05 Jun How do you define and measure happiness and the good life?
How you define and measure happiness is important as this article from the Huffington Post argues…
How do we measure a good life? Do we judge it by the quality of an individual's relationships and sense of meaning and purpose? Or, do we judge it according to an individual's wealth, status and power? These external measures of success seem to count for a lot and yet, they clearly don't buy happiness. Park Avenue psychiatrists and their patients know this all too well. Complaints about burnout, loneliness, meaninglessness and broken relationships are often at the core of their unhappiness. They spend so much time ticking boxes that they lose sight of what really matters. In the name of "success," they often sacrifice their mental and physical health.
If tangible achievements don't amount to happiness, then what does? As a psychiatrist, I often found myself meeting with patients who wanted to explore this question. Most of my training and work had been focused on symptom management and what was wrong with patients. I didn't feel like I had the tools to address the big questions about what really matters. As I began exploring the meaning of "the good life" a few years ago, I learned about the field of Positive Psychology.
In broad terms, Positive Psychology focuses on human strengths and well-being. Essentially, it is the scientific study of what makes life worth living versus traditional psychiatry and psychology that studies mental illness and pathology. Instead of focusing on what's wrong, Positive Psychology focuses on what's right. Along these lines, Positive Psychology is interested in a different kind of success: Success with a capital "S" that focuses on well-being.
One of the key takeaways from Positive Psychology is that relationships with other people matter most…
…keep reading the full and original article HERE