I admit that I was planning to skip right over the A in PERMA – I’ve found that Davidson students tend to be experts at finding opportunities to pursue accomplishment and achievement! However, after hearing that many of you were looking forward to learning more about this last element of well-being, I wanted to make […]

Today’s exercise enhances well-being through the fourth element of PERMA: Meaning. It does so through an important emotion – gratitude. Not all researchers agree on the definition of gratitude, but many definitions emphasize that gratitude is characterized by positive appreciation of the helpful actions of other people (for a more in-depth review of some of […]

If you’ve been following along, you won’t be surprised to learn that today’s positive psychology exercise targets the R in PERMA – improving well-being by strengthening your relationships. Chris Peterson, one of the key early researchers in the field of positive psychology, stated that the field could be summed up in three words: “Other people […]

Yesterday, I shared a positive psychology exercise that targets the first element of PERMA – increasing pleasure or positive emotion. Today’s exercise builds on the second element of well-being: Engagement. This exercise works by asking you to identify and use your personal strengths. Many people spend a lot of time thinking about their weaknesses. For […]

Early in the history of Positive Psychology, Martin Seligman proposed that there are five elements that contribute to well-being. He termed this the PERMA theory of well-being, to highlight these five elements. This model also provides a way to think about increasing well-being – different behaviors or activities can enhance well-being by increasing any of […]

Today’s Positive Psychology Exercise: Three Good Things Many people have a tendency to focus on negative experiences. In positive psychology, we often say “bad is stronger than good.” For example, the positive emotion that someone feels if they find an unexpected $20 is usually less intense than the negative emotion that someone feels if they […]