AUTHENTIC HAPPINESS - "Using new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment", Seligman, 2004

Martin Seligman, director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, has been called the leading spokesman for Positive Psychology. As its name indicates it is a movement which focuses more on mental health than mental illness.
While regular psychology is the study related to negative emotion, “pathology, and victimology”, here we examine positive emotion, “virtue, and strength.” How important is positive psychology in complement to negative psychology? Can it help unlock optimal human existence?

This topic is important because happiness is probably the biggest key factor in our lives...but what is happiness? How can one achieve it? Is it even measurable? Achievable even? These are all questions we ask ourselves.

The key message: focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Seligman calls these your “signature strengths”, the ones to rely upon and call upon in case of doubt or worry and in all aspects of life! He looks at “why”, “who”, and “how” positive emotions can be a permanent part of your life.

You have to identify them correctly and then nurture them throughout your life. This will allow you to rebuff negative emotions and eventually attain a higher, “new, more positive plane”. This fulfillment will then end up having great positive effect on your health, career and relationships. An upbeat nature is good for you and those around you.

One of the tests I found interesting is the Character Strengths and Virtues (CSV) list, which includes six character strengths/positive emotions:
-wisdom/knowledge (creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, perspective, innovation);
-courage (bravery, persistence, integrity, vitality, zest);
-humanity (love, kindness, social intelligence);
-justice (citizenship, fairness, leadership);
-temperance (forgiveness and mercy, humility, prudence, self control);
-and transcendence (appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality).

Another was the way you smile – which is either genuine or fake – after College yearbook pictures were analyzed it was possible to determine with surprising accuracy who would lead a happier life with more personal well-being.

Positive change can lead to better leadership results at work. It can also make your life longer as the author tries to demonstrate. We can improve the world around us and “achieve new and sustainable levels of authentic contentment, gratification, and meaning.”
The key topic of happiness is analyzed here through studies of positive feelings and positive character. Optimism and ‘flow’ (absorption in one's work- intrinsically rewarding) are two words I think are essential to success. Cultivate them well!