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5 Fitness Tips that Reflect PERMA

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Exercise has been found to reduce stress, increase positive mood, decrease anxiety, and alleviate depression. But you may not know that the emotional well-being associated with exercise is also linked to key attributes that can help us while we work.

One of the most established of well-being frameworks, the ( PERMA model) states that of the many ways to experience happiness, five areas are most important: positive emotions, mental engagement, strong relationships, meaning in life, and accomplishing goals.

At face value, achieving all five may seem a colossal task. But many activities, from tennis to triathlons to swimming, can help us clinch all five at once. Evidence suggests that, as a result, we are more likely to avoid job burnout, sleep more easily, and be more engaged at work.
See also: Intense Exercise Study Reveals How Evening Workouts Impact Sleep
1. Positive Emotions

The "runner's high" is at the peak of positive emotion. While this euphoric feeling is most typically linked to pounding the pavements, it can be experienced via any activity that works both muscles and the heart.

The high comes from endorphins -the body's natural painkiller - being made available in the areas of the brain which process mood and emotion. Understood as an evolutionary advantage, the high enables us to keep moving even when our muscles are tired, and even a short burst of this positive feeling can help us feel more energized. So next time you're feeling low, try squeezing in some physical activity around work. It could give you a morning boost or stave off the post-lunch crash.

2. Mental Engagement

Being in the zone is no easy task in a distracting workplace. Scientifically known as "flow," this engagement level is the optimal amount of challenge required for personal growth. The Goldilocks of arousal, flow occurs when a task is sufficiently difficult to avoid boredom, but not so hard that we become overwhelmed. The flow experience is associated with decreased activity in the posterior cingulate cortex - an area of the brain responsible for our sense of self. So flow literally allows us to lose ourselves in the moment.

Physical activities which provide a just-manageable challenge are great for getting into flow. Even better are water-based sports which prevent the use of distracting technology, like sailing, swimming, or rowing. Detaching from work in this way gives us time to recharge, meaning we can return with maximum productivity.

3. Strong Relationships

While competitive sport can seem cut-throat, the shared pain of limit-busting events can stimulate compassion, and the more we suffer personally, the better we empathize with others. This not only strengthens our social skills but also manifests in directing greater kindness to ourselves. Research indicates that self-compassion is a more effective strategy than self-criticism when we face difficulty. So, practicing kind self-talk during sport can enable a more positive response to previously unbeatable workplace challenges.

4. Meaning in Life

A philosophically foggy concept, meaning in life has been scientifically pinned down as having three components: purpose (core goals and aspirations), significance (impact beyond the trivial and immediate), and coherence (understanding own values and life story). Meaning in life can provide a stable foundation when we face adversity and helps us to make sense of troubling events. Importantly, some studies have found that a stronger sense of purpose is associated with moving more.

5. Accomplishments

The value of feeling competent and successful is well known, but greater attention has recently been devoted to the manner in which we interpret success. Research into growth and fixed mindsets suggests that whether we believe ability can change (growth) or not (fixed) is central to our well-being.

Those with a growth mindset are more likely to work on developing their skills, embrace feedback as an opportunity to learn, and use setbacks to adapt and thrive. On the other hand, those with a fixed mindset fear failure, take feedback personally, and are discouraged by bumps in the road.
See also: Body Clock Scientist Determines What Time to Exercise to Boost Alertness
But this can change. Researchers have found that a person's mindset can be influenced by something as simple as greater self-awareness. All kinds of physical activities can objectively show us we can achieve goals that at first seemed out of reach. You might think that you'll never be able to lift a certain weight, for example, but persist, and you will see how strong - both mentally and physically - you truly are.

You don't need to be super fit, or even a regular gym-goer to benefit from the well-being perks that come with exercise. Getting active a few times a week can be enough to not only transform your physical fitness, but also boost your mood and performance, in and outside of work.

This article was originally published on The Conversation by Rhi Willmot. Read the original article here.

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Avoid Job Burnout With the "PERMA Model" for Happiness: 5 Fitness Tips

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Exercise has been found to reduce stress, increase positive mood, decrease anxiety, and alleviate depression. But you may not know that the emotional well-being associated with exercise is also linked to key attributes that can help us while we work.

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Includes videos and other resources to promote positive psychology in the workplace

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We all want work to feel positive and engaging. Who doesn't dream of waking up on a Monday excited to go to work?

Positive Psychology explores the science behind positive emotions since they linked with the benefits of improved health, well-being, longevity, and a greater quality of life.

On the flip side anger, anxiety, depression, and worry are related to poor health outcomes, often derived from systemic oppression and harsh, negative environments.

Our genes are responsible for about 50% of our happiness levels, our actions and attitudes account for 40% or our happiness. So if our choices and attitudes have a significant impact on our happiness, how do we cultivate and maintain a state of positivity and well-being in the workplace?

We hope you use this article and explore how to create meaning, as well as workplaces where staff thrive.

Benefits of Positive Psychology in the Workplace

Positive psychology can be used to increase happiness and satisfaction within the workforce.

We spend (on average) half of our waking hours at work, and many business leaders are starting to acknowledge that instilling these psychological techniques in the workplace is imperative. Not only might staff be more cordial and engaged in the space, but staff productivity may also increase.

As an employee, manager, or CEO you can put these ideas into practice to foster positivity and improve:

Performance

Motivation

Engagement

Conflict Resolution Skills

Original Thinking

PERMA in the Workplace

Over the last 15 years, Positive Psychology, pioneered by Professor Martin Seligman (University of Pennsylvania), has developed an evidence-based model for the active ingredients of well-being. For short, his model is known as PERMA: Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment.

So how can the PERMA model be added to workplaces for the betterment of everyone?

Positive Emotions

People thrive when they are happier. When mood becomes brighter, we set higher goals and persist longer towards them. We experience less stress and fatigue and show better team cooperation and problem-solving.

But how do we make people happier?

Brain scans show that when subjects are instructed to list their gratitudes daily, there is increased activity in the part of the brain associated with happiness. Of course, it is difficult to force feelings of happiness, but when we cultivate a 'grateful mindset,' happiness sometimes comes along for the ride.

Some organizations have adopted these ideas in innovative ways. For example, by listing 'appreciations' as a standing agenda item at the beginning of staff meetings, individuals can nominate someone or something for which they are grateful. This culture of gratitude can also decrease stress levels, by pausing the rushed reality of work and pausing to give thanks.

An example of a shout-out or gratitude to start a meeting could be simple. Here are three:

"My appreciation is for Sarah. Last week she stayed back to show me how to complete my spreadsheets and since then I've been finishing on time."

"I want to thank Jacob yesterday, for helping me debrief a presentation even though it wasn't his team's task to review it with me."

"Huge thanks to the kitchen staff and catering company that provided delicious food last week to our event."

Connect

Science shows us the greatest way to influence our happiness is to invest in our relationships.

Evolution has wired us to connect with others for survival. These connections have the power to affect how we feel. According to research on happiness, our moods are literally contagious. This happens because of mirror neurons in our brains.

If our colleague starts celebrating next to us, the cells in our own brain that would fire when we are engaged in similar behavior light up. These mirror neurons, evolutionarily, have helped us understand other's feelings and intentions.

If you watch two staff-members give each other a spirited high-five and laugh, the mirror neurons in your brain will fire as if you were directly involved.

Given that we are wired to connect with others, and that we are neurologically affected by watching others, it seems obvious that workplaces would be designed to foster connection.

A recent survey by Virgin stated that 40% of the respondents named their colleagues as the top reason they enjoy their work. Over two-thirds of respondents reported that not only did those positive relationships increase their productivity, but it helped mitigate stressful and difficult challenges at work.

The centrality of the relationship between our social connections and our internal happiness cannot be overstated. It is time to get to know the person sitting next to you a little better.

Make an effort to eat lunch in the canteen. Organize a get-together with your colleagues after work and get to know the people you are spending so much time with. One of the hurdles to this, of course, is our own concerns, embarrassment, and levels of comfort with doing this. Maybe after work, the last thing you want to do is be social.

Scott Crabtree, a renowned and experienced leader at Intel suggests that a Pecha Kucha presentation could help to break the ice, stating that:

"In Japanese, Pecha Kucha roughly means chit chat, but it's a specific format of presentation. Usually, each person brings 20 slides with just pictures on them, and they get 20 seconds to explain each slide...but we made the rule that people could only share things about their lives outside of work. The difference was immediate and significant. We immediately started treating each other less like competitors and more like collaborators."

Crabtree goes on to say that this is perhaps the best tool he has come across for building trust and understanding in a team quickly.

As a manager or team leader, you need to be aware of how contagious positivity or negativity can be. Be aware of the importance of managing morale because one unhappy person can make for an unhappy office. While it is unrealistic to skate on happiness alone, work environments can still encourage a work culture of supporting each other, when the work gets hard.

Help your staff come together and connect by organizing team building events that encourage people to work together and build genuine relationships. Make it clear to staff that socializing is not only tolerated, but it is also encouraged as long as it doesn't interfere with performance.

Some people will be more positive in their outlook and disposition than others. These people are extremely valuable to organizations, especially if there is a general atmosphere of demotivation, demoralization, and mistrust.

The trick is to seek out these people. Find them, cherish them, and most importantly, spend time with them. Place them strategically in teams that could benefit from their sunnier disposition.

Engage

The formula for building staff engagement is to maximize the extent to which people are using and applying their strengths.

Most of us strive to better ourselves in one way or another, and yet are often stuck in our failings, focusing on trying to "fix" parts of ourselves, and neglecting those parts of us that are flourishing.

