We look at a World in chaos and we don’t see the value in
being hopeful and positive. Sadly, many people have a bias against having a
positive attitude. Positive individuals are stereotyped as childish, naive, and
less intelligent.
In contrast negative, angry, hostile people claim to be
powerful with high standards and as knowing best ‘what is right’. These
frustrated individuals feel justified in acting out their anger believing life
will be good once their goals are met.
Hope or Negativity—which is the power position?
Typically, people who are optimistic or happy are more
successful in work, school and sports, are less depressed, have fewer physical
health problems, and have better relationships with other people (Seligman,
1991; Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005). This confirms hopeful thinking
empowers Mind, Body, and Spirit.
Psychologists have been developing positive psychology for
decades building on the work of a.) Rogers and Maslow founders of humanistic
psychology; b.) Wellness and prevention programs of Albee and Cowen; c.)
Bandura and others’ concepts of self-efficacy, research on gifted individuals;
d.) The broader concepts of
intelligence (Gardner and Sternberg); and e.) Marie Jahoda work on wellbeing in
its own right, not simply as the absence of disorder or distress.
According to Seligman (2002), positive psychology is a
scientific study of the individual’s strengths and virtues that enable her/him
to thrive. Positive psychology has three central concerns: positive emotions,
positive individual traits, and positive institutions. Hope is a dynamic cognitive motivational
system.
A hopeful nature enhances Mind, Body, and Spirit wellness
Hope is more than optimistic
thinking—it is proactive attitude and behavior. Hope thinking has three
distinct components: Goals, Willpower, and Way power. First, one creates a
clear and compelling mental picture of the Goal--this establishes a goal. Waypower is thinking of numerous ways to achieve your
goal—this will counteract frustration and fear. Willpower is tapping into Mind and Spirit to muster the
mental energy to pursue the goal.
Research has shown that the
people who are able to get what they want out of life are the people who have
the greatest hope. This means clearly identifying the goal for your self, accessing
your mental or spiritual energy (willpower thinking), and generating various
paths to your goal (waypower, or flexible thinking.)
The outcome of hope thinking is
having a physical life in a good state of equilibrium. Hope is not a new
concept in psychology in 1991 Charles Snyder and his colleagues came up with
Hope Theory.
Research shows high hope
correlates with:
- Lower
levels of depression
- The
ability to envision a broader range of goals
- Greater
will power and energy
- Ability to generate a greater variety of routes to reach one’s goal and objectives
- Academic achievement
The power of hope expresses in the many arenas of our
daily life, the spiritual and religious, emotional and mental processing, as
well as our relationships at work, within families, and in athletic team
sports. Essentially hope is ethical and leads to success whether it be
monetary, good health, happiness, creativity, or effective work behavior.
When workers lose hope they go through the motions and do
just enough work to not get fired. Low hope workers fail to produce the quality
and quantity of work they are capable of. Research indicates business goals
should be concrete, measurable, realistic and challenging to encourage a
hopeful work environment. An environment where workers experience success is
more productive with less absenteeism and loafing.
When medical professionals’ attitudes shift into hope,
communication is improved and patients’ sense of hope is enhanced. Hope creates
the medical benefits of the placebo effect, or the expectations of positive
outcomes. Viewing the physician as competent also contributes to incresing hope
related healing effects.
Hope comes into its own when crisis looms, opening us
to new creative possibilities. Hope empowers us to a mindset and strategy-set
oriented to success, increasing the chances one will actually accomplish their
goals. Positive psychology and Hope psychology are very beneficial in treating
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.)
I recommend reading C. R. Snyder’s book on the power of hope
if you feel ineffective in your own life and somewhat depressed. In Psychology
of Hope: You Can Get Here from There (2003)
Snyder gives us the tools to measure hope, develop hope in ourselves, and
nurture hope in our children and our relationships. He gives specific advice on
how to envision goals, increase one's energy for pursuing one's objectives, and
how to develop a variety of strategies to reach goals.
Emotions follow thoughts. Hope-related thinking is
important. By constantly planning strategies to meet one’s goals, and
monitoring progress the individual stays on task actively engaged in hopeful
learning. Research shows that a hopeful approach to learning goals is
positively related to successes from academic achievement to sports
to arts to science to business. Hope is a positive motivational state that is
based on an interactive thought process of a.) Goal identification; b.) Agency
(goal-directed energy); and c.) Pathways (planning to meet goals)”.
Snyder explains how neglect, abuse, parental loss,
unrealistic expectations for the child, and inconsistent parenting can erode
the child's ability to envision goals, or one’s ability to develop strategies
to goals. Finally, he provides practical, research-based information on how
hope can be fostered in children and adults. The Psychology of Hope is a
book for anyone who seeks to understand the psychological underpinning of this
essential psychological virtue.
Research evidence shows high hope
correlates positively with being able to cope with severe burns, arthritis,
spinal cord injury, fibromyalgia, and blindness. High hope individuals remain energized during the recuperative process.
Those with high hope experience less pain and tolerate pain well twice as long
as those with low hope.
Characteristics of Hope
Therapy:
- Obstacle
thinking is grounded in reality and perception, not misunderstanding or
negativity.
- Hope
can be measured—it is not optimistic guesswork.
