Hi, my name is Anna Gaitanos. I'm a professional counselor and life coach with a focus on Positive Psychology and Well-Being. I've been practicing for over 10 years and today I'm going to share with you one of the things I love most about what I do and that's helping people get into the driver's seat and on the road to better well-being, increased resilience to daily stressors, and ultimately feeling more fulfilled. Today I'm going to show you 4 steps you can take to feel more engaged and energized throughout your day and feel more successful at the end of each day. Here's how we're going to do that. First, we'll go over 5 Components of Well-Being as well as measure your current state of well-being.
Second, we'll explore 10 Positive Emotions and how experiencing positive emotions can help you better bounce back from daily stress.
Third, we're going to go over 24 Character Strengths that have been identified throughout 3000 years of history and world cultures.
For our fourth step, we're going to take those first 3 steps and put them together to come up with your very own personalized strength-based well-being plan that can help you prompt positive emotions based on your personal strengths, help you build your resilience to stress, and feel more accomplished at the end of each day.
The 4 steps we'll be using today are based on the research findings of leading psychologists in the field of Positive Psychology including: Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Barbara Fredrickson of the University of North Carolina on Chapel Hill, and Dr. Christopher Peterson of the University of Michigan.
You might be wondering what Positive Psychology is, so before we get started I would like to define that for you. Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. It's founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate that which is the best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love work and play.
Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, also known as father of the Positive Psychology movement, has identified 5 Components of Well-Being these 5 components of Well-Being include; Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment and they can easily be remembered by the acronym PERMA. Positive Emotions is the extent in which we experience positive emotions.
Engagement is when we become so absorbed in what we're doing that we lose track of time, it's also been referred to as "Flow." Relationships, and that's healthy relationships, is the extent to which we feel supported, encouraged, loved. Meaning, serving something greater than ourselves.
And accomplishment, achievement mastery, competence. Those are the 5 Components of Well-Being that's PERMA.
The second thing we're going to talk about today are Positive Emotions. You may have noticed that positive emotions also happen to be the first component of well-being in PERMA. Now we all know that Joy is a positive emotion but did you know that there are at least 9 other positive emotions that we can experience daily? Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, of the University of North Carolina on Chapel Hill, has identified 10 Positive Emotions. These 10 Positive Emotions include: Amusement, Awe, Gratitude, Hope,Interest, Inspiration, Joy, Love, Pride, and Serenity. I'm going to give you a few minutes. I would like you to take a close look at these 10 positive emotions and try to identify as many activities as you can and that can prompt these emotions into your daily experience. Making time to experience positive emotions isn't a luxury, it's a necessity, just as phones need to be charged and cars need to be fueled people need to rejuvenate. Practicing daily habits that prompt positive emotions not only help us feel happier throughout the day they also help us bounce back from daily stressors. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson's Broaden and Build Theory suggests that experiencing positive emotions helps build perspective, increase creativity, and broaden problem solving skills which help to make us more resilient. The third thing we're going over today is how you can identify your character strengths. In 2004 Dr. Peterson and Dr. Martin Seligman co-authored a book called Character Strengths and Virtues in which they identified 24 Strengths that have appeared repeatedly among cultures in 3000 years of world history. Please take the next few minutes to look over the 24 Character Strengths taking note of the Character Strengths you feel you utilize most often. I'm about to tell you how you can find out what your top strengths are. You can identify your character strengths by completing a free on line assessment through the University of Pennsylvania website called Authentic Happiness. Once you get on the website you click questionnaires and then select the VIA Survey of Character Strengths. You can print out your results or write them down. One thing to keep in mind is that your strengths can change over time so you may want to complete this survey every 6-12 months. This assessment measures the strengths that you are currently utilizing most. It does not mean that you don't have the other strengths. It only means that they are not being used as frequently as your higher strengths. The last thing we're going over today is how you can identify activities based on your character strengths to improve your well-being. As we take a look at the well-being plan please take notice of the 5 Components of We'll-Being; Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. Under each component there are 3 areas; Strength, Activity and Positive Emotion(s). I would like you to first look at each component and identify a strength that you would like to utilize for that component. Second try to identify at least one activity that would help to utilize that strength. Thirdly, try to identify the positive emotion or emotions that activity can prompt. Here is an example of a completed well-being plan. Today we went over the 5 Components of Well-Being and how you can assess your current of Well-Being. We explored 10 Positive Emotions and how experiencing Positive Emotions can promote resilience to stress. You also learned how to identify your top character strengths. We then tied in Well-Being, Positive Emotions, and Character Strengths to help us identify activities for your personalized Well-Being Plan. I look forward to answering any questions you may have at my website Stage4Change.com. Thank you.