Martin Seligman and other researchers have noted that when work demands our engagement, such as using our strengths in new and innovative ways, we experience higher levels of happiness and lower levels of depression.

Another influential study suggests that up to 70% of professionals who utilize their strengths on a daily basis reported feeling more engaged and energized by their work.

Many work cultures have a fear-culture grounded in criticism; while feedback is important for growth and reflection, it is also important to praise staff. Start meetings with an opportunity to share success stories-big and small. Give people the opportunity to share their successes, achievements, and accomplishment with you, as well as sharing your own.

Don't assume that everyone knows their own strengths or that they are the same as yours.

Playing to your staff's strengths rather than their weaknesses not only impacts their intrinsic motivation, but also the company and organization at large. To identify a person's strengths Professor Seligman's team developed the VIA Inventory of Strengths.

Create Meaning

In this context, meaning refers to a purposeful existence. In the work environment, when there is a shared sense of purpose, staff are more likely to feel satisfied with their job.

Organizational psychologist and author Adam Grant devised an innovative experiment into team productivity. His three New York Times bestselling books have shaped organizations around the world.

As one example of creating meaning in a workspace, Grant explains his work with call center staff. The call center staff were employed to canvass donations for university scholarship funds, so Grant arranged for staff to meet with an actual beneficiary of a scholarship.

The meeting was only five minutes long-just enough to ask some questions and put a face to a name.

This team went on to raise three times more money, and record consistently longer and more engaged conversations with potential donors, compared with a control group.

When people see how their efforts have a genuine impact on the lives of others, even mundane work becomes more rewarding.

If you want to learn more about Grant's thoughts on work culture, check out his podcast WorkLife.

Accomplish

Accomplishment is often the result of realistic goals that are supported by specific actions. Having accomplishments at work is critical to push ourselves to thrive and flourish.

Leaders can build achievement in their people by involving a person's strengths in future discussions about organizational goals. For example, asking strengths-based questions can help staff feel respected and valued.

These questions include:

Tell me about a previous achievement of which you are genuinely proud. It may or may not be work-related. A time when you really outdid yourself?

Which top strengths do you think helped you achieve this impressive outcome? Which talents did you demonstrate at the time? (The VIA is useful here).

Coaching your staff can be as simple as taking an interest in their strengths and exploring more ways to apply them toward agreed goals or professional development challenges. It helps build trust between you and your employees and promotes a collaborative culture of sharing experiences and learning.

Like so many other ideas emerging from Positive Psychology, this is a genuine win-win.

Push Beyond Your Goals

Setting goals at an individual, team and organizational level are key for productivity and happiness. But there is no point in setting goals without a way to measure them, or minimally, develop specific action items to guide staff to their success.

Goals can provide us with an intrinsic sense of engagement, motivation, and connection. In other words, meeting our goals might help us achieve happiness, but we cannot rely on goal-achievement alone.

A more sustainable source of happiness is enjoying each step that propels you towards the finish line. Research shows that while goal achievement creates an initial boost in positivity, the effects do not last long. The trick lies in learning to enjoy each aspect of the journey towards your goals. Otherwise, you may be propelling yourself towards burnout instead of accomplishment.

To apply this, first structure your goals to follow the acronym SMART.

This means S for specific, M for measurable, A for attainable, R for Relevant to your interests, and T for Time-bound.

Second, stretch beyond being SMART and make your goals meaningful. Can you connect your goals with your values and strengths?

If so, you are more likely to feel happier and perform better. As a manager keep this in mind when assigning projects to your staff. Do the projects assigned align with company and staff values and goals?

If you can find the intersection between skills, interests, values, and strengths, you are likely to build a team rich with internal motivation, engagement, and connection.

After all, when people thrive on their own motivations and energy, there is a tangible sense of workplace pride and accomplishment.

Reward Yourself

Our ability to celebrate our own accomplishments, as well as those of our colleagues, is another important element for enjoying and remaining at any workplace.

Rewards activate the pleasure pathways in our brain, even when they are self-induced.

Effective rewards do not have to be anything big or expensive or even financial but can be as simple as taking a break, going for a short walk, or enjoying a snack.

A number of studies have found that small rewards can make people more generous, friendly, and happy, as well as more productive and accurate in their work.

At Google, employee satisfaction rose an impressive 37% when a small rewards scheme was put in place. This suggests that financial rewards are not the only thing happy, productive employees are looking for.

While working hard matters, skipping all your breaks is detrimental to your happiness and long-term productivity. Refresh your focus and step away from the screen for a few minutes, take a walk around the office, or challenge someone to ten jumping-jacks. It will actually increase your productivity, and replenish your brain with oxygen, if you do something active.

As a company, you can also offer your staff a reward program of incentives, such as flexible working hours to show that you genuinely care about their needs.

Just make sure that the rewards you are offering are in line with what your staff wants.

It might be helpful to issue a company-wide survey or put together an employee committee to get feedback about what benefits and resources would help your staff feel cared for and considered, both in their work and personal lives.

Whilst these strategies and ideas may sound like common sense, they are widely unrecognized in many workspaces, which is a deficit to the staff and the organization itself.

A Take-home Message

By offering positivity, engagement, connection, meaning, and acknowledgment, you can create a motivated workforce where people want to be there, and want to improve the company bit-by-bit.

In the words of Shawn Achor,

"The better your brain is at using its energy to focus on the positives, the greater your chances at success."

Do you think it is worth CEOs and leaders to invest more in their work culture? What are other ways to create positive work environments that we did not include in this article?

Please leave a comment below. We would love to hear from you.

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Positive Psychology in the Workplace: Thank God it's Monday

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We all want work to feel positive and engaging. Who doesn't dream of waking up on a Monday excited to go to work? Positive Psychology explores the science behind positive emotions since they linked with the benefits of improved health, well-being, longevity, and a greater quality of life.

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Learn more here.

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If you've been hearing the term "positive psychology" thrown around a lot, but you're not quite sure what it is, you've come to the right place!

There are some common misconceptions about positive psychology, both about what it is and what it is not.

To clear up some of these misunderstandings and provide a brief but comprehensive overview of the field, we've put together this piece focused on defining and describing the positive psychology movement.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free. These science-based exercises will explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology including strengths, values and self-compassion and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students or employees.

What is Positive Psychology: A Definition

Positive psychology has been described in many ways and with many words, but the commonly accepted definition of the field is this:

"Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living" (Peterson, 2008).

To push this brief description a bit further, positive psychology is a scientific approach to studying human thoughts, feelings, and behavior, with a focus on strengths instead of weaknesses, building the good in life instead of repairing the bad, and taking the lives of average people up to "great" instead of focusing solely on moving those who are struggling up to "normal" (Peterson, 2008).

What Positive Psychology Focuses on in a Nutshell

Positive psychology focuses on the positive events and influences in life, including:

1. Positive experiences (like happiness, joy, inspiration, and love).

2. Positive states and traits (like gratitude, resilience, and compassion).

3. Positive institutions (applying positive principles within entire organizations and institutions).

As a field, positive psychology spends much of its time thinking about topics like character strengths, optimism, life satisfaction, happiness, wellbeing, gratitude, compassion (as well as self-compassion), self-esteem and self-confidence, hope, and elevation.

These topics are studied in order to learn how to help people flourish and live their best lives.

On the Founder: Martin Seligman

Martin Seligman is a researcher with a broad range of experience in psychology.

If you had never heard of the positive psychology movement until now, you still might have heard his name at some point. Seligman's research in the 1960s and 70s laid the foundation for the well-known psychological theory of " learned helplessness."

This theory, which has been backed by decades of research, explains how humans and animals can learn to become helpless and feel they have lost control over what happens to them.

Seligman connected this phenomenon with depression, noting that many people suffering from depression feel helpless as well. His work on the subject provided inspiration, ideas, and evidence to back up many treatments for depressive symptoms, as well as strategies for preventing depression.

While this is impressive enough on its own, Seligman knew that he had more to offer the psychology community and the world at large-in particular, more work on the positive, the uplifting, and the inspiring. After making a name for himself with learned helplessness, he turned his attention to other traits, characteristics, and perspectives that could be learned.

He found what he was looking for in resilience and learned optimism, findings that became the groundwork for his widely administered resilience programs for children and members of the military, among others.

Seligman grew frustrated with psychology's overly narrow focus on the negative; so much attention was paid to mental illness, abnormal psychology, trauma, suffering, and pain, and relatively little attention was dedicated to happiness, wellbeing, exceptionalism, strengths, and flourishing.

When he was elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1998, he jumped at the opportunity to alter the direction of the field from such an influential position. He proposed a new subfield of psychology with a focus on what is life-giving rather than life-depleting. The foundational paper of this new field, positive psychology, was published in 2000 by Seligman and the "founding father" of flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Since 2000, Seligman's call for a greater focus on the positive in life has been answered by thousands of researchers around the world, provoking tens of thousands of studies on positive phenomena and establishing a base for the application of positive principles to coaching, teaching, relationships, the workplace, and every other life domain.

17 Benefits of Positive Psychology

Since you're reading this, you probably already know that Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi's endeavor was wildly successful.

The plethora of projects and papers on positive topics has provided an enormous repository of knowledge on how to encourage ourselves and those around us to live the best lives possible.

It would be impossible to list all of the benefits of positive psychology, but we'll try to give a comprehensive overview of some of the most impactful and influential outcomes of practicing positive psychology.

In general, the greatest potential benefit of positive psychology is that it teaches us the power of shifting one's perspective.

