Click here to listen to a brilliant interview with Professor Martin Seligman, modern founder of Positive Psychology an author of Authentic Happiness.

In a special edition, Claudia Hammond talks to the father of Positive Psychology, Professor Martin Seligman, about why optimism is not only good for your health, but could also help you live longer. Claudia visits a school that has introduced happiness lessons with some surprising results. And we hear from Dr Julie Norem about why, for some of us, a more pessimistic approach might be the winning strategy.

What interests me is that Seligman describes himself as a natural pessimist and depressive.  That’s the kind of guru I can listen to!  He also reiterates a point that I’ve made on his behalf before – the optimism he promotes is not meant to exclude a sort of risk-cautious realism but rather complement it.

Anyway, enjoy the conversation.  Seligman’s treatment of the topic is both masterful and humane.  Most impressive.

Image credit: Diego Cupolo’s.

In the workshop I did four things.  First, I discussed Seligman’s analysis of the three types of happy life: the Pleasant Life, the Good Life, and the Meaningful Life.  Then I explored the whole notion of optimism, perhaps Seligman’s main contribution to the field of academic psychology.  After lunch, it was time to check out our signature strengths.  Finally, we applied all this to the area of work, that most usual and difficult source of unhappiness.

During the course of the course, one of the students told me about a website called TED that contains all sorts of goodies on this type of topic.  We had a look at it, and sure enough, it contained all manner of wonders.  Here you can hear Martin Seligman on the state of positive psychology (which was so good, we actually watched it there and then).  You can also hear Mihály Csíkszentmihályi on flow.  Check them out.  Its good at all times to go back to the sources!

After the workshop I received an email from another of the participants alerting me to a rather interesting critique of Authentic Happiness by a UK author and ‘existential therapist’.  Some the the criticisms are in fact questions about  research methodology or exhaustiveness of approach, and apply to any empirically-based theory.  Others touch on points of philosophical definition, and take us outside the Seligman’s intended domain.  But perspective is a virtue, and it is healthy to read all sides.

So was the workshop half empty or half full?  It was full of people, full of ideas, full of discussion, and full of enthusiasm.  Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a positively brilliant (or brilliantly positive?) day.

I’ve already blogged about Seligman (see The Sultans of Happiness).  He’s a former President of the American Psychological Association, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and founder of the Positive Psychology movement.  Before him, psychology was viewed in terms of diagnosing what was wrong with people.  Now, there is a complementary emphasis on what makes for mental health, well-being and quality of life.

Authentic Happiness is not a fluffy DIY manual.  It has substance.  Seligman builds his structure on a solid foundation of research rather than the usual mixture of pseudo-science and sophistry.  I had the chance to read the book properly only this summer, having read some of Seligman’s other stuff before.  There’s nothing like getting back to the source.

Parts

It consists of three parts.  In Part 1, Seligman sets the scene by asking some general questions about happiness as well as mixing it with his personal wanderings from grouch to what he is now.  He shows what is in our power to change about our own attitudes and what is not, as well as how we can gain happiness in our view of the past, present and future.

Part 2 centres on the core of Seligman’s theory about happiness; true happiness is founded on personal strenths and virtues.  He explains these and provides aids for us to discoer what ours are.

Part 3 applies all this to the spheres of work, love, and purpose in life.

Tone

The book is written in a non-technical way and is quite conversational in tone.  There are plenty of endnotes for those who want to take things further.  Its only weakness is the few pages towards the end in which Seligman indulges in some theological flights of fancy about the meaning of life in an evolutionary universe.

I can highly recommend the book.  I will include many of its ideas and tools in my December workshop on The Psychology of Happiness.  If you want to find out more, come and join us then!