It is a branch of psychology that focuses on making life better and happier
The scientific field of psychology concerns understanding the human brain, its technicalities, way of processing information and emotions. The whole purpose of psychology is to attain a better knowledge of the functioning of the human brain to bring about better functioning. While there are many diversions in psychology, a branch of it called positive psychology is more than just understanding the brain's functionalities. The term positive psychology is about understanding one's state of living and directing them to lead a happy life. It is a scientific study that deals with understanding what makes life most worth living by focusing on individual and societal well-being.
What does Positive Psychology mean?
If one understood the real meaning of positive psychology, it primarily focuses on eudaimonia - an ancient Greek term meaning 'the good life. Thus, it is a concept that works towards considering and reflecting on the factors contributing to making a well-lived and fulfilling life.
Under this branch of psychology, the issues of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions are studied with the only aim to improve the quality of one’s life. In short, the idea is to look for common ground to work towards the better well-being of an individual.
The purpose and how to implement
Unlike other branches of psychology, positive psychology focuses on helping people to become happier. The positive events and influences in life like happiness, joy, inspiration, and love. It also considers the positive states and traits, like gratitude, resilience, and compassion, which one needs to apply in life.
The purpose of this field is to ponder over and study in-depth the personality attributes like happiness, character strengths, life satisfaction, optimism, compassion for others and self, hope, and self-esteem. All these measures are taken only to learn and be able to help people live their best lives.
Talking about the implementation of positive psychology, it finds its application in a wide range of real-life areas like education, self-help, stress management, workplace issues, and especially in therapy.
To begin with, identification of a person's character strengths comprising courage and humanity is brought into consideration. It is one of the most critical steps towards the journey of successfully implementing positive psychology. One can also begin by practising gratitude using journaling.
