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BE POSIT IVE BOOKLET
Erasmus + "Be Positive" project
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein Project number: 2014-1-SE01-KA202-000988
Introduction The youth unemployment in Europe currently reaches a high level of concern, especially among young people who are neither in employment nor in education or training. On European level, by the end of March 2015 46.863 young people (up to 24 years) in Austria were unemployed. Nearly half of them are school leavers of compulsory schools.
The young people who left school early and are affected by unemployment often have social backgrounds that are characterised by disadvantages on economic and social level. From this initial point, and due to their current situation, alienation, precarious and desolate job prospects, delinquency and mental and/or physical health problems may be the result. But there is still limited knowledge about these matters.
The project BePositive targets the development of a positive approach to support reliance among low-skilled and unemployed youth to increase their motivation, promote their transversal skills and to support them in making the first steps towards integration in the labour market.
This BOOKLET is a “taster” for the full course and containing the curriculum and a sample of the activities and supporting materials.
Session One
Why this course, and recognising emotions What is this course about? The “Be Positive” training program was developed to support people who find themselves out of work and training. Across Europe, this is very common. While there are numerous training programs designed to develop practical skills which employers are looking for, this course is somewhat different. It is aimed at helping you to identify and use your thoughts and feelings to cope better with being out of work, and increase your sense of psychological strength, so when job opportunities or training opportunities do arise, you are in a better position to move towards them.
We recognise that being without a job can be really tough - even for the most resilient amongst us. We hope that if you are able to work through this course, you will be able to manage better in this harsh environment.
It is important to be able to identify our own emotional experiences if we are going to develop and use them to engage with potential employers or educators. This session explores the nature of positive experiences and emotion ,beyond a superficial understanding of “happiness” towards a meaningful life.
This program has been designed for trainers that are working with youth who are out of work and training.
Session 1 is mainly concerned with beginning to think about positive emotions. In order to change our emotions, or be able to deal with them better, we first need to be able to recognise them and understand them. In particular, we talk about the idea of “happiness.” We explore the idea that there are actually at least three kinds of happiness.
The first is what we might call “the pleasant life” - the momentary good cheer that we feel when we greet friend, score goal in sport, or left at a joke. This contrasts with the happiness of “the good life,” which is where we might lose ourselves in activity that we are completely absorbed in.
Third kind of happiness is “the meaningful life.” This is where we begin to connect with what really is important to us, to other people, and find a way of living in a way consistent with our own sense of purpose.
Towards the end of this session, we introduce some activities that you can do that should improve your well-being right now. All of these have been tried and tested
in lots of different settings, and consistently found to be helpful.
The first thing to do is to identify what you can do to connect with others. To do this, you need to begin to think about any groups you belong to, your relationship with your friends and family, and other situations in which you are spending time with other people. In these circumstances, what could you do that would enable you to reach out and connect with other people? How could you find something in common between you? What experience, memories, or activities might you share?
The next thing to do is really difficult if you’re not in the habit of it. It is to plan something active. This doesn’t mean you’ve got to go out running or join a gym. What it means is to try and identify something you can do that will engage you, and is not passive. For example, while you might try to participate in sport or exercise, equally well you might go and see some live music, or explore part of the town or city where you live that you are not very familiar with.
The third thing you might do in the short term is defined what it is that you are curious about, or want to learn about and do something about it! Learning doesn’t have to take place in schools or in training courses.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/quoteseverlasting/8883115058 CC BY 2.0
Finally, one of the ways in which we have learned that people feel better about themselves is in the act of giving. This certainly need not be money or physical things! Choosing to spend time helping someone, volunteering in a charity, or simply being a listening ear for someone are always that you might give something of yourself. Not only do you help others when you do this, you also develop and build upon a sense of your own self-worth.
Session two
The value of positive emotions
The first part of this session is a discussion on the value of positive emotions, and specifically, the benefits of experiencing and expressing gratitude. We note that gratitude helps train the mind to notice what is good in life and overcome the inherent negativity bias towards focusing on the negative rather than the positive. Gratitude helps to see the glasses “half full” rather than “half empty.”
There are a number of ways which we know that positive emotions can be increased in the short term. These include expressing gratitude but also play, expressing altruism, engaging in physical activity, socialising with other people, meditation, and cultivating an attitude of optimism. None of these things on their own are any kind of quick fix to negative
Being unemployed or without education/training can feel grim. It is easy to lose sight of the positive emotions that we can and do experience on a day to day basis. Building a positive approach to life will facilitate trainees to engage in work and work seeking opportunities.
emotions. However, they can help begin a shift towards a more positive outlook.
