Positive Psychology Column for 1-11-04 By Tom Muha, Ph.D. Overview of Happiness Strategies You can be happy. You can be happy in spite of your problems. You can be happy regardless of how much money you have. You can be happy even if those around you are not. Recent research by positive psychologists has identified five strategies that you can use to achieve higher levels of happiness in your life. One - Manage your mind. Happiness starts with how you think about your life. People who are happy believe that they can create positive emotions despite the difficulties they face. Scientists have found that negative reactions (fight, flight, or freeze) are hardwired into the primitive part of your brain. While you can’t avoid having those bad feelings aroused when first confronting a stressful situation, you do have a choice about whether to dwell on the negative or transform them into positive emotions. The primary skill for shifting your emotions is optimism, which is a learned method of explaining events. Good times are viewed as permanent and likely to positively affect all aspects of your life. Bad times, conversely, and temporary and limited in their effects. Other mental floss methods for cleaning up the bad stuff in your brain include forgiveness for those who have hurt you, gratitude for those who have helped you, and appreciation of the positive aspects of your present life. Two - Create a vision for your life based on values. Having a vision of your future motivates you to keep moving forward toward those positive outcomes. Basing your vision on a solid set of values gives your life meaning and purpose. You need a compelling vision of what you believe will make your life happy in order to know what path to take in life. “Not this” won’t work because there is no other destination specified, leaving you reactive to your present situation. If you’re not happy with certain parts of your life, then what do you want instead? Imagine you’re at the end of your life. Ask yourself what you believe were the most valuable aspects of your life. Write down what’s most important to you. Envision yourself enjoying the life you dream of having. Make the vision as detailed as possible. Developing your vision and values will give you the energy  to be proactive in creating positive outcomes. It empowers you to set a series of goals that will get you to where you want to be. Three - Build your life using character strengths. One of the most amazing findings from the positive psychology research has been the discovery of 24 character strengths that are used by people the world over to achieve success and satisfaction. The happiest people in life know their top four or five character strengths and they employ them every day in their pursuit of happiness. Not only is this a key element in producing positive outcomes, it’s the secret to being happy with yourself. To identify your top traits, go to www.authentichappiness.com and take the VIA Signature Strengths Test. Print out the results and post them where you’ll see them every day. Four - Create good energy by balancing your lifestyle. So now you know what you want and that you have the ability to produce positive results, but how will you sustain your energy? Energy is generated by structuring your life to nurture yourself in four realms: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. These four storehouses of energy are like having batteries inside of you. If one becomes depleted, it will rapidly drain the others and you’ll quickly become low on energy. This translates into choices about how you spend your time. Scheduling time to recharge all four of your batteries assures long term success. Five - Learn how to love and be loved. The most powerful positive emotion is love. But most people have the mistaken notion that we “fall” in or out of love. Nothing could be further from the truth, say the scientists who study relationships. The feeling of love follows the same rules as all other emotions - it comes and goes according to how well we adhere to the first four principles. When you’re unhappy with another person, tell yourself it’s temporary and that you’ll find specific solutions to the problem. Refocus on your dream of having a loving relationship, and ask yourself which of your character strengths will help you to get things going in that direction again. And after expending energy to repair your relationship, take some time to refresh your positive energy.   Tom Muha is a psychologist in Annapolis. He welcomes your comments and questions. To contact him call (443) 454-7274 or email him at tom@achievinghappiness.com.