28 Feb Happiness, inspiration and wellbeing
Inspiration, or more precisely the lack of it, strikes fear into the hearts of many students faced with an assignment or test, a blank sheet of paper and a ticking clock. I can remember countless times, sitting nervously in an exam hall, trying hard not to be distracted by others frantically scribbling as if their lives depended on it, whilst I was casting around for something, anything worth saying. Usually under the right pressure the penny drops, and ideas suddenly flow. As I prepare to write my Positive Psychology News Daily (PPND) articles, the same frequently applies.
By pure chance I stumbled across a new piece of research by Todd Thrash and colleagues at the College of William and Mary, exploring the link between inspiration and well-being. This is definitely worth a look I thought, bearing in mind my impending mental and emotional tussles with The Muse.
Regular readers of PPND will be familiar with the 50/40/10 equation of Sonja Lyubomirsky_ã_s _ã–Happiness Pie_ã which is frequently used to explain the origins of happiness to non-scientists. In other words our happiness is derived from an unequal combination of genetic inheritance, intentional activity and life circumstances. The message from positive psychology is that even if we_ã_re unlucky enough to be born under a black cloud, we needn_ã_t stay that way because there are certain things we can do differently which will increase our well-being. In other words, agency is key.
Want to read more about happiness and wellbeing? Just click here for the full article