- Hope
is trait, domain-specific, and state—and can be developed.
- Hope
can be found in stories of struggle and success.
- Hope is evident in our daily language—positive affirmations change brain chemistry.
- Therapeutic relationships are hopeful relationships.
- Hopeful relationships can be developed in peer group and family.
- Counseling groups create hopeful bonding.
- Helpers can prevent burnout via hopeful consultation.
- Hope profiling can crystallize and build on hopeful memories.
- Reflecting on mentors and heroes can boost agency (willpower energy.)
- Hope interventions (refer to Snyder’s book) can be conducted anytime, anyplace.
- Hopeful reconnections (family/friends) help us recall hopeful pathways.
- Hope is enhanced via formal programming—(affirmations, neuro-linguistic techniques.
- Hope can be shared vicariously---interact with hopeful people.
- Hope talk can be used to share hope.
- Enhance hope by making small changes and practicing these changes.
High hope individuals remember more positive comments
about events and themselves while those with lower levels of hope remember more
negative comments and events. Those with high hope feel challenged by goals,
while people with low hope feel demoralized by goals. High hope correlates with
higher feelings of self-worth.
High hope correlates with resilience. General George W.
Casey, Jr., the army chief of staff and former commander of the multinational
force in Iraq, November 2008, ordered an initiative to measure resilience and
teach positive psychology to create a force as fit psychologically as it is
physically fit. “This $145 million initiative, under the direction of Brigadier
General Rhonda Cornum, is called Comprehensive
Soldier Fitness (CSF) and consists of three components: a test for
psychological fitness, self-improvement courses available following the test,
and “master resilience training” (MRT) for drill sergeants. These are based on
PERMA: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and
accomplishment—the building blocks of resilience and growth.” Harvard
Business Review, Martin Seligman (April 2011.)
According to Seligman, “how human beings react to extreme
adversity is normally distributed. On one end are the people who fall apart
into PTSD, depression, and even suicide. In the middle are most people, who at
first react with symptoms of depression and anxiety but within a month or so
are, by physical and psychological measures, back where they were before the
trauma. That is resilience. On the other end are people who show post-traumatic
growth. They, too, first experience depression and anxiety, often exhibiting
full-blown PTSD, but within a year they are better off than they were before
the trauma [due to resilience training]”. For those who need to enhance their
resilience, Hope psychology has much to offer. Snyder’s book Psychology of
Hope: can be empowering and therapeutic. However, some individuals my need
face-to-face work with a therapist, or therapeutic peer group.
Research on
Positive Psychology reveals:
•.
Wealth is only weakly related to happiness both within and
across nations, particularly when income is above the poverty level (Diener
& Diener, 1996).
•.
Activities that make people happy in small doses – such as
shopping, good food and making money – do not lead to fulfillment in the long
term, indicating that these have quickly diminishing returns (Myers, 2000; Ryan
& Deci, 2000).
•.
Engaging in an experience that produces ‘flow’ is so
gratifying that people are willing to do it for its own sake, rather than for
what they will get out of it. The activity is its own reward. Flow is
experienced when one’s skills are sufficient for a challenging activity, in the
pursuit of a clear goal, with immediate feedback on progress toward the goal.
In such an activity, concentration is fully engaged in the moment,
self-awareness disappears, and sense of time is distorted (Csikszentmihalyi,
1990).
•.
People who express gratitude on a regular basis have better
physical health, optimism, progress toward goals, well-being, and help others
more (Emmons & Crumpler, 2000).
•.
Trying to maximize happiness can lead to unhappiness (Schwartz
et al., 2002).
•.
People who witness others perform good deeds experience an
emotion called ‘elevation’ and this motivates them to perform their own good
deeds (Haidt, 2000).
•.
Optimism can protect people from mental and physical illness
(Taylor et al., 2000).
•.
People who are optimistic or happy have better performance in work,
school and sports, are less depressed, have fewer physical health problems, and
have better relationships with other people. Further, optimism can be measured
and it can be learned (Seligman, 1991; Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005).
•.
People who report more positive emotions in young adulthood
live longer and healthier lives (Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen, 2001).
•.
Physicians experiencing positive emotion tend to make more
accurate diagnoses (Isen, 1993).
•.
Healthy human development can take place under conditions of
even great adversity due to a process of resilience that is common and
completely ordinary (Masten, 2001).
•.
There are benefits associated with [self-revealing] writing.
Individuals who write about traumatic events are physically healthier than
control groups that do not. Individuals who write about the perceived benefits
of traumatic events achieve the same physical health benefits as those who
write only about the trauma (King & Miner, 2000). Individuals who write
about their life goals and their best-imagined future achieve similar physical
health benefits to those who write only about traumatic events. Further,
writing about life goals is significantly less distressing than writing about
trauma, and is associated with enhanced well being (King, 2001).
•.
People are unable to predict how long they will be happy or
sad following an important event (Gilbert, Pinel, Wilson, Blumberg &
Wheatley, 1998; Wilson, Meyers, & Gilbert, 2001). These researchers found
that people typically overestimate how long they will be sad following a bad
event, such as a romantic breakup, yet fail to learn from repeated experiences
that their predictions are wrong.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201112/the-will-and-ways-hope
https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/home
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