This is the focus of many techniques, exercises, and even entire programs based on positive psychology because a relatively small change in one's perspective can lead to astounding shifts in wellbeing and quality of life. Injecting a bit more optimism and gratitude into your life is a simple action that can give you a radically more positive outlook on life.

Of course, no respected positive psychologist would tell you to think about, act out, and focus on ONLY the positive in life-balance is important. Positive psychology was not established to replace traditional psychology, but to complement it with a positive bias that's just as strong as psychology's negative bias over the last several decades.

Studies and Research

Positive psychology teaches how to harness the power of shifting one's perspective to maximize the potential for happiness in many of our everyday behaviors. For example, each of these findings gives us a concrete idea for improving our own quality of life:

1. People overestimate the impact of money on their happiness by quite a lot. It does have some influence, but not nearly as much as we might think, so focusing less on attaining wealth will likely make you happier (Aknin, Norton, & Dunn, 2009);

2. Spending money on experiences provides a bigger boost to happiness than spending money on material possessions (Howell & Hill, 2009);

3. Gratitude is a big contributor to happiness in life, suggesting that the more we cultivate gratitude, the happier we will be (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005);

4. Oxytocin may provoke greater trust, empathy, and morality in humans, meaning that giving hugs or other shows of physical affection may give you a big boost to your overall wellbeing (and the wellbeing of others; Barraza & Zak, 2009);

5. Those who intentionally cultivate a positive mood to match the outward emotion they need to display (i.e., in emotional labor) benefit by more genuinely experiencing the positive mood. In other words, "putting on a happy face" won't necessarily make you feel happier, but putting in a little bit of effort likely will (Scott & Barnes, 2011);

6. Happiness is contagious; those with happy friends and significant others are more likely to be happy in the future (Fowler & Christakis, 2008);

7. People who perform acts of kindness towards others not only get a boost in wellbeing, they are also more accepted by their peers (Layous, Nelson, Oberle, Schonert-Reichl, & Lyubomirsky, 2012);

8. Volunteering time to a cause you believe in improves your wellbeing and life satisfaction and may even reduce symptoms of depression (Jenkinson et al., 2013);

9. Spending money on other people results in greater happiness for the giver (Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008).

Positive psychology also lends itself to improvements in the workplace; studies from the field have found that:

1. Positive emotions boost our job performance;

2. Positive emotions in the workplace are contagious, which means one positive person or team can have a ripple effect that extends through the entire organization;

3. Small, simple actions can have a big impact on our happiness, meaning that it doesn't take much to encourage your workplace to become a happier and more positive place (Kjerulf, 2016).

One of the benefits of practicing a positive psychological outlook is, to put it broadly, success! Not only does success make us happier, feeling happy and experiencing positive emotions actually increases our chances of success (Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005).

However, don't assume that refusing to brook any encroachment of negative emotions or outlooks will help you reach success. An important finding from positive psychology research is that forcing people who are not naturally optimists to "just think positively" can do more harm than good; unrealistic optimism is detrimental, along with intense pessimism (del Valle & Mateos, 2008; Dillard, Midboe, & Klein, 2009).

Another broad benefit of the positive psychology movement is a more well-defined idea of what "the good life" is.

Renowned positive psychologist Roy F. Baumeister and colleagues took on the challenge of determining what makes a good life, and they found some interesting findings that you can apply to your own life (2013). Their research showed that happiness and a sense of meaning in life do not necessarily go hand-in-hand, indicating that focusing on positive emotions alone will not bring the fulfilling and satisfying life you crave.

Some of their more specific findings included the following:

1. The satisfaction of one's wants and needs boost happiness, but have virtually no impact on meaningfulness; this indicates that focusing on obtaining what you want will increase your happiness, but you may have to supplement to get a deeper sense of meaning.

2. Happiness is present-oriented, rooted in the moment, while meaningfulness is more focused on the past and future and how they link to the present; this finding suggests that you can focus on the present to increase your happiness, but you might consider thinking more about your past and future to find meaning.

3. "Givers" experience more meaning, while "takers" experience more happiness; if you find yourself lacking in meaning, try giving back to others, but if you are lacking in happiness, try being accepting of others' generosity to give yourself a boost.

4. Worry, stress, and anxiety are more likely to be felt by those whose lives are high in meaningfulness and low in happiness; this indicates that you shouldn't get too down about experiencing negative emotions if you have a strong sense of meaning-a little negative emotion can actually be a good thing!

5. An intention to express your authentic self and a sense of strong personal identity are linked to meaning, but not to happiness; if you are searching for meaning, try working on your practice of authenticity.

Findings such as these have given rise to, and are driven by, a number of interesting theories that pepper the positive psychology literature.

Theory and Concepts

The most important thing to understand about positive psychology is that it is indeed science-it is a subfield of psychology, and although it is sometimes derided as a "soft science" or a "pseudoscience," it is still based on the scientific method of evaluating theories based on the evidence.

As University of Michigan professor and positive psychology legend Christopher Peterson put it:

"...positive psychology is not to be confused with untested self-help, footless affirmation, or secular religion-no matter how good these may make us feel. Positive psychology is neither a recycled version of the power of positive thinking nor a sequel to The Secret." (2008)

Peterson goes on to outline the theories and concepts that have resulted from research so far (up to 2008, anyway):

For the most part, most people are happy;

Happiness is one of the causes of the good things in life, and also promotes more happiness;

Most people are pretty resilient;

Happiness, character strengths, and good social relationships act as buffers against disappointments and setbacks;

Crises reveal character;

Other people matter (in terms of what makes life worth living);

Religion matters (and/or spirituality);

Work also matters in terms of making life worth living, as long as we are engaged and draw meaning and purpose from it;

Money has diminishing returns on our happiness after a certain point, but we can buy some happiness by spending money on other people;

Eudaimonia (wellbeing, deeper form of satisfaction than happiness) is more important than hedonism (sole focus on pleasure and positive emotions) for living the good life;

The "heart" matters more than the "head," meaning that things like empathy and compassion are just as important as critical thinking;

Nearly all good days have three things in common: a sense of autonomy, competence, and connection to others;

The good life can be taught.

For an overview of some of the most salient theories and concepts in positive psychology, the website positivepsychology.org.uk offers a great "mind map" of the field here. We'll also cover a couple of the biggest topics later in this piece.

Goals of Positive Psychology (in Coaching)

Applying positive psychology to coaching can be a tricky business, but it is undertaken with the best of intentions and care for others.

In general, the goals of positive psychology in coaching are as follows:

To positively impact the client's life-this goal is above all others, and all others feed indirectly into this goal. The main goal of coaching is to improve the client's life. Positive psychology coaching is no different;

Increase the client's experience of positive emotions;

Help clients identify and develop their strengths and unique talents;

Enhance the client's goal-setting and goal-striving abilities;

Build a sense of hope into the client's perspective;

Cultivate the client's sense of happiness and wellbeing;

Nurture a sense of gratitude in the client;

Help the client build and maintain healthy, positive relationships with others;

Encourage the client to maintain an optimistic outlook;

Help the client learn to savor every positive moment (Mentor Coach, n.d.; Peppercorn, 2014).

You can probably easily see why the first goal is the biggest, and basically subsumes all the other goals. Each of Goals 2 through 10 can be considered milestones on the way to Goal 1-effective techniques and objectives that help the client and coach work their way towards the client's biggest life goals.

An Introduction to the PERMA Model

The PERMA model is a widely recognized and influential model in positive psychology. Seligman proposed this model to help explain and define wellbeing in greater depth.

"PERMA" is an acronym for the five facets of wellbeing according to Seligman:

P - Positive Emotions: Even though seeking positive emotions alone is not a very effective way to boost your wellbeing, experiencing positive emotion is still an important factor. Part of wellbeing is enjoying yourself in the moment, i.e., experiencing positive emotions;

E - Engagement: Having a sense of engagement, in which we may lose track of time and become completely absorbed in something we enjoy and excel at, is an important piece of wellbeing. It's hard to have a developed sense of wellbeing if you are not truly engaged in anything you do;

R - (Positive) Relationships: Humans are social creatures, and we rely on connections with others to truly flourish. Having deep, meaningful relationships with others is vital to our wellbeing;

M - Meaning: Even someone who is deliriously happy most of the time may not have a developed sense of wellbeing if they do not find meaning in their life. When we dedicate ourselves to a cause or recognize something bigger than ourselves, we experience a sense of meaning that there is simply no replacement for;

A - Accomplishment / Achievement: We all thrive when we are succeeding, achieving our goals, and bettering ourselves. Without a drive to accomplish and achieve, we are missing one of the puzzle pieces of authentic wellbeing (Seligman, 2011).

This model gives us a comprehensive framework for understanding wellbeing as well as a foundation for improving wellbeing. If you're looking to enhance your own sense of authentic happiness and wellbeing, all you need to do is focus on:

Experiencing more positive emotions; do more of the things that make you happy, and bring enjoyment into your daily routine;

Working on upping your engagement; pursue hobbies that interest you, develop your skills, and look for a job more suited to your passions, if necessary;

Improve the quality (and/or quantity) of your relationships with others; work on building more positive and supportive relationships with your friends, family, and significant other(s);

Seek out meaning; if you don't find it through your work, look for it in volunteering opportunities, personal hobbies or leisure activities, or acting as a mentor for others;

Keep your focus on achieving your goals-but don't focus too hard; try to keep your ambition in balance with all of the other important things in life (Seligman, 2011).

