After a suggestion from a friend, I started off the fall semester with a Positive Living class. She raved about the curriculum, the teacher, and the better outlook on life it gave her. I walked into class that Monday morning tired and not wanting to engage in the boisterous conversations of all those around me. My attitude- I don't need a class to tell me I can be a happy person, but I do need the 2 credits.
I was taken aback when our teacher stood up and said we would be exploring the opposites of happiness (anger, depression, complacency) in order to understand what it means to have 'happiness.' He said that happiness is not the absence of being sad. It's ambiguous. To me, his comments made the concept of "living positively" more achievable and real to life.
Our first reading assignment was an article from 2 years ago that explored factors that contribute to a person's well being. They polled if men were happier that women, if rich people felt better than poor people, and even if people became happier as they aged. None of those factors, they said, made a difference. People across every spectrum reported similar levels of happiness.
Their conclusion was that there are 4 things that are likely to make a person happier- extroversion, optimism, self-esteem, and a sense of self control.
To me, that was motivating. To me, it meant that I didn't need to be like the loud, over-the-top cheerful people I was surrounded by in class in order to prove I am happy. To me, happiness means being real, but positive.
I'm an extrovert by nature. I have enough self-esteem to help the impoverished continent of Africa. But I want to gain a more natural sense of self control. That means I don't say the first things to pop into my mind during every conversation I have. A more natural sense of self control mean that I will not get on Facebook every time I want to stop doing my homework (which is usually just about every 15 minutes...). I genuinely feel that these things will make me have more self control. Doing these things will make me happier.
I'm thinking this class have more to offer than overly enthusiastic people and 2 college credits.
I was taken aback when our teacher stood up and said we would be exploring the opposites of happiness (anger, depression, complacency) in order to understand what it means to have 'happiness.' He said that happiness is not the absence of being sad. It's ambiguous. To me, his comments made the concept of "living positively" more achievable and real to life.
Our first reading assignment was an article from 2 years ago that explored factors that contribute to a person's well being. They polled if men were happier that women, if rich people felt better than poor people, and even if people became happier as they aged. None of those factors, they said, made a difference. People across every spectrum reported similar levels of happiness.
Their conclusion was that there are 4 things that are likely to make a person happier- extroversion, optimism, self-esteem, and a sense of self control.
To me, that was motivating. To me, it meant that I didn't need to be like the loud, over-the-top cheerful people I was surrounded by in class in order to prove I am happy. To me, happiness means being real, but positive.
I'm an extrovert by nature. I have enough self-esteem to help the impoverished continent of Africa. But I want to gain a more natural sense of self control. That means I don't say the first things to pop into my mind during every conversation I have. A more natural sense of self control mean that I will not get on Facebook every time I want to stop doing my homework (which is usually just about every 15 minutes...). I genuinely feel that these things will make me have more self control. Doing these things will make me happier.
I'm thinking this class have more to offer than overly enthusiastic people and 2 college credits.
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