Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being – and How to Achieve Them is a psychology-related motivational or self-help book written by Martin Seligman. It was published by Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., in 2011. Seligman, an American psychologist, academician, and author, is one of the prominent proponents of theories of positive psychology as well well-being. He has a written a number of books, including Flourish, which empirically assessed those theories and provided optimal life lessons. In Flourish, Seligman presents a dynamic perspective of what constitutes well-being and how to attain it. In the conventional sense, the goal of psychology and psychologists is to alleviate human sufferings. However, in the book, the author indicates that the objective is to optimize human living. By providing a holistic model of happiness, he gives important lessons on how to build a better life. Flourish creates frameworks and initiatives for individuals, communities, and countries’ well-being, which are rooted in positive psychology, and based on concepts and activities, such as PERMA, psychological exercises, the MAPP program, the process of GRIT, and positive physical health, among others.
In the opening chapter, “What is Well-Being,” Seligman begins with a personal anecdote about the origination of positive psychology and goes to address his main idea of PERMA (Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment). PERMA’s five pillars represent the foundation based on which individuals can build their happy lives. According to the author, Positive emotion refers to the happiness and pleasures that normally forms when one experiences positive and happy physical events and emotional responses.
He particularly stresses that happiness and life satisfaction “have been demoted from being the goal of the entire theory to merely being one of the factors included under the element of positive emotion” (Seligman). The pillar of engagement emphasizes that the thoughts and feelings, which arise because of positive emotions, are usually absent during the flow state, and they are acknowledged only in retrospect. Seligman indicates that good relationships not only improve individuals’ social lives but also their personal and professional lives. The pillar of meaning focuses on persons’ need to serve something that is bigger than the selves. When they do that, they can accomplish both larger and personal goals and thereby attain happiness. When people win things not just winning sake but for personal growth and contentment then only their accomplishments would be feted. In a nutshell, Seligman implies that if one builds his or her life using these five pillars, they can actualize success, happiness, and well-being.
In the subsequent chapter, Seligman discusses the psychology exercises that have been proven to amplify people’s happiness quotient. He has tested these exercises among his students and they have provided positive feedback. Gratitude Visit is one such exercise in which an individual can write a letter of gratitude to a person who has provided important guidance or assistance and then meet him or her to read it face-to-face. Expressing appreciation for one’s support can created positive emotions between the two and leads to contentment. The exercise of “What Went Well” involves writing there positive experiences of a particular day before going to bed. It should be followed by a reflection of why those positive experiences occurred on that day. Deliberating and finding answers to that question can assist individuals to find happiness. The exercise of Forgiveness Letter includes a person writing an explanation to someone on how he or she has hurt him or her through words and actions and ends with a commitment by that person to forgive the other one. Nevertheless, this letter should be kept by the writer and should not be delivered. According to the author, exercises like the above-mentioned ones can positively change the lives of people in both short and long-run and can guarantee happiness and mental development.
As many people suffering from anxiety and depression already know, “Prozac,” “Zoloft” and “Lexapro” are not just a myth – they actually help. However, what they don’t know is that it helps just a bit more than placebo. In numbers: two-thirds of patients got better after taking prescription drugs, but half of them experienced similar effects even though what they basically took was Tic Tacs! One week of specially developed treatments and exercises resulted in an almost unanimously confirmed six-month-lasting happiness! No prescription, no pills – just a good ol’ dose of gratitude and kindness.
In the opening chapter, “What is Well-Being,” Seligman begins with a personal anecdote about the origination of positive psychology and goes to address his main idea of PERMA (Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment). PERMA’s five pillars represent the foundation based on which individuals can build their happy lives. According to the author, Positive emotion refers to the happiness and pleasures that normally forms when one experiences positive and happy physical events and emotional responses. He particularly stresses that happiness and life satisfaction “have been demoted from being the goal of the entire theory to merely being one of the factors included under the element of positive emotion” (). The pillar of engagement emphasizes that the thoughts and feelings, which arise because of positive emotions, are usually absent during the flow state, and they are acknowledged only in retrospect. Seligman indicates that good relationships not only improve individuals’ social lives but also their personal and professional lives. The pillar of meaning focuses on persons’ need to serve something that is bigger than the selves. When they do that, they can accomplish both larger and personal goals and thereby attain happiness. When people win things not just winning sake but for personal growth and contentment then only their accomplishments would be feted. In a nutshell, Seligman implies that if one builds his or her life using these five pillars, they can actualize success, happiness, and well-being.
There is, of course, no set formula, but a general rule of thumb is that the first one-half to two-thirds of the review should summarize the author’s main ideas and at least one-third should evaluate the book. Check with your instructor. Introduction to the subject, scope, and type of book Identify the book by author, title, and sometimes publishing information. Specify the type of book (for example, fiction, nonfiction, biography, autobiography). Help your readers to review with perspective. Mention the book’s theme. Include background if necessary to enable reader(s) to place the book into a specific context. For example, you might want to describe the general problem the book addresses or earlier work the author or others have done.
As an aside, the book implicitly raises the public policy issue of how do the people who pay for their lifestyle, the taxpayers and tuition payers, motivate academics to more useful problem solving and less useless puzzle solving. And how do we prevent universities from doing to another generation what Seligman describes happened to him, that he was “miseducated”. He states “Originally, I went into psychology to relieve human suffering and to increase human well-being. I thought I was well prepared to do this; but I was actually miseducated to this task. It took me decades to recover and to work my way out of solving puzzles and into solving problems.” (page 55). The pillar of engagement emphasizes that the thoughts and feelings, which arise because of positive emotions, are usually absent during the flow state, and they are acknowledged only in retrospect. Seligman indicates that good relationships not only improve individuals’ social lives but also their personal and professional lives. The pillar of meaning focuses on persons’ need to serve something that is bigger than the selves. When they do that, they can accomplish both larger and personal goals and thereby attain happiness. When people win things not just winning sake but for personal growth and contentment then only their accomplishments would be feted. In a nutshell, Seligman implies that if one builds his or her life using these five pillars, they can actualize success, happiness, and well-being.
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Works Cited Martin E.P. Seligman. Positive Psychology Center https://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/people/martin-ep-seligman Seligman, Martin. Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being – and How to Achieve Them. Free Press, 2011.