Theory 2 Action Podcast
Theory 2 Action Podcast
MM#430--The Good & Flourishing Life
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Have you ever considered that your happiness might be something you can learn rather than simply experience? This eye-opening exploration of Martin Seligman's work reveals one of psychology's most transformative findings: individuals can choose how they think.
We dive deep into the remarkable shift in psychological thinking that occurred in the late 1960s—moving from environmental determinism to individual choice and control. As the father of positive psychology, Seligman revolutionized our understanding of well-being by focusing not on treating mental illness but on cultivating what makes life worth living. His PERMA model (Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment) offers a comprehensive framework for flourishing that has transformed countless lives worldwide.
Perhaps most fascinating is the astonishing convergence of virtues across millennia and diverse cultures. From Confucius to Aristotle, from the Samurai code to the Bhagavad Gita, six core virtues consistently emerge: wisdom, courage, love, justice, temperance, and spirituality. This universal agreement suggests something profound about human nature and our shared path to fulfillment. When combined with the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and love emphasized in Christian tradition, these virtues become powerful forces for transformation—not just in our own lives but rippling outward to illuminate those around us. By choosing our thoughts and embracing these timeless virtues, we gain the remarkable ability to shape not just our mental landscape but our entire experience of life. What will you choose to think today?
Key Points from the Episode:
• Psychology shifted in the late 1960s from emphasizing environment to focusing on individual choice and control
• Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology, moved the field from studying mental illness to examining what makes life fulfilling
• The PERMA model identifies five elements of well-being: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment
• Six core virtues appear across all major cultures: wisdom, courage, love, justice, temperance, and spirituality
• Living virtuously isn't just a Western concept but a universal path to happiness and flourishing
• Christian supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and love can make believers "a light unto the nations"
• We can become beacons to those around us by embracing and living out these virtues
Keep fighting the good fight and living the virtuous, flourishing life.
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Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, david Kaiser flourishing life.
Speaker 2:Now here's your host, david Kaiser. Hello, I am David, and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. Way back in Mojo Minute 63. Yes, we are going way back almost all the way to the beginning of this podcast for this quote. Again back in Mojo Minute 63, we read this quote Go on to the book.
Speaker 2:Habits of thinking need not be forever. One of the most important findings in psychology in the last 20 years is that individuals can choose the way they think. So the dominant theories in psychology shifted in the late 1960s from the power of the environment to individual expectation, preference, choice, decision, control and helplessness. The fundamental change in the field of psychology is intimately related to the fundamental change in our psychology. For the first time in history, because of technology and mass production and distribution and for other reasons, large numbers of people are able to have significant measure of choice and therefore personal control in their lives. Not the least of these choices concerns our own habits of thinking. By and large, people have welcomed that control. We belong to a society that grants individual members powers they have never had before, a society that takes individuals' pleasures and pains very seriously, that exalts the self and deems personal fulfillment a legitimate goal and almost sacred right, and that was Martin Seligman in his now infamous book Learned Optimism.
Speaker 2:Now, who in the world is Martin Seligman, you ask? Well, he's a very good author that we feature here almost regularly. He's an American psychologist, often called the father of positive psychology. He is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and has made significant contributions to psychology through his research on learned helplessness, optimism and well-being. His work curiously shifted focus from traditional psychologies emphasis on mental illness to studying what makes life fulfilling and how people can thrive. In our parlance, we always substitute thrive for flourish. And what is this positive psychology movement he started? Well, it was launched in the late 1990s.
Speaker 2:Positive psychology is a scientific field. Now it studies human strengths, happiness, optimal functioning. Unlike traditional psychology, which often focuses on treating mental disorders, positive psychology takes the next step. It explores the positive emotions, character, strengths and conditions that promote well-being. The key concepts include the PERMA model, which we've talked about here. That's Seligman's famous framework for well-being. It emphasizes positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment, and it certainly focuses on the strengths and the virtues like resilience, gratitude and accomplishment. And it certainly focuses on the strengths and the virtues like resilience, gratitude and optimism. Now there's evidence-based interventions such as gratitude, journaling or mindfulness to enhance life satisfaction, and the movement aims to understand and foster what makes individuals and communities you got it flourish. It applies their findings to education, therapy and organizational settings.
Speaker 2:Now this dude has written over 30, has written and co-authored over 30 some books. Here's the ones we have focused on in 1991. Learned Optimism came out how to Change your Mind and your Life. It was a bestseller on optimism and explanatory styles. Then, almost a decade later, authentic Happiness came out in 2002, using the new positive psychology movement to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. That gives you the key concepts in the positive psychology movement. 2011 came the book Flourish a visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. That's where we learn of the PERMA model of well-being.
Speaker 2:Now he does have two newer books that I'm not familiar with, so I'm going to have to brush up on my Martin Seligman reading. Those books are in 2018, the Hope Circuit A Psychologist's Journey from Helplessness to Optimism. It's not an autobiographical reflection on his career and research. And then, just two years ago, in 2023, tomorrow Mind is his latest book Thrive at Work with Resilience, creativity and Connection Now and in an uncertain future. Now back to our nugget of wisdom, this notion of learned helplessness or, I'm sorry, learned optimism, rather that's how Martin built upon this with his next book, authentic Happiness.
Speaker 2:Let's grab a couple of quotes from there. Go on to the book. The good life consists in deriving happiness by using your signature strengths every day in the main realms of living. The meaningful life adds one more component Using these same strengths to forward knowledge, power or goodness. A life that does this is pregnant with meaning and if God comes at the end, such a life is sacred.
Speaker 2:And just one more quote there is an astonishing convergence across the millennia and across cultures about virtue and strength. Confucius, aristotle, aquinas, the Bushido Samurai Code, the Baga Vagita and other venerable traditions disagree on the details, but all of these codes include six core virtues Wisdom and knowledge, courage, love and humanity, justice, temperance. Holy smokes cannot talk. Spirituality and transcendence is the last of the six core virtues. Convergence across thousands of years and among unrelated philosophical traditions is remarkable, and positive psychology takes this cross-cultural agreement as its guide. So again, both of these last two quotes came from the book Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman.
Speaker 2:So when we talk about living the virtuous life, this isn't just a Western civilization concept. That concept is universally noted around the world, all major cultures and traditions, across what was the words Seligman uses, again across cultures and millennia, all of these have found that living and pursuing the virtuous life leads towards happiness, and the virtuous life leads towards happiness and the good life, dare we say, the flourishing life. So those are the natural virtues common to all human beings. And when you bring in the supernatural virtues common and taught in Christianity and imbued by the Holy Spirit at baptism and exhibited by God made man in the form of Jesus Christ, something even more extraordinary happens. Their supernatural virtues of faith, hope and love become a light onto the nations, beginning with one person rippling out like a pebble dropped in the lake.
Speaker 2:In fact, st Paul in the Acts of the Apostles says that very thing, quoting Isaiah, acts 13.47, where Paul quotes Isaiah I have set you to be a light unto the nations, rather a light unto the Gentiles that you may bring salvation onto the ends of the earth. Again, that was Acts 13, 47. So in today's Mojo Minute, we started with learned optimism. Then we moved to the virtuous life and we know that living the virtuous life is a universal message to be told and encouraged throughout the world, even more so that Christianity and its supernatural virtues are even more to be encouraged throughout that same world, a world that is hungry for the truth and the authentic happiness of Jesus Christ. That is the good news, that is the authentic happiness. We can be that light onto the nations and a beacon to those around us when we live out those virtues, because when we do, when we indeed do, we will be living to a virtuous life and a flourishing life. As always, keep fighting the good fight.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast us. We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on. Thank you.