Vanessa King -

Psychological Well-being

Sustenance For Life!

“We live in worlds our questions create”

David Cooperrider

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We see what we are looking for…

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1.  What are you focusing on?!

2.  What choice do you have?!

3.  What choices are you making? !

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus”

Mark Twain

3 Questions

Aims of Psychology 1.  Curing Mental Illness !

2.  Making people’s lives more productive and fulfilling!

3.  Identifying and nurturing talent!

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Re-balancing psychology Psychology as was! Positive psychology

What’s broken?! What working?!

Cure! Prevention !

Decrease suffering!

Increase !well-being!

Correct weaknesses!

(what’s wrong?)!

Nurture strengths!

(what’s right?) !

!©Vanessa King!

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“ +5 is different from 0”

Martin Seligman

-5 0 +5

©Vanessa King!

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We have evolved to have a natural bias towards what’s wrong

Positive emotions have a purpose too…

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©Vanessa King!(Illustrated by Mozarella Ltd) !

7 in 11 out!

Experiment 1

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Experiment 2

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3 x 1 = 6 “Happiness is a skill you can learn”

Matthieu Ricard

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A sense of control is a vital psychological nutrient

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions”

Dalai Lama

How much control do we have?

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Squeezing more out of life

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The most happy 25% of nuns in 1930 lived on average 10 years longer than the least happy 25%

This matters

Danner et al, 2001

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“Psychology has revealed much about man’s shortcomings but little about his potentialities”

Abraham Maslow

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What are your signature strengths?

Using one or more of signature strengths in new ways for 1 week had a positive impact in well-

being for up to 6 months !

•  Natural, can’t help using it!•  Feels like the real you!•  Rapid learning curve when

practiced!•  Energising!

Using your strengths in new ways..

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“Feeling good and functioning well” !

Felicia Huppert

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What makes up our well-being?

Huppert & So, 2011!

What can you do?

Developed by Vanessa King for Action for Happiness!

www.actionforhappiness.org!

10 Keys to Happier Living !