The following essays are the sharing of Dr Paul Cheung, our programme director.

 

 

 

According to the definition of the American Psychological Association (APA), psychology studies the mind and behavior of human beings. After the World War II, it was agreed that psychology should work on the three major tasks, that is, first, to understand, cure, and prevent mental illness; second, to identify and nurture high talents (genius); last but not least, to make the lives of all people more fulfilling. These three tasks have provided the direction for psychological research in the past 60 years.

Dr Seligman, who was the president of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1998 and 1999, addressed to the members that the research of psychology had done pretty well in the first task―understanding, curing, and preventing mental illness, but not enough work had been done to nurture high talents and make the lives of all people more fulfilling. He appealed to researchers and practitioners of psychology to do more work in these two areas. He also named the study of these two areas “Positive Psychology”. The emergency of positive psychology was to help fulfill the second and third task.

The objective of positive psychology is to facilitate people to live a happier and more fulfilling life. Positive emotion, positive features (strengths and virtues), and positive organizations and environment (society, family, school, and workplace) are the research areas of positive psychology. The findings of the related studies have provided useful resources for us to help us enhance our well-being, discover and use our talents, engage in our work, and improve our interpersonal relationships.

People in modern days always ask the following question: How can we live a happy life? Happiness is an emotional response to the way how we interpret our life. Positive thoughts generate positive emotions, which can be about the past and present. A practical way of interpreting our past and present that leads to positive emotion is gratitude.
There are many things in our life that we can be grateful for. First of all, we can be grateful for what we have. It may be something big or something that seems trivial such as a CD with your favorite songs or an inspirational book or a beautiful dress that makes you look beautiful. And now you may be grateful for having the opportunity to read this article. To treasure everything that we possess produces happiness.
Secondly, we should be grateful for our experience. There must be some moments in our life that we treasure a lot. We should be grateful because we have the chance to experience something that makes us feel good, for example, having a meal with someone special, traveling in your favorite destinations, having a wonderful match, you name it. We shouldn’t forget all such good experiences. They are part of the source of our happiness. Don’t ignore the past.

Last but not least, we should be grateful to the people who have helped us, and those who have enhanced our growth. If you really spend time thinking about those who have been important to your life, there must be some names emerging in your mind. Then thank them in your heart. Such a grateful attitude will enhance your positive emotion and help you become a truly happy person.

Negative thoughts generate negative emotions. The thought of loss leads to sadness; the thought of invasion causes anger, and so forth. The more you think about someone you hate, the more you will hate him. It is a vicious cycle. Worse still, our frequent and intense negative thoughts contribute much to blocking the emotions of contentment and satisfaction. 

What can we do in order to eliminate those negative thoughts such as hatred, anger, and sadness? To reduce the negative emotions, we have to face the memories and try to go through the process of forgiveness. 

Dr Worthington, a psychologist on forgiveness, has taught us the steps of forgiving those who have offended us. First, we recall the incident that arouses our negative emotion. We visualize the whole event and create a picture of what has happened. Repeating the story in our mind provides the background for us to find out the reason for someone’s act that makes us feel angry and unhappy. We try to understand that person’s feeling by thinking from his or her perspective. Why did he do this to me? Why did she say such things to me? At this stage, we have to imagine that we were that person and try to feel in his or her way. The empathy that we develop makes it easier for us to forgive the person concerned.

Now we recall a time when we did something wrong, felt guilty, but were forgiven or escaped from the punishment we deserved. We may be able to tell numerous examples that have happened in our life. If we have been forgiven, why can’t we forgive others? The altruistic attitude can enhance our forgiving power.

The act of forgiving others is good for ourselves. Forgiveness sets us free from negative emotions like anger and sadness. It takes away our pain caused by hatred.