Positive Psychology

20 Weeks to Happiness: Can a Course in Positive Psychology Change Your Life?
By Richard Handler
January/February 2006

Why Is This Man Smiling? A Self-Described Grouch Is Trying to Turn Happiness into a Science
By Mary Sykes Wylie
January/February 2003

Living on Purpose: The Seeker, the Tennis Coach and the Next Wave of Therapeutic Practice
By Katy Butler
September/October 2003

Positive Aging: A New Paradigm for Growing Old
By Robert Hill
May/June 2007

Sample from: Living On Purpose, by Katy Butler

These athletes didn't use their limited reservoir of "free will" to tell themselves to relax. Instead of cluttering their brains with that kind of management decision, they followed a behavioral sequence repeated so often that it had grooved itself into the cluster of brain cells close to the brainstem sometimes called the "reptilian brain." Their rituals were automatic, even under pressure. They were done mindlessly, just as an experienced driver steps on the clutch and smoothly shifts gears without thinking about it.

Between-point rituals turned out to have startling training effects. Loehr fitted the athletes with wireless monitors and discovered that the heart rates of the champions dropped as much as 15 to 20 beats between points. They didn't win every game. But because they took real breaks--what Loehr called "oscillation"--they played at the top of their games for years, while talented but volatile players, like John McEnroe, burned out young.

Loehr showed his videos to the tennis kids--and his growing list of private clients--and had them mimic the champions' confident walks. Their games improved. He organized 90-minute cycles of oscillation (intense exertion followed by rest and recovery) into their days, and they improved again. He tailor-made new rituals to address individual weaknesses, and the athletes improved still more.

From Psychotherapy Networker, September/October 2003

Sample from: Positive Aging, by Robert Hill

Now the principles of Positive Psychology are captured in a new term specific to later life—namely, "positive aging." The idea behind positive aging is that there are sources of happiness in our later years that are inherent in the processes of growing old. In other words, positive aging is not how well we're able to dodge our infirmities, but rather, our ability to focus on what makes life worthwhile in our later years in spite of the physical or mental challenges that may arise.

We all have known people who were born with the type of attitude that allowed them to grow old gracefully and get the most out of life right up to the end. For the rest of us, however, there are specific actions and habits of mind that we can learn, which, with focus and practice, can help the process of aging become a more positive experience. To grow old with a positive frame of mind, it's important to learn to take four basic actions:

From Psychotherapy Networker, May/June 2007