We encourage participants engaging in this session to identify at least three positive things that have happened to him over the past week, and what led to those positive things. This begins the process of noticing and valuing positive experiences.
One of the ways in which positive emotions help us is to broaden and build. By broadening our attention and activities towards novel positive thoughts, activities, and relationships, we begin to develop personal resources. As a consequence of this, we have enhanced health better coping and a greater sense of fulfilment. This in turn then leads us to be able to experience more positive emotions, and so the virtuous cycle continues.
Three good things To take a first step along this route, it is helpful to think of three good things. Specifically, think of what is good in your life, think of what you are grateful for, and think of what went well (and what your role/involvement was in the things that went well). This is something to practice at a regular period. It is helpful to tie this into something that you do routinely which doesn’t involve too much thinking work - for example, brushing your teeth! This helps this develop as a habit and will mean that you will be more likely to stick to it.
Session 3
Identifying and utilising personal strengths
A great deal of the work that we do to improve our skills and develop ourselves is focused on identifying what we don’t do well and learning how to do it better. There is an alternative approach. Sometimes, it is really useful to know what existing strengths already are. In this way we can ensure that we are using our strengths to their best effect, and choosing options which fit in to a pattern of strengths. When we are using our strengths, we tend to develop new skills more quickly than when we are not. Typically, we enjoy doing things which play to our strengths, feel invigorated by them, and will seek opportunities to use our strengths for their own sake, rather than just because they lead to some external reward.
In this session, we discuss the nature of human strengths. There has been a huge amount of work conducted to identify patterns of strengths which are
When seeking work or training, it is easy to get caught up thinking of all the things that you find difficult. In this session, the focus is on identifying, developing and finding use for existing personal strengths.
cross cultural and universal. At least 24 distinct strengths have been identified. These fit into six broad categories. The first category is a set of strengths which are based on wisdom and knowledge. These strengths entail the acquisition and use of new knowledge for its own sake, to gain alternative perspectives, as a way of enjoying challenging one’s own thinking, for the sake of satisfying curiosity, and to develop creativity.
The second broad category is a set of strengths based around courage. These emotional strengths involve the exercise of will to accomplish goals in the face of opposition both internal and external. They include persistence (finishing what one starts), bravery, integrity, and vitality.
The third broad category of strengths is the set of strengths of humanity. This includes strengths of love, kindness, and social intelligence (being aware of the motives and feelings of other people and oneself).
The next category includes strengths of justice. This includes citizenship, fairness, and leadership. These strengths underlie healthy community life.
The penultimate category is strengths of temperance. These are strengths which protect against excess. Include forgiveness and mercy, humility/modesty, prudence, and an ability to regulate one’s own feelings and desires.
The final category incorporates strengths of transcendence. These include appreciation of beauty, sense of gratitude and hope, sense of humour and spirituality (coherent beliefs about the meaning of life and the meaning of the universe).
While it takes some discussion to go through all of these strengths, it does help learners think about themselves in a more complex and sophisticated way. Hopefully, they can identify good things about themselves they may not have previously valued. Having discussed what strengths may or may not exist within the group, we spend some time identifying ways in which to identify strengths for the individual.
There are some formalised paper-and-pencil tests to do this. However, it might be just as valuable to do this is a discussion in a group or with a coach or mentor. These are the questions which we can ask to help identify strengths:
Finally, we encourage trainees to think how they have used their own signature strengths in the past, how they might be able to use them in the immediate future, and crucially, what benefit this might bring.
Session 4
Values and Direction
Motivation and action We are trained to think that we need to be motivated before we act. How often have we seen internet links, posters and articles like this?
10 ways to yourself
to
after work!
When searching for jobs or employment, it is easy to get lost following life directions which don’t seem important, or losing motivation altogether. In this session, we encourage trainees to think what is important about personal values, how they impact on our life decisions, and what their own personal values might be. We also think about how motivation is or isn’t related to action.
There is of course a problem – we can’t get motivated until we feel motivated – this is a circular position which leaves us stuck and not acting.
In this course, we begin to learn the art of acting according to our values and best interests prior to motivation.
In order to do this, we differentiate between the notion of a goal, and a value. While both of these are things that we strive towards, they are different. A goal has a fixed end point – whereas a value is better thought of as a “direction of travel”. For example, we might have the goal of passing a course – but we might have the value of learning. We consider this difference and what it means to the way we live our lives, with an aim of finding ways to live consistently with our values.
How do we identify what our values are? There are a number of ways. A quick way is just to think of what you want your values to be – and that will tell you what they already are! However, it can help to get some more guidance on this. On the course, there are experiential exercises that can be carried out, which explore that way you would like to live your life by asking you to imagine reflecting back on it. If this is too difficult or provocative, there are also paper and pencil tasks that can be undertaken, to differentiate between different values.
