Positive Therapy - Is selflessness an essential part of being happy?
Positive Therapy (and its academic parent - Positive Psychology) have focused extensively on the question of how individual happiness can be increased. One area of work which has produced interesting results is the role of gratitude. The PRACTICE of gratitude and kindness has important implications for how happy and content people are... and it acts as a strong antidote to negative states such as depression, anger and anxiety.
How exactly do you practice gratitude and kindness?
Martin Seligman's early work on gratitude suggested writing a 300 word statement to someone who had done something good for you (but whom you had never thanked) and to go round to their house and read it to them!
Robert Emmons therapeutic interventions have asked clients to write about five things for which they were thankful, every week for 10 weeks.
Sonja Lyubomirsky meanwhile found that asking clients to perform five acts of "kindness" a day significantly improved their mood.
There are of course motivational issues around with this work which would have to be addressed with our clients. However it does appear to raise a number of important issues:
It suggests client improvement can occur NOT by addressing their problems but instead by enhancing qualities and emotions that are incompatible with those problems;
It suggests that to be truly happy it is essential that you practice some form of selflessness;
It suggests that "going through the motions" of kindness and gratitude produces useful results even if one does not initially have these feelings.
We welcome any of your thoughts on the topic.
How exactly do you practice gratitude and kindness?
There are of course motivational issues around with this work which would have to be addressed with our clients. However it does appear to raise a number of important issues:
We welcome any of your thoughts on the topic.