Positivity

Zusatztext "Written by one of the most influential contributors to this new perspective in science! Positivity provides a wonderful synthesis of what positive psychology has accomplished in the first decade of its existence. It is full of deep insights about human behavior as well as useful suggestions for how to apply them in everyday life." Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi! Ph.D.! author of Flow "Positively wonderful! Offers surefire methods for transforming our lives from so-so to joyous." - Daniel Goleman! author of Emotional Intelligence " Positivity is literally the feel-good book of the year! providing a scientifically sound prescription for joy! health! and creativity. Read one to two chapters daily as needed or until grumpiness subsides." Daniel Gilbert! professor of psychology! Harvard University! and author of Stumbling on Happiness "Barbara Fredrickson is the genius of the positive psychology movement." - Martin E. P. Seligman! Ph.D.! author of Authentic Happiness Informationen zum Autor Barbara L. Fredrickson, PhD Klappentext World renowned researcher Dr. Barbara Fredrickson gives you the lab-tested tools necessary to create a healthier, more vibrant, and flourishing life through a process she calls "the upward spiral." You'll discover: • What positivity is, and why it needs to be heartfelt to be effective • The ten sometimes surprising forms of positivity • Why positivity is more important than happiness • That your own sources of positivity are unique and how to tap into them • How to calculate your current positivity ratio, track it, and improve it With Positivity, you'll learn to see new possibilities, bounce back from setbacks, connect with others, and become the best version of yourself.Chapter 1 Waking Up to Positivity One's own self is well hidden from one's own self: Of all mines of treasure, one's own is the last to be dug up. Friedrich Nietzsche TAKE 1 The morning sun streams through your bedroom window and wakes you from a fitful night's sleep. After a long string of gray and rainy days, you appreciate seeing blue sky. But soon enough you realize the alarm didn't go off. You're disappointed because you've been meaning to wake up extra early so you can have time to yourself before the kids wake up and the morning race begins. With what little time there is, you decide to skip your planned exercise routine, spend some more time in bed, and write in your journal. You write, I can't believe I let myself down again by forgetting to set my alarm. How am I ever going to take charge of my days (and my life!) if I can't make this simple change? Without exercise, I'm going to feel like a slug today. Ugh. I'd better focus on why I write in this journal in the first place: to think about my larger goals and connect them to what I do each day. Is this really working? Is it worth my time when I could be sleeping? What I really should be doing with this extra time is checking for fires on e- mail or reviewing my ridiculously long to- do list. Isn't our water bill past due? Where is it anyway? At this point you close your journal, get out of bed, go to your computer, and open your e- mail. Sure enough, you find that your co- worker, Sharon, needs input from you before she can submit her proposal, and she needs it by this afternoon. You'll be stuck spending at least part of your morning preparing forms for her. Feeling angry at her imposition, you open the next e-mail to see that the project you spearheaded received preliminary approval and you've got forty- eight hours to make a final set of revisions. Fortyeight hours! you say out loud. Am I supposed to drop everything to make these revisions? How am I going to fit this in? The nanosecond of joy you felt on learning the good news is squashed by your concerns ab...

Autorentext

BARBARA L. FREDRICKSON, PH.D., is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and principal investigator of the Positive Emotion and Psychophysiology Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a leading scholar within social psychology, affective science, and positive psychology.

Klappentext

World renowned researcher Dr. Barbara Fredrickson gives you the lab-tested tools necessary to create a healthier, more vibrant, and flourishing life through a process she calls "the upward spiral."

You'll discover:

• What positivity is, and why it needs to be heartfelt to be effective
• The ten sometimes surprising forms of positivity
• Why positivity is more important than happiness
• That your own sources of positivity are unique and how to tap into them
• How to calculate your current positivity ratio, track it, and improve it

With Positivity, you'll learn to see new possibilities, bounce back from setbacks, connect with others, and become the best version of yourself.

Leseprobe
Chapter 1
Waking Up to Positivity
*One’s own self is well hidden from one’s own self:
Of all mines of treasure, one’s own is the last to be dug up.
*—Friedrich Nietzsche

TAKE 1
The morning sun streams through your bedroom window and wakes you from a fitful night’s sleep. After a long string of gray and rainy days, you appreciate seeing blue sky. But soon enough you realize the alarm didn’t go off. You’re disappointed because you’ve been meaning to wake up extra early so you can have time to yourself before the kids wake up and the morning race begins. With what little time there is, you decide to skip your planned exercise routine, spend some more time in bed, and write in your journal. You write,

*I can’t believe I let myself down again by forgetting to set my alarm. How am I ever going to take charge of my days (and my
life!) if I can’t make this simple change? Without exercise, I’m going to feel like a slug today. Ugh. I’d better focus on why I write in this journal in the first place: to think about my larger goals and connect them to what I do each day. Is this really working? Is it worth my time when I could be sleeping? What I really should be doing with this extra time is checking for fires on e- mail or reviewing my ridiculously long to- do list. Isn’t our water bill past due? Where is it anyway?

*At this point you close your journal, get out of bed, go to your computer, and open your e- mail. Sure enough, you find that your co- worker, Sharon, needs input from you before she can submit her proposal, and she needs it by this afternoon. You’ll be stuck spending at least part of your morning preparing forms for her. Feeling angry at her imposition, you open the next e-mail to see that the project you spearheaded received preliminary approval and you’ve got forty- eight hours to make a final set of revisions. “ Fortyeight hours!” you say out loud. “Am I supposed to drop everything to make these revisions?” How am I going to fit this in?” The nanosecond of joy you felt on learning the good news is squashed by your concerns about clearing this last hurdle.

Just then, your daughter, who’s nearly four years old, wakes up and calls, “Mommy!” You glance at the time: 6:42. You’ve told her time and again to wait quietly in her room until you come in for hugs and kisses at seven, and here she is, not listening, again. Your frustration is growing— far too many demands both at work and at home. Nobody understands how impossible your life has become with this career shift. You go to your daughter’s room, snap at her
about calling for you early, and then march off to make breakfast.

The whole morning is a grim race, and everybody’s losing. You’d have been out the door on time had your seven- year- old son not misplaced his favorite shoes. Then starts the parental nagging: “Why can’t …