Pleasant Life is realised if we learn to savour and appreciate such basic pleasures as companionship, the “The natural environment and our bodily needs. We can remain pleasantly stuck at this stage or we can go on to experience the Good Life, which is achieved through discovering our unique virtues and strengths, and employing them creatively to enhance our lives. According to modern theories of self-esteem life is only genuinely satisfying if we discover value within ourselves. Yet one of the best ways of discovering this value is by nourishing our unique strengths in contributing to the happiness of our fellow humans. Consequently the final stage is the Meaningful Life, in which we find a deep sense of fulfilment by employing our unique strengths for a purpose greater than ourselves.” Essentially, the three can be broken down as follows The Pleasant Life: positive emotions and daily satisfaction The Good Life: discovering our strengths and enhancing our lives The Meaningful Life: using our strengths for a greater purpose Seligman argues that the way to live a good life is to develop positive connections with others, to have positive individual traits, and develop life regulation qualities (see pg 90 for more information) What do you think of this idea of the pleasant, good and meaningful life? What kind of life do you feel you have? Do you aspire to a “meaningful” life?
“The Pleasant Life is realised if we learn to savour and appreciate such basic pleasures as companionship, the natural environment and our bodily needs. We can remain pleasantly stuck at this stage or we can go on to experience the Good Life, which is achieved through discovering our unique virtues and strengths, and employing them creatively to enhance our lives. According to modern theories of self-esteem life is only genuinely satisfying if we discover value within ourselves. Yet one of the best ways of discovering this value is by nourishing our unique strengths in contributing to the happiness of our fellow humans. Consequently the final stage is the Meaningful Life, in which we find a deep sense of fulfilment by employing our unique strengths for a purpose greater than ourselves.” Essentially, the three can be broken down as follows The Pleasant Life: positive emotions and daily satisfaction The Good Life: discovering our strengths and enhancing our lives The Meaningful Life: using our strengths for a greater purpose Seligman argues that the way to live a good life is to develop positive connections with others, to have positive individual traits, and develop life regulation qualities (see pg 90 for more information) What do you think of this idea of the pleasant, good and meaningful life? What kind of life do you feel you have? Do you aspire to a “meaningful” life?
positive-assumptions.docx