*Profits from our courses go to environmental causes
What is Positive Psychology?
In contrast to traditional psychology (which focuses on dysfunction and how to treat it) Positive Psychology is a scientific field that explores how ordinary people can become happier and more fulfilled. The aim of Positive Psychology is to help people move from simply surviving to thriving, by focusing on and developing what is good in life rather than just trying to get rid of what is bad.
In order to do this, Positive Psychology has developed an extensive, evidence-based set of theories and practices that, when learnt and applied, guide people to a happier, more fulfilled and more meaningful life. In a nutshell, Positive Psychology shows us that wellbeing and resilience is not something that we are born with - it’s a distinctive set of skills that can be learned by everyone.
About the course
This course is about learning these wellbeing and resilience skills! Because, let's face it, nobody taught us how to be happy and have a meaningful life. But now you can learn it:
Each session of the course will look at specific theories and practices from the science of Positive Psychology that make up the foundations of well-being and resilience. The skills you learn in this course are fundamental to creating lasting wellbeing and resilience. Without them, it is very difficult to be lastingly happy and fully resilient. The teacher will give detailed explanations of the practices, the scientific background on their benefits, and take you through them during the course, so that you know how to practice them by yourself and integrate these skills into your daily life.
Special attention will be given to practices that can easily and playfully be integrated into both your personal and professional life, and you will be able to do them with your children and partners too!
The course is designed in a way that allows you to learn these important wellbeing and resilience skills in-depth and in a safe and organized manner. Suggested completion time is 3 months but you can take as long as you need. It is your process, you can do the course in your own rhythm! And you can always go back to it since it is yours to keep. At the end of the course you will have made lasting changes to your wellbeing and your resilience.
This is an investment in yourself! Once you have learnt these skills, you will see great improvements in yourself, your relationships and in your life
Who is this course for?
This course is for everyone interested in becoming happier, more fulfilled and more resilient and who wants to learn the scientifically proven skills to tap into their full potential and build a meaningful life.
It is not a replacement for therapy for people suffering from clinical conditions such as anxiety, depression, trauma, personality disorders, etc. It is however greatly complementary to therapy, and can be attended by everyone.
Course Materials
What's included
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42 Video Lessons
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29 Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs)
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Journaling Exercises
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Happiness Activities
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Reflective Exercises
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Games to play with friends and family
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Scientific surveys to measure your happiness, wellbeing and resilience levels
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Access to a private Facebook group
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Life-time Access to the course from any device
Overview of the course
We will start the course with an introduction to Positive Psychology, its history, its benefits.
Then we will have a closer look at neuroplasticity - the brain's ability to learn and develop for as long as we are alive, before moving on to the different Positive Psychology theories and practices:
Lesson 1: Why is the bad stronger than the good? The Negativity Bias
In this first lesson, we will learn about why the brain gives more importance to negative experiences than to positive ones. This phenomenon has an impact on all areas of our life. You will learn to detect your own negativity bias and understand its impact on your life as well as learn practices to overcome it, and start moving towards positivity bias.
Lesson 2: Hedonic Adaptation
As human beings, we get used to everything. Even to the good! That's why we always want a bigger car, a bigger house, more money etc. But this keeps us in a loop of always wanting more and never being happy with what we have.
In this lesson you will learn how to stop this vicious cycle!
Lesson 3: Understanding Happiness
We all have preconceived, media-influenced ideas about what should make us happy and resilient - yet, in real life, we often come to the realization that these things don’t bring the promised happiness.
Positive Psychology has made it its mission to research and understand what makes us human beings truly happy and has found out that, to live a fulfilled, resilient life, we need different kinds of wellbeing.
In this lesson, we will explore what these different kinds of wellbeing are and how you can develop them in your own life.
Lesson 4: Positive Emotions
Positive emotions play an important part in our ability to be happy and resilient. Do you know how many positive emotions a human being can experience? Do you know what impact they have on your mental, emotional and physical health?
In this lesson you will learn all about positive emotions, understand their impact on your brain and body, and learn practices to bring more positive emotions into your life.
Lesson 5: Character Strengths & Virtues
Do you know what your personal character strengths and virtues are?
Did you know that using your personal character strengths and virtues in your everyday life increases your wellbeing and helps you get through difficult times?
In this lesson, you will find out what your personal character strengths and virtues are, and how to apply them in your daily life to bring more balance to it and make it more meaningful and satisfying.
Lesson 6: Being a part of something bigger than yourself
Science has shown that, in order to feel lastingly happy, we need to be a part of something bigger than our self. Whether this ‘bigger than our self’ is work, our family, a cause, a community, religion or spirituality, it needs to be in line with who we are. To assure this, we need to know what our personal values, motivations and goals are, and how they can contribute to giving us meaning and purpose in life.
As a matter of fact, there is an important link between our values, our levels of motivation, our goals and how much wellbeing and resilience we experience in our life.
In this lesson, you will learn how to determine your values, how to increase motivation and to set goals for yourselves that are in line with who you truly are, so that you can be a part of something bigger than yourself without losing yourself.
At the end of the course, we will provide you with more resources and reading materials to continue on your journey towards a happy and fulfilled life.
Benefits of practicing Positive Psychology
Science has shown the following
· Increased wellbeing · Increased happiness · Increased meaning & purpose in life · Increased resilience to change
· Reduced stress, irritability, anxiety, and depression ·
Increased energy
· Improved decision-making
· Improved interpersonal relationships
· Elevated immune system function
· Reduced frequency and duration of illnesses
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Pamela Strasser
About your Teacher