Second, we'll explore 10 Positive Emotions and how experiencing positive emotions can help you better bounce back from daily stress.
Third, we're going to go over 24 Character Strengths that have been identified throughout 3000 years of history and world cultures.
For our fourth step, we're going to take those first 3 steps and put them together to come up with your very own personalized strength-based well-being plan that can help you prompt positive emotions based on your personal strengths, help you build your resilience to stress, and feel more accomplished at the end of each day.
The 4 steps we'll be using today are based on the research findings of leading psychologists in the field of Positive Psychology including: Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Barbara Fredrickson of the University of North Carolina on Chapel Hill, and Dr. Christopher Peterson of the University of Michigan.
You might be wondering what Positive Psychology is, so before we get started I would like to define that for you. Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. It's founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate that which is the best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love work and play.
Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, also known as father of the Positive Psychology movement, has identified 5 Components of Well-Being these 5 components of Well-Being include; Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment and they can easily be remembered by the acronym PERMA. Positive Emotions is the extent in which we experience positive emotions.
Engagement is when we become so absorbed in what we're doing that we lose track of time, it's also been referred to as "Flow." Relationships, and that's healthy relationships, is the extent to which we feel supported, encouraged, loved. Meaning, serving something greater than ourselves.
And accomplishment, achievement mastery, competence. Those are the 5 Components of Well-Being that's PERMA.
The second thing we're going to talk about today are Positive Emotions. You may have noticed that positive emotions also happen to be the first component of well-being in PERMA. Now we all know that Joy is a positive emotion but did you know that there are at least 9 other positive emotions that we can experience daily? Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, of the University of North Carolina on Chapel Hill, has identified 10 Positive Emotions. These 10 Positive Emotions include: Amusement, Awe, Gratitude, Hope,Interest, Inspiration, Joy, Love, Pride, and Serenity. I'm going to give you a few minutes. I would like you to take a close look at these 10 positive emotions and try to identify as many activities as you can and that can prompt these emotions into your daily experience. Making time to experience positive emotions isn't a luxury, it's a necessity, just as phones need to be charged and cars need to be fueled people need to rejuvenate. Practicing daily habits that prompt positive emotions not only help us feel happier throughout the day they also help us bounce back from daily stressors. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson's Broaden and Build Theory suggests that experiencing positive emotions helps build perspective, increase creativity, and broaden problem solving skills which help to make us more resilient. The third thing we're going over today is how you can identify your character strengths. In 2004 Dr. Peterson and Dr. Martin Seligman co-authored a book called Character Strengths and Virtues in which they identified 24 Strengths that have appeared repeatedly among cultures in 3000 years of world history. Please take the next few minutes to look over the 24 Character Strengths taking note of the Character Strengths you feel you utilize most often. I'm about to tell you how you can find out what your top strengths are. You can identify your character strengths by completing a free on line assessment through the University of Pennsylvania website called Authentic Happiness. Once you get on the website you click questionnaires and then select the VIA Survey of Character Strengths. You can print out your results or write them down. One thing to keep in mind is that your strengths can change over time so you may want to complete this survey every 6-12 months. This assessment measures the strengths that you are currently utilizing most. It does not mean that you don't have the other strengths. It only means that they are not being used as frequently as your higher strengths. The last thing we're going over today is how you can identify activities based on your character strengths to improve your well-being. As we take a look at the well-being plan please take notice of the 5 Components of We'll-Being; Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. Under each component there are 3 areas; Strength, Activity and Positive Emotion(s). I would like you to first look at each component and identify a strength that you would like to utilize for that component. Second try to identify at least one activity that would help to utilize that strength. Thirdly, try to identify the positive emotion or emotions that activity can prompt. Here is an example of a completed well-being plan. Today we went over the 5 Components of Well-Being and how you can assess your current of Well-Being. We explored 10 Positive Emotions and how experiencing Positive Emotions can promote resilience to stress. You also learned how to identify your top character strengths. We then tied in Well-Being, Positive Emotions, and Character Strengths to help us identify activities for your personalized Well-Being Plan. I look forward to answering any questions you may have at my website Stage4Change.com. Thank you.