These five aspects of the PERMA model are measurable, and also vital for an overall sense of wellbeing. This model pushes past the older model of authentic happiness in its consideration of more than just happiness or positive emotions. Of course, positive emotions are important-they're part of the PERMA model itself, after all-but focusing just on positive emotions will not help you to develop a comprehensive sense of wellbeing, including engagement, meaning, success, and positive relationships with others.

Happiness alone will likely not propel you towards flourishing, but wellbeing will.

Meaning of Topics Like Flow and Flourishing

Speaking of flourishing, it's a concept we've touched on in this piece already, but have not yet defined. We've also mentioned the topic of flow, though indirectly, which is an important concept in positive psychology as well.

Understanding these concepts is vital for understanding the field of positive psychology. Read on to learn more about them.

Flourishing

Flourishing is one of the most significant concepts in positive psychology, as it encompasses and extends to so many other positive concepts.

In short, "flourishing" refers to the state we are in when we pay attention to each aspect of the PERMA model and build up a solid sense of wellbeing. We flourish when we cultivate our talents and strengths, develop deep and meaningful relationships, feel pleasure and enjoyment, and make a meaningful contribution to the world.

We flourish when we find fulfillment in life along with achieving more traditional objectives related to success when we are truly living the "good life" (Seligman, 2011).

Positive psychologist and professor Dr. Lynn Soots (n.d.) describes flourishing as the following:

"Flourishing is the product of the pursuit and engagement of an authentic life that brings inner joy and happiness through meeting goals, being connected with life passions, and relishing in accomplishments through the peaks and valleys of life."

Further, Soots emphasizes that flourishing is not a trait, a characteristic, or something you "either have or don't have;" rather, flourishing is a process that requires action. While it might be disappointing that it doesn't come easy, it's encouraging to know that, truly, anyone can flourish!

Flow

Another well-known topic in positive psychology is that of flow.

The concept of flow was first scientifically explored and defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (our second "founding father" of positive psychology).

In the last few decades of the 1900s, Csikszentmihalyi noticed that many artists fell into a particular state while they were working; this state was characterized by a particularly intense focus and great concentration on the task at hand, to the point of losing track of time for hours at a time.

He continued pursuing this topic and noticed it in others as well. Professional athletes, musicians, writers, and people from all sorts of artistic and creative trades frequently reported losing themselves into their work in a similar way. As he gathered more descriptions of this phenomenon, he observed six factors that characterize a flow experience:

1. Intense and focused concentration on the present moment;

2. The merging of action and awareness, or being fully present in your actions;

3. A loss of reflective self-consciousness (lack of attention to the self);

4. A sense of personal control or agency in the situation;

5. A distorted sense of time passing;

6. Experiencing the activity or situation as intrinsically rewarding (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975).

Those who enter into a state of flow are totally immersed in what they're doing. This immersion arises when the challenges of the activity in front of us are significant and roughly equal to our skill at this activity.

When we have high skill and low challenge, we are bored. When we have a high challenge and low skill, we are overwhelmed. When we have "low skill and low challenge," we are apathetic. It is only when both our skill and our challenges are high that we enter into a flow state.

Entering into flow is intrinsically rewarding and often an enjoyable experience; flow also seems to link to greater happiness and wellbeing, more academic (and, subsequently, career) success, and more positive and healthy relationships (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1988).

To learn more about flow, Csikszentmihalyi gave an outstanding TED Talk on the subject.

If the video only piqued your interest, you may want to consider buying Csikszentmihalyi's books on flow:

Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (1998)

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (2008)

Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (2013)

Examples of Positive Psychology in Practice (+PDF)

Now, on to what the practitioners and application-minded people are really here for-how to put positive psychology into practice!

Positive psychology principles and exercises can be applied in several different settings, including therapy, the classroom, the workplace, and in your own home.

Some of the techniques that have proven most useful include:

The use of the experience sampling method (or ESM), also referred to as a daily diary method.

Before the days of smartphones, you would be given a beeper or pager that goes off at random points during the day, alerting you to pause, notice what you were thinking, feeling, and doing at that moment, and writing it all down. This is often used in positive interventions to help people realize how much of their day is actually quite positive.

The practice of keeping a gratitude journal.

A gratitude journal offers individuals a method of identifying and reflecting on all of the good things in their lives-all the things they have to be grateful for. Interventions often involve prompting people to write down three things they are grateful for each day, with the only stipulation being that they need to be different each day. Within a week, many people experience a boost in wellbeing along with an increase in gratitude.

Making a gratitude visit.

A gratitude visit (or letter) is an exercise in which an individual identifies a person to whom he or she is grateful and why; once they have these in mind, they can write a letter to this person expressing and explaining their gratitude.

If the person lives close enough to visit, they are encouraged to drop off the letter in person and visit with them; if not, a phone call, video chat, or simply dropping the letter in the mail can work as well. This exercise provides a significant boost to both gratitude and wellbeing.

Focusing on building personal strengths instead of weaknesses.

One of the most significant differences between many other forms of coaching and counseling and one based in positive psychology is the focus on strengths instead of weaknesses.

Positive psychology is based on the idea that building on our strengths is often a more effective path to success than trying to force excellence in areas we are simply not suited for. In practice, this technique involves identifying one's strengths and working to provide yourself with more opportunities to use them.

Wellbeing therapy.

This holistic approach to therapy is similar to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) but focuses on both promoting the positive and alleviating the negative in the client's life.

It is founded on Carol Ryff's model of wellbeing, which recognizes six facets or factors of wellbeing: mastery of the environment, personal growth, purpose in life, autonomy, self-acceptance, and positive relationships (Harvard Health Publishing, 2008).

Positive psychotherapy.

Positive psychotherapy is similar to wellbeing therapy, but generally packages several techniques and exercises into one treatment. Its focus is on building positive emotions, character strengths, and a sense of meaning in life. Twelve exercises are generally practiced in this form of therapy, including exercises on using your signature strengths, keeping a gratitude journal, making a gratitude visit (Harvard Health Publishing, 2008).

To read more about the power of putting positive psychological principles into practice, check out the aptly titled book, Positive Psychology in Practice, by positive psychologists P. Alex Linley and Stephen Joseph at this link. This book will walk you through the major facets of applying the relevant findings from the positive psychology literature, including:

The applied positive psychology perspective;

Historical and philosophical foundations;

Values and choices in pursuit of the good life;

Lifestyle practices for health and wellbeing;

Methods and processes for teaching and learning;

and positive psychology at work.

For more tools, exercises and techniques of positive psychology, click here for the free eBook with 3 positive exercises.

Criticism of the Movement in Perspective

Although positive psychology has been embraced by much of the psychology community (not to mention much of society at large), there are some common critiques of the movement-many of which have some valid points.

At the 2015 World Conference of Positive Psychology, some of the biggest names in positive psychology discussed a few of these criticisms. Below, we'll outline some of the major criticisms and an evaluation of their merit in today's field.

Research findings are often invalid, overstated, and misleading.

Like any other scientific field, mistakes are sometimes made. This often seems to be due to excitement over the potential of findings in positive psychology; it can be hard to maintain objectivity when you feel a finding has both broad and deep applicability to the real world.

However, this is no excuse for a lack of scientific rigor. While there is a bit more leeway in crossing your "t"s and dotting your "i"s in applied research, positive psychologists must be careful to keep their claims within reason and think critically about the limitations of their methods-there is always a limitation!

Today, positive psychology has overcome some of the initial obstacles and growing pains inherent to a new field. More critical attention is being paid to the research, which gives us all more confidence in the findings.

There is too much emphasis on self-report and cross-sectional survey data.

This is certainly a valid point; much of the positive psychology literature is built on survey data. However, this emphasis on survey data is not exclusive to positive psychology, and positive psychology does not exclusively use surveys. Receiving feedback from those close to an individual is increasingly being utilized to corroborate or compare self-report data to, which increases confidence in data.

Although positive psychology is not alone in this limitation, it is one that positive psychologists should continue to consider when planning, implementing and reviewing research.

Positive psychology has a cultural and ethnocentric bias.

It's true that much of the research in positive psychology has been published by Western scholars, editors, reviewers, and journals. It is also true that positive psychology generally embraces a white, middle-class audience, in which injustice, poverty, and inequality are swept under the rug.

However, this bias seems to have been much over-hyped. Recently, more research from experts in non-Western countries and from a diverse range of backgrounds is being conducted (and published). The recent establishment of the International Positive Psychology Association is one sign of this attempt at broadening the perspective of positive psychology.

The field is too individualistic.

Another valid point is that positive psychology focuses too much on the individual-on personal experiences, individual traits and characteristics, and intrapersonal processes and phenomena. Positive psychology does indeed seem to have an overly narrow focus on the individual and a lack of attention paid to relationships, teams, groups, organizations, and communities.

Some have argued that this focus on individuals leads positive psychology to victim-blame (e.g., "If you can't figure out how to be happy, it's your fault") and excuse those who are contributing to systemic issues (e.g., "It's too hard to make corporations act ethically, so we'll just help you make the best of it.").

Positive psychology is just a promotion of a "Pollyanna" personality type, not an authentic exploration of the good life.

Of the major critiques of positive psychology, this may be one of those with the least merit. Although there is a good deal of research on " Pollyanna " types (happy, bubbly, cheerful, extroverted), that research is by no means representative of the entire field.

As cited earlier, there are studies on the dark side of happiness and optimism and the benefits of thinking pessimistically. There are also myriad studies on people from all across the spectrum of personality, from quiet and successful introverts to boisterous and struggling extroverts, and on the lack of fulfillment and meaning in the lives of some of the most "bubbly" individuals.

