12 Oct Let’s not forget about unhappiness!
Here at The Happiness Institute, as strange as it might seem, we're not all about "happiness".
That is, we are big fans of happiness but fully realise, that no one (not even me, Dr. Happy) is happy ALL the time; we also fully acknowledge that suffering and distress are totally normal parts of living as human beings.
The Happiness Institute is really about the promotion of Positive Psychology which is more accurately described as the scientific study of "the good life". This involves as much happiness as possible; but it also involves, among other things, managing unhappiness and distress.
So it's our pleasure to share with you today this article from Positive Psychology News Daily titled "We're not here to draw happy faces on suffering" by Kathryn Britton. Read on and enjoy (or at least, read on and learn)…
Three weeks ago, I posted an article about self-talk on the Smarts and Stamina blog, encouraging people to lighten their moods by mindfully choosing responses to the events in their lives in a spirit of self-compassion and realistic optimism.
One question came back: What do you do when truly horrible things happen in your life? When your child becomes addicted to drugs, or you lose your job, home, and livelihood, or you receive a diagnosis of a terrible disease or … Most of us can dream up a long list of disasters that could happen, and sometimes they do.
What can you say to clients or friends facing major difficulties in order to help them effectively manage their moods without sounding like you are downplaying the true magnitude of their sorrow?
This question is an important one for people applying positive psychology, the science of well-being. While we are all for turning threats into opportunities and focusing on what’s right instead of what’s wrong, we aren’t here to draw happy faces on top of suffering or in any way to deny that it exists.
Learn from the Masters
My own answer comes from contemplating people who have suffered, people like Victor Frankl, Nick Vujicic, and others that have faced horribly difficult situations with fortitude, patience, and courage…
…keep reading the full & original article HERE