It is important to recognise that there is no “right” or “wrong” set of values to have
Crucial within this session is learning to identify the distractions – internal and external – that can side-line us from living consistently with our values. We begin to recognise that our thoughts are only thoughts, and we can accept them without having to obey them.
Session 5
Learning optimism
Optimism and pessimism – seeing the best and worst possible futures – are things that we have all experienced. In this session, we try to develop an understanding of this in more detail. We begin with the notion that optimism and pessimism are learned thinking styles. They are habitual and long term, but can be changed with practice
Optimism is clearly beneficial directly, but also indirectly as optimists are more likely to be open to experiences and life chances. This has been felt to be true intuitively many years. In the course, we will discuss examples which demonstrate that optimism is not only related to well-being, but also longevity.
When searching for employment or training, it is all too easy to become pessimistic about the chances of life changing or opportunities opening up. This session is about the benefits of optimism, and the value of grit and determination in the face of adversity.
How do people lose their optimism? One of the psychological models which predicts this is known as “learned helplessness” theory. This theory, which has been demonstrated time and time again, shows that when people or animals experience negative or unpleasant events, which they cannot control, they learn a sense of helplessness and pessimism. In these situations, even when control is restored to the person concerned, they continue to behave as if there is nothing that they can do to improve their own circumstances. Learning about optimism is in part about unlearning this learned helplessness. When one has been applying for jobs or training without any apparent success, or going through education but only getting negative results and feedback, there is a very clear pattern of negative outcomes and lack of control - the exact circumstances to develop learned helplessness. This is exactly why being
unemployed and without training can lead to hopelessness and pessimism.
In this course, we will discuss the different ways in which optimistic and pessimistic thinking differs for good and bad events. Participants will be encouraged to think about their own automatic responses to good and bad events from these perspectives.
Finally, in this session, we’ll discuss the notion of “grit” - the tenacity and resolve to keep going when times are tough. We will think of strategies to improve grit, including identifying where participants have shown “gritty” behaviour in the past.
Session six
Setting Positive Goals and Avoiding
Procrastination It may seem obvious as to what a life goal is. Surely it is just something that we want to achieve? On closer examination, it is clear that it is a little bit more complicated than that. For example, goals are not the same as problems. “I always get so nervous in an interview” is not a goal, it is a statement of a problem. There may be some unspoken goals buried within this problem, but unless they are teased out it will be impossible to address them. There is a second mistake that people often make, setting what have been called “dead man’s goals.” These are goals which will all automatically achieve after the end of our lives - for example, feeling no anxiety, not having to confront difficult situations. These passive and avoidant goals do not serve to move our lives forwards or movers towards what it is that we really would like to achieve.
It is all too easy when there is a lack of structure in life because there is no day-to-day work or educational pattern to fall into to lose sight of goals and direction. In this session, the focus is on identifying how to develop meaningful and useful goals to enable people without employment, education, or training to move forwards.
We differentiate between extrinsic goals and intrinsic goals. Both of these are positive goals, but intrinsic goals are much more likely to lead to committed action. The differences between these two types of goals is not always obvious at first, but this session both explains the differences between these goals and gives the opportunity to explore one’s own goals. The way in which intrinsic goals and intrinsic motivation are beneficial is also explored in this session, along with the conditions that are needed to make life changes. The difference between wanting to change and actually making a change will be explored, alongside identifying obstacles to prevent positive change.
The rest of this session is spent discussing the notion of procrastination, and identifying how it plays a part in stopping those on the course from engaging in job-hunting or returning to education, or even making progress within work or education.
Procrastination - putting off working towards a desired outcome to a later time - is extremely common. Simply knowing that one is a procrastinator is not enough to overcome procrastination. In addition to delaying or preventing useful work (for example, searching for occupational vacancies), there are clearly emotional consequences to procrastination as well.
There are many types of procrastination and ways in which we procrastinate. However, they do have common psychological mechanisms of finding ways to avoid short-term psychological discomfort. In this session we explore the irrational beliefs that we commonly adhere to which prevent us from acting (for example, “I need to feel in the mood for this task before I started it” or “I work best when I’m under pressure”). We then develop action plans for facing and confronting procrastination by identifying our own unhelpful thinking, and developing challenges and alternatives to this thinking in order to begin to overcome procrastination habits.
Session 7
Connecting With Others
Although we meet people on a day-to-day basis, including friends, sometimes people in romantic relationships, and family, to what extent do we really think about this needs to belong and be connected to others as something to seek out an active way?
