I was listening to someone the other day talking about positive thinking and the evidence to suggest positive thinking promotes physical well-being. They were diving deeper into the outcomes and mentioned a man named Martin Seligman an American Psychologist from the University of Pennsylvania.

Professor Seligman developed a psychology framework in which he believed happiness could be cultivated through intentional actions and behaviours. His framework was broken into 3 main pillars - the pleasant life, the good life and the meaningful life.

The pleasant life is the short-term surface level form of happiness, delicious food, watching movies, shopping, things that create a temporary sense of joy. However, this is the easiest form of happiness and is not sustainable, because it is only temporary.

It’s amazing, in so many ways, how easy this form of happiness can lead you astray into a strange sense of fulfilment. It may last a while and give you a great sense of joy but eventually it will subside. So many people think short term materialism, the outward perception of abundance and overindulgence is the key. Don’t get me wrong I like new things, new experiences, have definitely overindulged at times and for periods have believed this truly would bring me happiness, but it does subside and the search for something deeper will always continue.

The ability to create this euphoric, quick reaction, happiness is great, and it definitely assists in many respects, but dose it brings happiness Is relying on an artificial form of happiness a true indicator of fulfilment and purpose? It is truly a world wearing question and I think as it is a reflection of other aspects of your lives it may be in many ways a more transparent view but at what cost and to what extent.

It is a strong element in the search for happiness and in great respects adds value to your own internal sense of it but the feeling and emotion of these surface level things needs to have handled with caution, handled with the understanding that this feeling will pass and a deeper sense of purpose needs to sought out.

The pleasant life is exactly as it is written, pleasant - giving it a sense of happy satisfaction or enjoyment “a very pleasant evening”. Evenings will come and go, some will provide a short-term feeling of happiness, some will provide deep significance and some will even help you look deeper into yourself, but the time will pass and the moment will fade and what will you bring with you in your soul? how will you feel within yourself? There are many questions here to ponder on, many questions to answer and the only person who can actually answer them is you.

Thanks,

Dean