Positive psychology is a branch of psychology that explores human positive emotions, and also deals with issues of how to improve the quality of life. However, this is not about money at all.
Depression immunity
Diseases must, first of all, be prevented. And this applies not only to physical health. Mental problems have become the scourge of modern humanity. Residents of prosperous countries today do not know wars, hunger and have a wide range of opportunities to meet their needs. But they are mostly unhappy.
So, in Europe, according to various opinion polls, the percentage of people suffering from depression and other mental illnesses is extremely high – in some countries, more than 50%. In less prosperous Russia, the situation, it would seem, is not so dire. According to a recent study by VTsIOM, 61% of Russians assess their life situation as “everything is fine”. But what is behind this “normal”? Opinion polls show that one of the most important conditions for the majority of Russians is their own health and the health of their loved ones. Financial well-being often follows. That is, what many depressed Europeans have already achieved.
One of the main tenets of positive psychologists is happiness is not about money. And, moreover, not in their number. “Material well-being, of course, helps to achieve happiness, but at a very low level. An increase in the number of goods in itself does not make a person happier, ”says the creator of the famous flow theory, Mihai Chikszentmihalyi, who came to Moscow for a conference on positive psychology.
And what does happiness consist of? Paradoxically, classical psychology, trying to help a person to be happier, for a long time did not ask questions, and what kind of state is this – happiness, how does a person realize it? Science knows a lot about the manifestations of mental illness and how to bring a person back to normal. But how can a person be helped from a state of norm to a state of happiness?
One of the founders of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, drew attention to the fact that psychologists perfectly mastered how from the state (-5) to bring a person into the state (-1) or even (0), but, as from the state (0) or (+ 2) go to point (+5) or (+7)?
As the professor of the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University, director of the Institute of Existential Psychology and Life Creation, columnist for the journal Psyhologies Dmitry Leontyev explains, scientific research on the positive qualities of human life has intensified since the early 90s. And in a separate direction, positive psychology poured out only in the late 90s. The object of research in positive psychology is such human states as life satisfaction, flow, optimism, hope.
Passion Analytics
Robert Vallerand, President of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and President of the Canadian Psychological Association, along with other well-known psychologists, who came to Moscow for the conference, believes that their passions determine the quality of life of many people.
Passions in relation to something or someone: hobbies, work, other people. A person who is truly seized by any passion is in the field of action of the energies produced by this passion, Vallerand said at his lecture at Moscow State University. Passion is what drives a person, directs him forward, not allowing him to stand still. In general, a life without passions is almost not life.
But the passion that can move mountains can with the same force plunge the one possessed by it to the bottom of despair and disappointment. He calls this passion obsessive passion (literally – obsessive passion). It can be determined at the initial stage by asking questions about motives. For example, a teenager became interested in music. Such a passion can be obsessive, if the young men have, first of all, thoughts, for example, how, having become popular in school, he will be the object of attention of his peers, says Vallerand.
The opposite of obsessive passion – harmonious passion – according to Vollerand, naturally becomes an integral part of the human personality. A person lives by this passion, but he can control it, in contrast to negative passion, and remain the master of his own life.
With obsessive passion, as soon as something gets out of control, for example, failures and obstacles arise, a person has serious psychological problems, which translates into negative emotions, which it is very difficult for the possessed to cope with, he faces problems in different areas of his life. But if passion is harmonious, we can assume that a person has found the key to his own happiness, or at least to its significant share. As a rule, such a person finds himself in the stream.
Where is the meaning of life? In the stream!
The creator of the “flow” theory, psychologist Mihai Csikszentmihalyi, known far beyond the borders of the United States, devoted 30 years of his life to the study of the states in which people who are truly passionate about their work find themselves. At his Moscow lecture, he spoke about the characteristics of the flow of gifted people.
“Stream” in the interpretation of Csikszentmihalyi is a state when a person, using his capabilities, talents, abilities, doing what he loves, forgets about time, food and sleep, when seconds turn into hours, and hours into seconds. Csikszentmihaiy came to the conclusion that it is people who experience such a state and set meaningful goals for themselves who feel truly happy.
This state, for example, is typical for creative people – poets, artists, writers, as well as scientists. For example, the state of the flow, which, perhaps, anyone can touch, is beautifully conveyed in the film “Modigliani” directed by Mick Davis, when on the decisive night before the city competition, several artists, including Picasso and Modigliani, create their paintings, really forgetting about time and surrounding space.
During his research, Mr. Csikszentmihalyi came to interesting conclusions that sometimes do not correspond to generally accepted ideas. For example, it is generally accepted that most creative people are introverts. In fact, this is not the case. The modern pace of life makes people change. Csikszentmihalyi became convinced in the course of research that many creative people are easily able to move from an extrovert state to an introvert state, then using in their activities what is obtained in the process of active communication, from a childish state to an extreme degree of seriousness, from laziness to activity.
Creativity requires a person to be able to be in a wide range of sensations and feelings. Therefore, explains Csikszentmihalyi, many talented people from childhood, for example, have inherent signs of androgyny (the manifestation of both feminine and masculine qualities).
Caution: routine!
Not everyone is given to change the world, to invent something of their own, and not everyone strives for this. But everyone can turn their life into a stream and feel much happier, Professor Csikszentmihalyi is sure. In his opinion, any routine work can be turned into a flow, despite the fact that it seems almost impossible.
You can live in the stream by giving yourself up to your hobbies, sincerely supporting your interest in what is truly interesting. And if you completely get hung up somewhere on the transitions between the steps of the Maslow pyramid and wait for a favorable time for the “flow”, then it is possible that the children growing up in the meantime will never get to the higher steps of this pyramid, even if they have for this all the possibilities.
No matter how derisive it sounds for parents who run the daily route from kindergarten to work, then back and try to do a lot of routine tasks in between, an uninteresting adult life is dangerous for children.
