Here's an update on Therapeutic Thursdays. As you know we are taking the week of July 1, 2012 off for the holiday as we prepare for a new 6-week session. This new session will revolve around exploring character strengths and the principles of Positive Psychology.
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:
Positive experiences (like happiness, joy, inspiration, and love).
Positive states and traits (like gratitude, resilience, and compassion).
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.
https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths. Please save this link.
In this link, you will find a self-assessment/survey that will tell you what are your main strengths. The survey is free, and the results can be copied once you are finished so that you can refer to them while doing the projects. We will be encouraging exploration of your strengths using art media such as paintings, journaling, poetry, and multimedia.
We will begin on Zoom July 8th at 6:00 -7:30 PM.