On the surface, it may seem that positive psychology is the study of the perpetually happy, but anything more than a cursory look will show you that the field is a rich exploration of all that which makes life good (and a bit of what makes it difficult as well).

Some of the criticisms of the field make excellent points.

Rather than struggling against these points, we should be open to considering them, thinking critically about the health of our field, and coming up with solutions for any big problems.

No field is immune from criticism, nor should it be; a healthy debate and a robust peer review process is what will keep positive psychology theory from lapsing into nothing more than an edict to "be positive" and positive psychology interventions from devolving into self-help material that is based on nothing but opinions or wishful thinking.

7 Other Definitions

Watch this video to find out what Positive Psychology means to The Positive Psychology People ( website) and some of the most influential researchers in the field:

Definition 1:

"Positive psychology is the study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions."

Source: Gable, Shelly L., Haidt, Jonathan, What (and Why) Is Positive Psychology? (PDF), MichaelGeorge.com

Definition 2:

"Positive psychology is the branch of psychology that uses scientific understanding and effective intervention to aid in the achievement of a satisfactory life, rather than merely treating mental illness."

Source: Wikipedia

Definition 3:

"Positive psychology studies what makes life most worth living."

Source: Peterson, Christopher, What is positive psychology and what is it not?

Definition 4:

"Positive Psychology is the scientific study of human flourishing, and an applied approach to optimal functioning. It has also been defined as the study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals, communities, and organisations to thrive."

Source: Positive Psychology Institute.

Definition 5:

"Positive psychology cannot be confined to any dogmas carved in stone, because it is always subject to influences by new creative ideas, pressing human needs, and changing circumstances."

According to Paul Wong, the underlying theme of positive psychology is that life can be made better for all people if certain conditions are met.

Source: Wong, Paul T. P., Wong, Lilian C. J., McDonald, Marvin J., Klaassen, Derrick W., 2012, The Positive Psychology of Meaning and Spirituality

Definition 6:

"Positive psychology is the scientific study of human strengths and virtues."

According to Martin Seligman-who is seen as the founding father of positive psychology-the positive psychology movement can be described as:

"The study of what constitutes the pleasant life, the engaged life, and the meaningful life."

Source: Batthyany, Alexander, Russo-Netzer, Pninit, Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology

Definition 7:

"Positive psychology is the scientific and applied approach to uncovering people's strengths and promoting their positive functioning" (Hugo Alberts).

Or:

"Positive psychology studies what is going right with the human mind and behaviour and how to foster these types of wellbeing on both the macro-, group-, and individual-level" (Seph Fontane Pennock).

Source: PositivePsychology.com

What is Positive Psychology and How Did it Come into Being?

The question "what is wrong with people" has guided the thinking of many researchers and dominated countless scientific studies during the 20th century. It is hard to deny that this entails an important question.

In our attempts to answer the question, we have gained more understanding of many illnesses and have developed effective treatments for a wide range of problems.

However, as an inevitable consequence of our focus on the negative aspects of wellbeing and health, such as distress and disease, we developed an almost exclusive attention to pathology.

We believe that science has focused disproportionately on pathology and repair, and devoted relatively little attention to factors that "make life worth living."

As the 21st century unfolds, however, we are beginning to ask a different question: "What is right about people?"

This question is at the heart of positive psychology, which is the scientific and applied approach to uncovering people's strengths and promoting their positive functioning.

During the past 14 years, the number of scientific studies on positive psychology has increased tremendously. In addition, countless interventions have been developed to increase people's wellbeing.

A Take-Home Message

We hope this article has given you a good understanding of positive psychology-what it is, what it isn't, where it's been, and where it's going.

Positive psychology is a field with a huge potential for improving the lives of people around the world, and many impactful findings have already been discovered.

The bottom line is this: if you want to keep up in the world of coaching, teaching, counseling, therapy, and a dozen other domains, make sure to keep an eye out for what's new in positive psychology!

What are your thoughts on the state of the field? Do you think there are bigger criticisms that are being ignored? Do you think the field is doing a good job at solving the problems it set out to solve? What do you think is the "next big thing" in positive psychology? Please let us know in the comments section below.

Thanks for reading!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free.

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What Is Positive Psychology & Why Is It Important?

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What is positive psychology? This article outlines its importance, definitions, goals, examples, and key concepts of the field. Enjoy!

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Templates, worksheets, and activities to promote improved self-care

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When Tess Kearns began to forget familiar faces and was only able to manage her daily activities with a to-do list - which she was continually losing - she knew that something was wrong.

Thankfully, the cause was not an underlying physical condition; instead, it was behavioral. Tess was approaching burn out.

Managing her two children, setting up a new business, learning additional skills, and keeping up with her mortgage repayments were proving to be too much.

We have all experienced similar times in our lives, and burnout is real.

Irritability, drinking to feel better, trouble sleeping, headaches, and a lack of energy are all early signs that you are heading toward a meltdown (Salvagioni et al., 2017).

The Mayo Clinic describes burnout as physical and mental exhaustion, often associated with a loss of identity and the sense that we are not accomplishing anything.
So, how do you stop? How do you take care of yourself?
In this article, we explore a wellness tool that helps you regain control and focus on your busy life. The Self-Care Wheel is a positive psychology tool for supporting a balanced life while maximizing potential.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Self-Compassion Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will not only help you increase the compassion and kindness you show yourself, but also give you the tools to help your clients, students, or employees show more compassion to themselves.

What Is the Self-Care Wheel?

Work, parenting, education, and relationships are all sources of stress.

Research over the last two decades has confirmed the severe impact of our failure to handle situations in which we find ourselves.

Indeed, chronic stress at work is recognized by:

Overwhelming exhaustion

Lack of commitment

Negative attitudes

Dissatisfaction with performance

Self-care can help, but it needs to be planned, acted upon, and practiced (Myers, Sweeney, & Witmer, 2000; Windey, Craft, & Mitchell, 2019).

What is wellness?

Healthy people strive towards growth, self-actualization, and excellence; it's a natural, universal tendency (Maslow, 1970).

But all of us, at times, need help to get and stay there.

Wellness is about maintaining mental and physical fitness and having enough energy to meet occupational and personal commitments. The Global Wellness Institute (n.d.) describes it as " the active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health. "

Wheel of Wellness

In 2000, psychologists Jane Myers, Thomas Sweeney, and Melvin Witmer were concerned about deaths occurring in the U.S. as a result of poor lifestyle choices. They suggested an important shift in emphasis, from a disease and illness model to one of wellness and health.

In response, they created a tool called The Wheel of Wellness to help achieve a life defined by optimal health and wellbeing, " in which body, mind, and spirit are integrated by the individual to live more fully within the human and natural community " (Myers et al., 2000).

The wheel is a pictorial representation of wellness. Each spoke depicts an interrelated set of tasks that interact with the life forces affecting your life, including:

Wellness wheels remain accessible and helpful in the promotion of wellbeing.

Clarion University, for example, encourages students to use a copy of their wheel as part of their wellness program. Students are asked to consider how they manage their health in each of the following areas of their lives:

Emotional health - managing stress, sufficient sleep, staying on top of work, seeking therapy

Intellectual health - staying curious, learning new things, reading, joining clubs, enhancing intellectual interests

Physical health - sufficient exercise, balanced nutrition, preventative medical care

Social health - robust social network offering guidance and reducing stress

Environmental health - caring for surroundings, avoiding clutter, recycling and volunteering for environmental initiatives

Financial health - living within financial means, creating a budget

Spiritual health - understanding the beliefs and values that shape who you are and guide your life

Recent research into healthcare has confirmed the value of the wellness wheel in promoting wellness and good health in nurses and, subsequently, better treatment of patients (Windey et al., 2019).

The Self-Care Wheel

The Self-Care Wheel is similar to the Wellness Wheel and provides a structure for identifying and nourishing areas where you are either failing, surviving, or thriving.

The most widely used assessment wheel, created by the Olga Phoenix Project, is based on the work of Karen Saakvitne and Laurie Pearlman (described in Transforming the Pain: A Workbook on Vicarious Traumatization; 1996).

The Olga Phoenix Self-Care Wheel consists of two sheets, each containing a set of six dimensions placed on the outside rim of the wheel, including:

Each dimension represents an area of your life that, ideally, deserves daily attention.

The first sheet contains a suggested list of topics, placed between the spokes of the wheel below the relevant dimension. Each item is an inspiration or a prompt to take an action that promotes nurture in that area.

The second wheel is left blank for personalization.

A therapist or coach typically supplies both sheets to a client, but there may be times (to avoid bias) where only the blank sheet is given.

Templates, Worksheets, and Useful PDFs

The Self-Care Wheel provides a useful starting point and ongoing focus for your self-care activities.

However, it is essential to make the wheel personal and to document follow-up actions that address dimensions negatively impacting your wellbeing.

Self-Care Wheel

Download Olga Phoenix's free starter kit for a copy of the Self-Care Wheel.

Creating a Self-Care Vision Board

PositivePsychology.com's Self-Care Vision Board is particularly well suited to practicing self-care and completing a blank copy of the wheel.

Download the tool for free as part of our Self-Compassion Exercises Pack.

The Self-Care Vision Board exercise is a positive and practical way for you to personalize the list of items under each dimension (physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, personal, and professional).