Being out of work and away from education can be very isolating and difficult experience. In this session, the work is very practical and based around ways in which we do and can connect with other people in positive ways
In this session, we very much stressed the importance of developing positive relationships with others. We start off by developing a baseline for each person in the group. To what extent do they feel a sense of belonging, and who/what to? We then think about the styles of communication which supports the development of positive relationships, and the consequences of positive/active/passive/constructive /destructive styles of communication. There is an opportunity to practice being on the receiving and giving end of each of these different styles of communication. This enables the group to reflect on their habitual styles of communication and ways in which they communicate with others or here communication with them will leads to different emotional outcomes.
Having discussed communication styles we then introduce the notion of social comparison - particularly upward or downward social comparison, and the different emotional consequences of engaging in these two social comparison styles. Simply being aware of the frequency of social comparisons, and the way in which the media invites us to make unhelpful social comparisons to those in unobtainable positions of wealth, attractiveness, or other success, is a first step to beginning to counter this ingrained habit.
Finally in this session we concentrate on two ideas which are at the heart of positive psychology, committing acts of kindness, and developing forgiveness for others. The preconceptions and misunderstandings around what it takes to commit acts of kindness and forgiveness are explored, and opportunities to develop kindness and forgiveness identified. In generating the ideas necessary for this part of the session, there is an opportunity for students to show their own creativity and insight into their own lives and social relationships. Both kindness and forgiveness are clearly beneficial for other people. However, in this session we will discuss how being kind and being forgiving can actually benefit the person being kind and doing the forgiving if it is done in a genuine way.
Session 8
Building Resilience
Stress occurs when the perceived demands situation outweigh our coping skills and resources. Many people think that the way to reduce stress is to reduce the perceived demands. This can indeed reduce the feelings of stress. However, the other way of reducing stress is to improve our coping skills and resources. In the course, we differentiate between two broad kinds of coping strategy. “Emotion focused coping” involves changing the meaning of the stressor. “Problem focused coping” on the other hand involves taking practical steps to change the external reality of the stressor to reduce the demands. Each of these approaches to coping can be beneficial; in this session we discuss ways in which we might engage in emotion focused a problem focused coping depending on the nature of the
All of us - whether in or out of work, in or out of training/education will face stresses and challenges during our lives. For those out of work, education, or training these setbacks can be failing to get an interview for a job, losing the chance of a training placement or not being successful with a qualification. Some people will struggle with these stressors, and others seem to cope and manage more effectively. This second group have greater psychological resilience. In this session, we focus on the qualities and practices of resilience.
stressor involved. We also think about different advantages and disadvantages of each kind of coping, based on the nature of the stressor (for example, is the stressor short or long-term? Is it controllable?).
The third style of coping is avoidant coping. This can be practical - moving away from a stressful situation - or psychological - denial of the existence of the stressor. It is often the first resort when faced with stress. Unfortunately, it is also the least effective means of coping for most stressors.
During this session, those on the course will be invited to identify times in which they use avoidant coping, and to explore alternative means of coping. Doing this activity in group generates ideas for coping which may not have been previously apparent.
The next section of this session is based around understanding the relationship between our own beliefs and resilience. We are very used to thinking that events in the
outside world need directly to our emotions. Actually, it’s beliefs about these events which leads to the emotional consequences of an event. We demonstrate this by looking at alternative beliefs about an unsuccessful job application, and the various emotional consequences which could follow from this.
We then learn the power of disputing our own automatic beliefs and thoughts around events, exploring the impact of alternative interpretations meanings and consequences. We delve into a number of very characteristic types of unhelpful thinking habits which can be learned - for example “all or nothing” thinking, where an event is seen as either all good or all bad. In reality, most events really do fall somewhere between these extremes and engaging with this helps moderate any emotional reaction to external events.
Finally in this session, we present a radical new idea. This is that anxiety itself is not necessarily the problem. Very often the problem when people feel anxious is the struggle with anxiety, which acts as an emotional amplifier to increase the
discomfort brought about by anxiety and to crowd out other emotional experiences and thoughts. The session will close with finding ways in which to accept and incorporate feelings of anxiety into life while making space for other emotions and other feelings, to live in a way which is consistent with each person’s own values.
For information of the project visit our website:
www.bpositive.eu
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Contact:
The Partnership in BePositive project:
Folkuniversitetet Kursverksamheten vid Lunds universitetet
Centre for Appearance Research University West of England
BEST Institut für berufsbezogene Weiterbildung und Personaltraining GmbH
Business Foundation for Education
XXI INVESLAN, S.L.
INSTITUTE OFENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT IED
