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It opened a world for me of how rumination can lead to depressing thoughts and how cognitive therapy can be used to change those thought patterns. This is about as scientific a way to measure happiness as you would get from a fashion magazine. Sounds good, but once again, the survey provided to discover your signature strengths is pretty lame. Seligman argues that when you use your strengths to do virtuous acts, you will be on the road to authentic happiness. Seligman argues psychology should be used to help mentally healthy people become happier. "Authentic Happiness" did not have the same purposeful focus as "Learned Optimism." I applaud Seligman's position on the needed direction of psychology.
Psychology has been used to treat the mentally ill. This helps a small percentage of the population. I really enjoyed "Learned Optimism" by the same author. It is more the author's subjective opinions.All in all, "Authentic Happiness" does not really help you get closer to authentic happiness. That is it. If this is the best tool Seligman has to measure happiness, you have to question his conclusions about how to achieve happiness.The second part of "Authentic Happiness" is about strength and virtue. It does not give you clear steps of how to change yourself to routinely exercise your signature strengths.
This survey is basically a scale from 0 to 10 that you rate yourself on how happy or unhappy you usually feel. Unfortunately I did not enjoy "Authentic Happiness". Twenty-four strengths are identified (which are things like curiosity, valor and bravery, etc). This will help many more people.When I read the survey used to measure happiness on page 15, I started to question Seligman's scientific authority. Then you provide the percentage of time you feel happy, unhappy, or neutral. and then you rate yourself if the strength on a scale of 1 to 5 is "very much like me" or "very much unlike me." This seriously has very little depth.The third part of the book is more a philosophical discussion about happiness in different aspects of life. And how you end up identifying your signature strengths is not all that enlightening.
Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment Happiness is the big new buzz word, but this is the original handbook. Martin Seilgman is the leader of the powerful movement of Positive Psychology and this book really is required reading on the subject of happiness.
This is actually untrue for most of the human occupants of this planet. I have been using positive psychology for many years, and am a member of the International Positive Psychology Association. He becomes a real person in these pages.His analyses and recommendations are all based on scientific research, and are in accord with accepted best practice. The very title assumes that, of course, happiness is the goal of life. If you implement its recommendations, it will change your life for the better. This makes the book an excellent introduction for psychotherapists who are as yet unfamiliar with positive psychology.At the same time, the book is actually designed as a self-help tool for lay people.
References, and frequent interesting comments, are in a separate endnotes section. However, I'd never read this book till now.Martin writes beautiful, easy to read prose, and, like all great writers, lets you into his own life. As Viktor Frankl showed, meaning and purpose are far more important, and can lead to contentment in situations that preclude happiness.My only other complaint is about the way notes are organized. As such, perhaps it is a little too academic. Any intelligent, educated person will get immense benefits from applying its recommendations, but it may be a struggle for someone who barely completed high school -- and they deserve a good life too.Like many American writers in the field, going back to Abraham Maslow, Martin is enthocentric without realizing it. While reading the first one-third of the book, I kept turning to this section at the end of each page, but it was rather onerous and distracting to do so.All in all, this is a book that will uplift your spirit.
It is a classic of the psychological literature.Dr Bob Rich[.].
Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment by Martin Seligman is a book that tries to lead you on the road to happiness. You're not going to fix weaknesses, it's better to incorporating your strengths like originality, humor and generosity into your everyday interactions with people according to Seligman. According to the author happy people are healthier more creative and happily married than their unhappy counterparts. It true most studies indicate that. Some people just need a attitude adjustment. Kindness and faith are vital ingredients for a happy life.After you read this book it may be a good time to consider reading my book entitled "The Enlightenment, What God Told Me After One Million Prayers, a Message for Everyone" (See Profile Above)
one should be prohibited to sell garbage like this. good only for the pockets of the one who aimed at reaching poor souls and tested on poor dogs. SHAME ON YOU MR.
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