It consists of four steps:

1. Brainstorm self-care activities.

2. Collect positive images for the vision board.

3. Collect positive words and phrases for the vision board.

4. Build the vision board.

Additional self-care resources from PositivePsychology.com

Committing to taking care of yourself is one of the most effective ways to make self-care a lifelong priority. Use the My Self-Care Promise template to help clients formalize their commitment in the form of a contract.

The following exercises and downloads offer useful guidance for specific activities listed under each dimension:

Implementing the wheel as part of overall self-care

The Self-Care Wheel is one part of a more extensive process on your journey to wellbeing and can be embedded in the following three steps:

Step 1 - Assess

Identify areas that require additional attention for your self-care and are necessary for the completion of the Self-Care Wheel.

Step 2 - Plan

Plan to transform those areas of your life that are currently failing, or surviving, into ones that are thriving.

ReachOut provides a practical guide for developing a self-care plan along with a free downloadable template.

Step 3 - Implement

A plan has no value unless acted upon.

Schedule the actions that implement your self-care.

Commit to yourself that you will perform the steps and that you are worthy of self-care.

Share the plan with someone close, who will provide support and encouragement.

Self-Care Activities by the Domains of the Wheel

The Self-Care Wheel identifies actions and activities to perform - or a set of conditions to be met - that contribute to the wellbeing of each of your dimensions and your overall wellness.

For example, your spiritual dimension can be nurtured through yoga, self-forgiveness, and nature, while your psychological state will benefit from self-awareness, relaxation, and a focus on positive qualities.

Review each of the following sections for a list of activities that nurture or nourish the six dimensions of your Self-Care Wheel.

Note that these are suggestions. Some actions may be more or less appropriate and can be added to or removed from your list.

The list is modified from the Self-Care Wheel created by Olga Phoenix but also contains links to articles within PositivePsychology.com to further your understanding and provide additional guidance.

Other useful advice and practical tips are available from the University of California and Princeton University.

Self-care activities for your physical domain

Your physical health is vital to your overall wellbeing, And, according to the American Nurses Association, it is not only the absence of disease, but also lifestyle choices that avoid preventable illnesses, maintaining a balanced mind, body, and spirit.

Things you can do to nurture yourself:

Consider putting in place:

Self-care activities for your psychological domain

Psychological wellbeing is crucial to not only your state of mind, but also your physical health. According to the American Psychological Association, psychological wellbeing involves being both happy and content, with low levels of distress, good mental health, and quality of life.

Things you can do to nurture yourself:

Consider putting in place:

Self-care activities for your emotional domain

Emotional wellness can be described as understanding and being aware and comfortable with your feelings, and being able to express emotions constructively.

Things you can do to nurture yourself:

Consider putting in place:

Self-care activities for your spiritual domain

Spiritual wellness has a different meaning for each of us. Typically, it is about having values and beliefs that provide meaning to your life and having the opportunity and motivation to align your behavior to them.

Things you can do to nurture yourself:

Consider putting in place:

Self-care activities for your personal domain

Being engaged intellectually and at a profoundly personal level in your actions, environment, and social group is likely to promote growth and wellbeing in your personal domain.

Things you can do to nurture yourself:

Consider putting in place:

Self-care activities for your professional domain

Wellbeing in the professional domain is most likely when your work and studies leave you feeling fulfilled, while you continue to grow, learn, and make meaningful contributions.

Things you can do to nurture yourself:

Consider putting in place:

A Look at Popular Self-Care Apps

Headspace

Headspace is a top-rated, subscription-based app that provides a mental wellbeing program for individuals and teams along with support for mindfulness meditations.

Find it in the App Store or Google Play.

Anxiety Solution: Calmer You

This subscription-based app, based on The Anxiety Solution by Chloe Brotheridge, provides an anxiety toolkit, covering practices to help you focus on self-care, overcome anxiety and worry, practice mindfulness, and improve your sleep.

Find it in the App Store.

Grateful

Grateful offers tools to help you manage anxiety, stress, and work through worries. Use the tools included to calm your mind and balance your body.

Find it in the App Store.

Gratitude

Use the Gratitude app to capture the things in your life for which you are grateful and focus attention on the positive things in life.

Find it in the App Store or Google Play.

A Take-Home Message

Balance in life is crucial.

When you have it, you can divide your time and energy across all areas of your being, ensuring an appropriate focus on family, learning, spirituality, career, etc. while nurturing overall wellness.

However, when balance falters, parts of your life remain unnourished. They begin to fail, impacting other areas and your overall wellbeing. You begin to burn out.

If you step back and look at your life, you can see the warning signals - overeating, over-drinking, lethargy, stress, irritability - all are signals that change is needed.

And yet, if you recognize the signals, then you can do something about them.

Firstly, download the Self-Care Wheel, and along with some of the other tools introduced, identify and document the actions and steps that will help you find balance and ultimately lead you to flourish in life.

You may not have time or resources to play out all the actions or put in place every condition, but be realistic. Plan how you are going to perform the activities that are going to give you the big wins. Once they are in place, you can begin to find other ways to include the smaller, complementary, positive changes in your life.

You have what it takes to make your life more complete, but it takes self-care.

Perhaps most surprisingly, the crucial takeaway is not that you have the potential to put in place a routine of self-care, but that you deserve it.

So, what's stopping you? Use the Self-Care Wheel to take stock, regain focus, and take control of your busy, precious life.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our Self-Compassion Exercises for free.
You, like the rest of us, are worth investing in.

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The Self-Care Wheel: Wellness Worksheets, Activities & PDF

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The self-care wheel is the perfect tool to identify actions and steps to help you find balance and ultimately lead you to flourish in life.

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Positive Psychology Resources (Therapist Aid)

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Positive Psychology Resources (Therapist Aid)

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Check out several great worksheets and prompt cards available for free download

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Search Therapist Aid for worksheets, guides, videos, and other psychotherapy tools.

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19 Most Practical Positive Psychology Worksheets, Activities and Techniques

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19 Most Practical Positive Psychology Worksheets, Activities and Techniques

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Explore this awesome resource!

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What do you do when you are not reaching your goals? Who can you turn to if everything in your life is pretty good, but something seems to be missing?

You know that you want more or can do more, but you cannot put your finger on what that is. You have read about flow and mindfulness. People talk about getting "gritty" and practicing self-compassion.

Twenty plus years ago, people did not have the option to visit with a therapist who focused on these questions or concepts. This is the purview of positive psychology. Now, practitioners, coaches, teachers, social workers, and other professionals have access to an abundance of research-backed material to help people thrive and flourish.

Throughout this article, we share 19 resources that you can use with your clients. If you are not a coach or mental health professional, but still want to explore what positive psychology offers, you also can use these resources.

One of the significant aspects of positive psychology is its focus on what is going well and how to get more of that in your life. You can accomplish this alone and with a mental health provider.

Using Positive Psychology in Therapy

The primary purpose of psychotherapy is to help a person work through their blocks. These blocks could be the result of negative behaviors or thinking patterns. They also could develop from dysfunctional relationships with others. Whatever the cause, therapists work with the person to resolve issues. The common element is that the issues negatively affect the person's well-being.

The purpose of positive psychology is to help people flourish. It is an investigation of what makes life worth living (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The approach is useful and beneficial for a wide variety of life circumstances.

There are many different positive psychology techniques and tools used by therapists. A central theme in the approach is to allow space for the person to trust that the answers they seek are within. The person is the expert about themselves, not the therapist.

Several years ago, Martin Seligman, one of the founding fathers of positive psychology, explained how to use positive psychology in a therapeutic relationship. He described positive psychology as a "supplement" to traditional therapy (PsychotherapyNet, 2009). Seligman points out that conventional therapy is compatible with positive psychology techniques.

Therapist and coach Robert Biswas-Diener (2010) developed a Positive Diagnosis System. This system is a checklist, much like the traditionally used Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

The Positive Diagnosis System helps a therapist work more effectively with their clients. Biswas-Diener defined five axes to guide the therapist-client/coachee interaction.

In his book titled, Practicing Positive Psychology Coaching: Assessment, Activities, & Strategies for Success, he outlines a variety of tools for each axis. For instance, he suggests the Satisfaction with Life Scale for assessing well-being. For the future orientation axis, Biswas-Diener recommends using the Adult Hope Scale.

Another area to explore is universal assessments (UA). These are the judgments we make about the universe as a whole (Clifton, 2013). We express these in our words and behaviors. For example, if you often say or share a particular quote, chances are it shows a UA that is important to you.

In the play, Auntie Mame, Mame says, " Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death! " What do you think is a UA she believes about the universe? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

As a therapist, you can work with clients to identify their UAs. Then, the client can figure out how their UAs affect their daily life. Some might serve them well, while others keep them from achieving their goals.

Commonly Asked Questions

The most frequently asked question is, " What is positive psychology?" followed by, " Does it really work? "

Positive psychology is a well-researched area with more than twenty years of exploration. Researchers study everything from how to increase one's well-being to how to be more resilient. If you want to become a more compassionate person or experience flow, there is evidence-based research showing you how. If you want to live more fully and flourish, then a positive psychology approach can help you do that.

When people ask the second question, "it" means the tools and techniques. For example, does loving-kindness meditation make a person more compassionate? Does savoring help a person appreciate the little things more?

An excellent resource for an introduction to positive psychology research is Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness and Flourishing. Authors Compton and Hoffman (2013) discuss a wide range of topics, including:

Introduction to positive psychology (dimensions, scope, themes, history)

Foundations: Emotion, motivation, and the nature of well-being

Subjective well-being

Leisure, flow, mindfulness, and peak performance

Love and well-being

Positive health

Excellence, aesthetics, creativity, and genius

Well-being across the lifespan

Optimal well-being

Religion, spirituality, and well-being

Positive institutions and cultural well-being

The future of positive psychology

This book answers the above questions and many more. After you get acquainted with the general field of positive psychology, consider exploring the following publication.

