Positive feelings & coaching

In studying Positive Psychology with Chris Johnstone, we learnt a lot about how we can flourish in what we do. This makes life and work more enjoyable and therefore often more successful.  He recommended many books for the course, one of which – Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman I return to on a regular basis.  After many years as a psychologist, Seligman realised how psychology was a science that focused mainly on what was wrong with people, as opposed to finding ways to optimise people’s good feelings and therefore wellbeing.

Appreciation and Gratitude

The course is fascinating – we have looked at how we can enhance positive feelings by increasing positive emotions and finding ways to flourish.  This can be done in many ways, by focusing on gratitude, for example, and how being appreciative of what we have around us can make us feel more positive, as opposed to becoming obsessed by what we don’t have.  This seems such a simple idea, but works so well.  With many coaching clients I work with, once they start exploring another perspective i.e what is good about their life or job as opposed to what is bad, they immediately start feeling more positive. It is also incredibly useful to focus on past achievements as so many of us have a tendency to look at what went wrong instead.

Following on from appreciation and with a wish to cultivate more positive emotions, positive psychology recognises the benefit of focusing on our strengths.  So many of us have been through an education system, where the focus has been on our failings or weaknesses and teachers and parents have sought to help us improve these shortcomings. Imagine how different things might have been had the spotlight been on our strengths and building on them.  I wonder whether this would have encouraged more confident children?

Flow

When we do something we are good at, we tend to enjoy it.  Time passes and we may not notice – we become so deeply engaged in the task.  This ‘flow’ that can be achieved is certainly recognised as a contributing factor to the cultivation of positive emotion.  It makes so much sense, if we compare it to attempting to do something we really are no good at, where we find ourselves struggling and resenting the task in hand, feeling a big of a failure at the end.  Think about that last time you achieved a state of flow when doing something.

Flourish

A word I hear and read about often in the world of positive psychology is ‘flourish’.  Imagine encouraging children, friends or colleagues to flourish.  Imagine if you could be doing something that means you flourish. Just saying the word brings a positivity to my thinking. Try it. Too often we accept everything should be a struggle and seen through grey tones. By changing our view on things slightly and identifying what we do enjoy, we can find a way to flourish.

If you could do one thing today that will help you or someone near flourish, what would it be?

You might like to set up a call to discuss how coaching can help you flourish.

07785 996917  info@catrinmacdonnell.co.uk