The Psychology of living life fully

 Course Overview:

• The Self (self-esteem, self-efficacy and self confidence) – How does the understanding of your self influence your levels of happiness and wellbeing? Self efficacy, for example, refers to the beliefs that you hold about your capability to perform and succeed in a certain task. It is important for us to understand why we believe (or not) in ourselves. In these sessions concepts such as self-esteem/confidence/efficacy will be discussed to facilitate a positive change of your self concept.

• Optimism – What does it mean to be optimistic? Is it always beneficial to our mental health? In this session we will explore different theories around optimism. Following an understanding of the concept you will measure your own level of optimism and go through a number of exercises to increase it in a healthy and balanced way.

• Flow - The experience of flow happens when you are fully connected to the situation - you are not thinking of anything, you are simply there, present, consumed by whatever it is that you do. Time dissapears, hunger is forgotten, needs do not exist - its oneness with the activity. The topic of flow has been researched extensively in Positive Psychology and has been associated with higher levels of happiness. During this session we will understand the meaning of it and how to achieve more of it.

• Positive Aging – We all get older. Whether you age from your twenties to your thirties or from your sixties to your seventies, the process will have an impact on your levels of satisfaction and happiness in life. This session will explore specific actions and habits that make aging more meaningful. Different stages in life lead to different challenges – can you create the shift from the challenges of one stage to the next?

• Positive Psychology interventions I & II – Positive Psychology interventions are the applied dimension of Positive Psychology. Those are the exercises and practices that allow us change and increase our levels of wellbeing and satisfaction in life. As part of these important sessions we will explore topics such as Savouring, Gratitude, Expressive writing, Obituary writing, and Kindness, to allow practical exercises to create a positive shift in your life.

• Hope – What does it mean to be hopeful? Why is it that we are filled with hope in certain areas of our life yet feel hopeless in other aspects? What is the relationship between our levels of hope and our levels of motivation? This session will allow you to explore your own experience of hope and undertake exercises to promote your levels of hope in areas that require further growth. Such change has been shown, in positive psychology research, to be highly influential when it comes to your engagement and satisfaction with life.

Course Objectives:

By the end of the course you will:

1. Understand the aim and scope of positive psychology.

2. Have an appreciation of the principal theories and models that attempt to understand self-fulfilment.

3. Acquire insight into your own strengths and virtues and learn strategies to increase your well-being and overall quality of life.

4. Develop an understanding of the dimensions of subjective well-being and apply them to your life.

5. Experience a stable increase in self-fulfilment, as a result of practicing the techniques discussed in class and in the readings.

6. Develop an understanding of research into all aspects of self-fulfilment as it relates to positive psychology, including the principles, strategies and skills required.

7. Develop an excitement and passion for positive psychology and the science of happiness studies.

8. Develop a zest for living a virtuous, satisfying, and meaningful life.

Living life fully is based on a number of factors which, combined together, could produce ultimate satisfaction. This creates a fascinating formula which we are going to investigate in this course.

This investigation, as with every course that I give, combines theoretical knowledge (psychological theories, models, and research) with practical exercises in class and at home. During the course you will be writing personal journals, completing questionnaires, tackling exercises, answering questions and contemplating certain issues in your life, which psychological research has proven, correlate with levels of self-fulfillment. This practical work will be done privately and only you will see your responses.

Such profound work is transformational – it not only provides you with extra knowledge but can also catalyse a real change in your life. I don’t want you to simply be able to quote some theory or an idea – I want you to be able to realize how this theory relates to you personally. What does it mean to you? What realizations can you draw about your own life choices as you contemplate a given psychological theory? And ultimately, when you experience a positive transformation, you learn to nurture it and allow it to influence your life in a practical way.