Positive Neuropsychology: Evidenced-based Perspectives on Promoting Cognitive Health (2013) - Editor John J. Randolph put together a useful resource covering:

Positive Psychology as Social Change (2011) - Editor Robert Biswas-Diener's central question is, " How can we use positive psychology to affect lasting, worldwide change that benefits everyone? " The collection of essays and research answers this question in sections discussing:

Public Policy,

Poverty,

Organizations,

Focusing on others,

Social change interventions, and;

Changing the world.

Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Positive Psychology: The Seven Foundations of Well-being (2013) - Editors Todd B. Kashdan and Joseph Ciarroch share the knowledge of several thought leaders in this arena.

There is something for everyone who has an interest in mindfulness and acceptance.

The Positive Organization: Breaking Free from Conventional Cultures, Constraints, and Beliefs (2015) - Author Robert E. Quinn gives practical advice about how to build and sustain a positive culture. He discusses the conventional mental map that hinders progress and change.

To him, this is an organization that believes hierarchy and control are the keys to success. This, he argues, creates more constraints. The goal is to build positive mental maps.

By this Robert Quinn means, creating a culture in which people " flourish and exceed expectations." This mental map assumes that people are capable, full of potential, and eager. It is a short read at 116 pages. Each chapter concludes with actions and reader insights that allow you to internalize the material better.

For practitioners, there also is Positive Psychotherapy: Clinician Manual (2018) by Tayyab Rashid with Martin Seligman. The first part of the book covers what positive psychotherapy is and is not. You also learn about interventions and theoretical assumptions. Symptoms, strengths, practices, and processes are introduced. The second part includes 15 session-by-session practices.

Each of these books covers a wide range of questions you may have about positive psychology. Feel free to leave your question in the comments if it is not answered.

Popular Techniques Used in Positive Psychology

Character Strengths Interventions by Ryan Niemiec is a fabulous resource.

Filled with a variety of research-backed activities, you are sure to find something that meets your needs.

Niemiec invites you to reproduce the tools for personal or client use. Here are some of what awaits you:

Mental subtraction is imagining your life without one of your key strengths. The purpose of this activity is to help us appreciate our strengths more. It boosts happiness and well-being (Niemiec, 2018).

Visualize how you use the strength now. Be detailed. Imagine what your life would be like if you did not use that strength. For example, if a key strength for you is curiosity, how would your day-to-day life be different without it? How would its absence affect your relationships or work?

Life Summary is an opportunity to write how you want others to remember you. Specifically, how would you want your grandchildren to remember you? What stories do you want them to hear about you? Write a short paragraph, then set it aside for a few days. When you review it, what character strengths surface? Are these evident in your day-to-day life now? If not, what changes can you make so that they are?

When was the last time you thought about what matters most to you? For this activity, you imagine what a specific area of your life will look like six months or one year in the future. You can choose an area that is already strong or one that is not. Visualize how that area will be better or stronger.

Create an intention that focuses your energy on that area. For example, you could improve your health, complete a degree, or become more efficient at work. Using your top five strengths, make a list of how each one can help you fulfill your intention. Now you have five different plans to get you closer to what matters most to you.

The Three Good Things exercise boosts gratitude. It helps us appreciate the little things in our daily interactions (Niemiec, 2018). At the end of your day, write down three things that went well and why. Do this for one week.

Research supports that doing this once per week makes a person happier when compared to three times per week (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005). The point is this: If you want to increase your happiness, practice gratitude beyond saying, "Thank you."

Active Constructive Responding teaches the value of listening to and engaging with others. It is a powerful way to build rapport. The exercise invites participants to learn a more productive way to give feedback. The technique is non-threatening and easy-to-understand. It was developed initially by Shelly Gable (2004; 2006; 2010).

This activity gives participants time to hone their new skills in a group setting. Divide the group with some assigned as interviewers and the others as interviewees. The interviewers receive instructions to respond to their interviewee's positive story in one of four ways:

1. Active-constructive - Engaged, asking questions, maintaining eye contact, orienting body toward the speaker

2. Active-destructive - Engaged, responding negatively or pointing out the downside to the person's experience, minimize the importance of the event

3. Passive-constructive - Little to no engagement, react positively, but not very interested, low enthusiasm, no elaboration on the person's statements

4. Passive-destructive - Orient body away from the person slightly, show little to no interest, break eye contact, change the subject, talk about yourself

This exercise is part of the Positive Psychology Toolkit available through this site. It includes detailed instructions, reference materials, and advice for its use. For more reading, have a look at our post on Character Strength examples.

A Look at Using Positive Psychology with Kids

Magyar-Moe and colleagues (2015) discuss the inclusion of several positive psychological constructs in more familiar treatment approaches. These include emotional regulation, positive emotions, and strengths integrated into cognitive-behavioral play therapy, positive behavioral support (PBS), and positive family intervention (PFI).

They also highlight the Penn Resiliency Program (PRP). The purpose of this program is to " increase resiliency in children and youth by coping with common, daily stressors " (Magyar-Moe et al. 2015). The 12-week program incorporates role-plays, games, cartoons, and stories. PRP uses Ellis' ABC model to increase the use of cognitive skills to build resiliency. According to the authors, PRP accomplishes the following:

Decreased cognitions related to depression and negative thoughts, and;

Reduced symptoms of depression.

Their review also includes the effects of several specific interventions. They are:

"Mighty Me" - This technique teaches a child to externalize their concern. Doing this allows the child to gain control over it because they see the matter as outside of themselves.

"Circle of Friends" - This is a peer group intervention used to increase social acceptance of children with special needs.

Writing a gratitude letter and delivering it. This helped children who had a low positive affect.

Writing five things for which they were grateful every day for two weeks led to reports of greater well-being, and;

Drawing pictures of their best possible selves increased global self-esteem.

CoVitality, a " model and measure of positive mental health for children and adolescents" (Magyar-Moe et al. 2015), is a counterbalance to the traditional comorbidity approach. Developed by researchers at The University of California Santa Barbara, the model is strengths-based. It comprises four self-schema:

1. Emotional competence

2. Engaged living

3. Belief-in-self

4. Belief-in-other

Here is an introduction to the CoVitality framework.

A study by Boman and colleagues (2017) found that CoVitality is a strong predictor of well-being and depression. They also noted that focusing on one or two of the constructs is not as effective as the four combined. They suggest that high school interventions should focus on all four constructs.

4 Positive Psychology Based Activities for Children

Some activities are more effective with children and adolescents than others.

This is because of their age and development. With this in mind, here are a few to consider using.

A gratitude jar is a fun way to track the experiences about which we are grateful. This is a useful project for young or old. You will need a jar or canister, supplies to decorate it, and blank slips of paper. At the end of each day, write down three things or experiences on three separate slips of paper. Be sure to include why you feel grateful for each one and then place it inside the jar. If you want, read these once per week alone or with your child.

Author and mindfulness expert, Chris Bergstrom and his young son created a fun activity involving music. Select a series of songs that your child or students like. Decide which sounds, emotions, or other cues you want them to pay attention to. Only pick one or two. Every time they hear the cue, they give a thumbs up and get a point. For example, you can have them look out for:

a feeling like sadness, joy, or anxiousness

a specific sound like drumming

a specific instrument

a word that's repeated

This teaches children to focus, be mindful of sounds and heightens their sensory awareness.

Use the Take 5 exercise to teach emotion regulation and learn how to measure it here. Instruct the child to place one hand on their lap, table, or another surface with fingers spread apart. Use the pointer finger of the other hand to trace each digit of the resting hand. As their pointer finger moves up the outside of the thumb, the child inhales. As the finger runs down the inside of the thumb, the child exhales.

Repeat this pattern with each finger. When the child finishes one cycle, ask how they feel compared to before they started. A modified version of this for teens and adults is to form a fist. Extend one finger at a time. Complete one full breath cycle (inhaling/exhaling) and then extend another finger. Do this until you release each finger.

Bergstrom has 147 other ideas for you to try in his book, The Ultimate Mindfulness Activity Book.

Understanding one's purpose can begin in adolescence. Researchers Timothy Reilly and William Damon (Froh & Parks, 2013) created a thought-provoking activity using interviews as a jumping-off point. The Brief Purpose Interview includes ten questions. They are:

1. What is important to you? What do you care about? What matters to you?

2. How do you spend your time?

3. What do you want to be different about the world?

4. What could you do to make the world like that?

5. Can you rank the different values and goals you have talked about in order of importance?

6. Why is one value or goal more important than others?

7. How do you show that (goal or value) is important?

8. How long has this (goal or value) been important to you?

9. How do you plan on continuing to be involved in (goal or value), and for how long?

10. How does (goal or value) influence your life?

The first six questions help the interviewee identify things that are important to them. The last four questions focus on the values or goals the interviewee shared in the beginning. Use the latter questions for each goal or value identified by the interviewee. While the interview happens, the interviewer creates a mind map for the interviewee. This is shared with the interviewee so that adjustments can be made if needed.

5 Useful Assessments, Tests and Questionnaires

The first suggestions are from Ryan Niemiec's book, Character Strengths Interventions: A field guide for practitioners.

The VIA Character Strengths Survey is the go-to survey to assess character. Each question reveals the strengths a person uses most often, when necessary, and not as often. The beauty of this assessment is its recognition that everyone has the 24-character strengths in varying degrees. We can choose to "flex" some and not others. We also can choose to develop our top five or our bottom five further.

