Well-being in practice: What practical actions could improve personal and community well-being?

1. Well-being in practice:What practical actions could improve personal and community well-being? Dr Ilona Boniwell Programme Leader, MSc Applied Positive Psychology i.boniwell@uel.ac.uk

2. Positive therapy Eudaimonic approaches Psychological well-being Motivation & goaltheories Coaching Positive education Happiness & well-being Psychology of time Flow Applied pos. psychology Positive business Hedonicapproaches Positive Psychology Positive coping Coping with choice Positiveemotions Wisdom & knowledge Creativity Positive ageing Emotional intelligence Emotions Resilience Strengths & virtues Love & humanity Post-traumatic growth Strengths of temperance Humour Strengths of courage Strengths of transcendence Strengths of justice

3. Subjective/hedonic well-being = happiness Satisfaction with life + high positive affect + low negative affect Well-researched Sound evidence on what does and does not increase subjective well-being What is well-being?

4. Satisfaction with Life Scale (Ed Diener)

6. “The happiness formula” H = S (50%) + C (10%) + V (40%) H – happiness S – set point C – circumstances V – factors under voluntary control

7. Great! I can affect 40% of my happiness but what do I do? Practice gratitude. Stop occasionally to “count your blessings” Focus beyond self – perform random acts of kindness Treat yourself to a special day, and savor the experience Don’t compare yourself with media stars and personalities Consciously choose your activities, rather than going along Stop & think. May be there is meaning in life after all.. Look for new ways to do something usual to avoid being bored Join a “movement” movement. A sound mind resides in a sound body Give priority to close relationships. It’s not the quantity, it’s the quality that counts

8. Enhancing hedonic well-being Good Things in Life Write down three good things that happen each day. For each item, ask, "what did I have to do with it?" Eventually, seeing the bright side of everyday incidents becomes easier. It also becomes harder to discount one's positive contribution to events. Having as many pleasures as possible and learning the skills to amplify the intensity and duration of them. Sweet Dreams Before going to bed, write down three things that went well on that day. These can be simple occurrences; for example, "My 8-year-old daughter picked up her clothes from the floor in her room and put them in the laundry basket without being told to do so." Next to each positive event, answer the question, "Why did this good thing happen?" Select one good event you would like to dream about. Positive dreams increase life satisfaction and consolidate the memories of good events

9. More interventions for hedonic well-being • Positive portfolio Collection of cards, objects, questions, memories. • Gratitude visit Appreciation and giving thanks. • Apology letter Write and send a one-page apology letter to a person you have wronged. Describe what you did and the effect you imagine it had. Apologize. Offer to recompense.

10. Positive psychology interventions • What's missing is the question of whether psychologists can make people lastingly happier. … I'm interested … not to take people from -8 to -5, but to take people from +2 to +6. My great ambition for psychology … is that in the next 10 to 15 years ... psychology and maybe psychiatry will increase the tonnage of happiness in the world (Martin Seligman)

11. A little bit of data • Placebo control exercise: Early memories • Participants were asked to write about their early memories every night for one week. • Gratitude visit • Participants were given one week to write and then deliver a letter of gratitude in person to someone who had been especially kind to them but had never been properly thanked. • Three good things in life • Participants were asked to write down three things that went well each day and their causes every night for one week. In addition, they were asked to provide a causal explanation for each good thing.

12. A little bit of data cont. • You at your best • Participants were asked to write about a time when they were at their best and then to reflect on the personal strengths displayed in the story. They were told to review their story once every day for a week and to reflect on the strengths they had identified. • Using signature strengths in a new way • Participants were asked to take our inventory of character strengths online at www.authentichappiness.org and to receive individualized feedback about their top five (“signature”) strengths (Peterson et al., 2005a). They were then asked to use one of these top strengths in a new and different way every day for one week. • Identifying signature strengths • This exercise was a truncated version of the one just described, without the instruction to use signature strengths in new ways. Participants were asked to take the survey, to note their five highest strengths, and to use them more often during the next week.

13. Results • In an internet study of 411 volunteers, two of the exercises—using signature strengths in a new way and three good things—increased happiness and decreased depressive symptoms for six months. • Another exercise, the gratitude visit, caused large positive changes for one month

14. Is there more to well-being than feeling good? • It all starts with Aristotle… • “I would rather wake up feeling unhappy than wake up without meaning in my life” • Eudaimonic well-being = developing the best in oneself + belonging to and serving institutions larger than oneself

15. Enhancing eudaimonic well-being Longcuts vs. ShortcutsSpending extra time on a routine activity (card, talking to a friend) Your Vision of Positive Human Future Giving the Gift of Time • Strengths Exercises • Positive introductions • Make a beautiful day using your strengths • “Pulling on strengths” in a challenging situation Your Legacy Grandchild writes obituary

16. How much well-being can we create with the wealth that we have?

17. South Tyneside Council • Positive parenting and parenting support • Promoting emotional resilience amongst 11 to 13 years olds • Guaranteed apprenticeships • Reducing isolation of older people • Neighbourhood and community well-being (the concept of “place”)

18. Further Information • Boniwell, I. (2006). Positive Psychology in a Nutshell. London: PWBC. Purchase at www.practicalpsychology.org • Carr, A. (2004). Positive Psychology, Brunner-Routledge, Hove and New York • Linley, P.A. & Joseph, S. (2004). Positive Psychology in Practice, John Wiley & Sons: New Jersey. • Snyder, C.R. & Lopez, S.J. (Eds.) (2002). Handbook of Positive Psychology, Oxford University Press: New York

19. Web resources • www.positivepsychology.org (Literature) • www.psych.upenn.edu/seligman (Literature) www.reflectivehappiness.com (Interventions) • www.authentichappiness.org (Questionnaires) • www.authentichappinesscoaching.com

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