydney Centre for Continuing Education called “Positive Psychology in Everyday Life” (www.cce.usyd.edu.au). In both situations, informal feedback has confirmed the scientific findings from the original research. That is, positive emotions are significantly increased immediately after completion of the exercise – and maintained up to a month later with continued performance! Thus the value in undertaking this exercise is two-fold – helping to fulfill our innate drive for self-actualisation and increasing positive emotions and well-being along the way!
Here are your instructions (based on the original research): Think about your life in the future, after everything has gone as well as it possibly could. You have worked hard and succeeded at accomplishing all of your life goals. Think of this as the realization of all of your life dreams, and of your own best potentials. Write about how you would be thinking, feeling and behaving. Write out the qualities you would have developed and the strengths you would be drawing on. Describe your best possible self.
Next month...
I will be asking you to consider your strengths and how to use them in your personal and working lives.
“Earth Hour” occurs on March 31st. So, don’t forget to turn off your lights for one hour from 7.30 to 8.30pm. For more information go to www.earthhour.org.
Unless we change the direction
we are heading, we might end up where we are going
- Chinese Proverb
Dr Suzy Green & Associates
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