Created by leading researchers, the survey is suitable for youth and adults and is available in many languages. Several populations report enjoying the strengths-focus of the VIA survey, including veterans and people with mental illness (Niemiec, 2018).

The youth version of the VIA Character Strengths survey is appropriate for youth aged 10 -17. It consists of a series of questions to help the young person discover their top five strengths. Those who are under the age of 13 need parental consent.

Character Strengths 360 is like the more traditional 360-degree feedback. The client gives a list, including descriptions, of the 24 strengths to 10 or more people who know them. The people do not need to know the person well. They complete the form by selecting 5-7 strengths they see in the client.

After receiving the feedbacks, the client compares the observations with their VIA results. At this point, the person looks for three things:

Strong signature strengths - What strengths match your survey results?

Possible blind spots - What did others see that you did not?

Potential opportunities - What did you see about yourself that others did not?

The Satisfaction with Life Scale - This widely used tool helps a person establish a baseline of well-being. It also can provide insights into how a person's well-being changes over time. The Likert-type scale is from 1-7 with 1 being " strongly disagree," and 7 the opposite extreme. Scoring ranges from 7 for "strongly agree" to 1 for "strongly disagree." The scale is brief and only includes the following five statements:

Sum the scores. A score of 20 is neutral, so anything above this indicates more satisfaction. "Normal" scores are from 21 to 25 (Biswas-Diener, 2010).

As a clinician or coach, you can use follow-up questions to assist the person to identify areas of growth. Biswas-Diener offers several suggestions like:

How have your ideals changed?

Which areas of your life are going well?

What are the things you've gotten that you most value?

The Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) - Using this scale is a way to gauge a person's emotional state. This can be a "one and done" activity or something employed at various points in the relationship. Ed and Robert Biswas-Diener (2010) created it as a basic way to see how your client is functioning in the moment.

It measures positive, negative, and affect balance. On a scale of 1 (very rarely or never) to 5 (very often or always), the person assesses their feelings as:

Scores for positive or negative feelings can range from 6 to 30. For positive feelings, add the scores for the following items: positive, good, pleasant, happy, joyful, and contented.

Do the same for the negative feelings: negative, bad, unpleasant, sad, afraid, and angry. To arrive at an affect balance score, subtract the negative feelings score from the positive feelings score. This can range from -24 to 24.

There are many different assessments, tests, and questionnaires available to therapists and others. The books referenced throughout this article are a great starting point for identifying the best ones.

4 Positive Psychology Worksheets Every Helping Professional Needs

Many of the assessments mentioned above are available in worksheet format.

In fact, Biswas-Diener (2010) and Niemiec (2018) encourage reprinting their material for use with your clients.

Some of the more popular worksheets include:

Self-eulogy created by Lucinda Poole and Hugo Alberts. This exercise asks you to consider your values from the perspective of others. How would they speak about you at your funeral? What values surface? Next, you assess how well you are living a life consistent with your values.

Choice Point, an activity created by Lucinda Poole, teaches how to gain more freedom in the behaviors we choose.

First, name the challenge.

Second, identify the hooks (thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations related to the situation.)

Third, what strengths or skills can help you stay true to your values?

Fourth, what behaviors move you away from your goal?

Fifth, what behaviors move you closer to your goal?

The last step is to make a choice. This is your choice point.

A creative and fun way to think about values is through the Value-Tattoo activity. Developed by Hugo Alberts, clients consider what tattoo (or piece of artwork) they would get and why. From this, the person analyzes their response to identify a central theme.

For example, a sunflower might represent happiness, positivity, or growth in life. We will choose growth as the theme. Next, the person reflects on whether the theme (growth) connects to a life value. If it does, then maybe the person values learning. If this is true, how is the person currently living that value?

Sometimes we allow people into our inner circle whose influence is almost always bad. They are a giant wave slamming into us, knocking us down, pulling us under, and dragging us farther from our goals. It can be challenging to manage these relationships. What if the person is a parent, sibling, or spouse? Learning how to manage toxic relationships is the focus of an exercise created by Lucinda Poole and Hugo Alberts.

There are seven steps. The first is simple. Make a list of up to five relationships you find challenging. List the person's name and their relationship to you. Next, explain why the relationship is toxic. The exercise includes several examples like:

The person makes me feel unsafe.

I feel nervous and on guard around the person.

The person is manipulative or conniving.

List all that apply. After you define what makes the relationships polluted, choose the one that is causing you the most stress. Write their name down and then list all the ways you, directly and indirectly, engage with this person.

Examples of direct engagement are, emailing, talking on the phone, texting, physical contact, etc. Examples of indirect time devoted to the person are thoughts about and feeling upset over the person/relationship.

After compiling a list of all the behaviors that connect you with that person, determine what it costs you. Are you losing sleep? Is it interfering with work or family life? Is it interrupting your studies? Does it cost you money? Identify all the costs. It is important to know exactly how much this relationship messes with your well-being.

Now that you have a clear picture of the costs, you need to decide the best way to manage the relationship. You could do nothing, take a step back, or leave it. You are the only person who can decide which option is most workable for you.

The last step is to take action. If you decided to end the relationship, then review the direct and indirect ways you devote energy to it. Write down all the possible things you could do to support your decision to end it. You also can do this if you decide to take a step back.

If you choose to do nothing, it is still useful to review your reasons for why the relationship is toxic and how you are devoting time to it. Doing so can help you in the event you decide to either take a step back or leave it.

The Positive Psychology Toolkit includes many more exercises you could find useful for you or your clients. They have been researched and created by experts in the field of psychology.

Have you explored the toolkit? If so, which exercises do you recommend?

A Take-Home Message

Positive psychology is a growing field garnering attention from therapists worldwide.

Many of the tools and practices influence the actions of leaders within organizations large and small. Anyone, from 4-years-old to 100+-years-old can benefit from the variety of evidenced-based resources available.

It is never too late to experience an increase in one's sense of well-being, to become more resilient, or experience flow. These are just three benefits of infusing positive psychology practices into a therapeutic relationship.

How are you using positive psychology to inform your practice? If you are not a mental health provider, how are positive psychology practices helping you? Let us know in the comments. We enjoy hearing from you! Thank you for reading.

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19 Most Practical Positive Psychology Worksheets, Activities and Techniques

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What do you do when you are not reaching your goals? Who can you turn to if everything in your life is pretty good, but something seems to be missing? You know that you want more or can do more, but you cannot put your finger on what that is.

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Join Alyssa as she walks you through a simple body scan activity that can bring about calmness and help you ground yourself to the here and now!

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Brandi will go over an exercise on identifying coping skills. Get creative and have some fun in making your own cope cake.

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Studies show that people who practice gratitude daily,  experience more positive emotions, are more satisfied with life and experience fewer negative emotions including anxiety and envy. -Positive Psychology. Com

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The effects of exercise on positive psychology

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The effects of exercise on positive psychology

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Something cool!

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Ever wondered what positive effects #exercise has on your psychological #wellbeing ?

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Ever wondered what positive effects #exercise has on your psychological #wellbeing ? https://t.co/bNpqfBkhFl

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Ever wondered what positive effects #exercise has on your psychological #wellbeing ? pic.twitter.com/bNpqfBkhFl
— Let's Get Moving (@LGM_ukactive) March 16, 2018

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Ever wondered what positive effects #exercise has on your psychological #wellbeing ? https://t.co/bNpqfBkhFl

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Ever wondered what positive effects #exercise has on your psychological #wellbeing ? https://t.co/bNpqfBkhFl

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Ever wondered what positive effects #exercise has on your psychological #wellbeing ?

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NYSTART Region 5: Soles of the feet meditation

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NYSTART Region 5: Soles of the feet meditation

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Soles of the Feet meditation was developed for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities to assist them in managing their emotions more effectively.

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NYSTART Region 5: Soles of the feet meditation

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NC START West: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Ground Yourself

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NC START West: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Ground Yourself

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Join Lisa in learning another neat method to help ground yourself when feeling heightened emotions. This is a method you can literally use no matter where you may be.

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The VIA Survey

The VIA (Values in Action) Character Strengths survey is a simple, self-assessment tool that helps individuals determine their top signature strengths out of a list of 24 character strengths that are valued in almost every culture.

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The VIA (Values in Action) Character Strengths survey is a simple, self-assessment tool that helps individuals determine their top signature strengths out of a list of 24 character strengths that are valued in almost every culture.

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Visible Wellbeing Free e-Program Downloads

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Visible Wellbeing Free e-Program Downloads

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Visible Wellbeing Free e-Program Downloads

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You're four minutes away from being more calm.

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Hear some great advice and practical steps from our NC START West Resource Counselors on how we can be healthy, maintain a positive outlook, and have a little fun!

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Get your day going with the Resource Center!

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Take a few minutes to help calm your mind. Olivia will help you walk through the steps of deep breathing, that helps your body relax and puts your mind at ease.

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Join Laura to learn a quick exercise that can help you self soothe when experiencing increased levels of anxiety, feeling upset, etc.

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NYSTART Region 5: Progressive Muscle Relaxation

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NYSTART Region 5: Progressive Muscle Relaxation

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Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a deep relaxation technique that has been effectively used to control stress and anxiety, relieve insomnia, and reduce symptoms of certain types of chronic pain.

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NYSTART Region 5: Progressive Muscle Relaxation

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Set healthy goals for yourself each day! Morgan will guide you through a few simple yoga routines!