What we’ve been up to at The Flourishing Center
It’s so good to be back after our pandemic pause! The pandemic has brought obstacles, lessons and even opportunities for many around the world, including TFC! In order to support people during this rough time, we created Better Than Before, a program to help people get through the pandemic. We later merged it into our Lift Program, which we created like a gym membership to help people build a daily practice of positive psychology.
New research on the role of positive psychology during the pandemic
Positive psychology was fundamental in helping people cope with and recover from the pandemic. In this Science Says episode, Emiliya draws from the research findings from a study published in 2022 in the Journal of Positive Psychology. The study was authored by some of the most well-known researchers in the field, including Lea Waters, Sara B. Algoe, Jane Dutton, Robert Emmons, Barbara L. Fredrickson, Emily Heaphy, Judith T. Moskowitz, Kristin Neff, Ryan Niemiec, Cynthia Pury and Michael Steger!
9 strategies for how positive psychology can help us rebuild post pandemic
The study explored 3 overall areas (the 3B’s) by which positive psychology supported wellbeing during the pandemic: buffering, bolstering and boosting. These include 9 strategies that people used during covid-19 and that we can continue to use today. 1) meaning, 2) coping, 3) self-compassion, 4) courage, 5) gratitude, 6) use of character strengths, 7) positive emotions, 8) positive interpersonal processes, and 9) high quality connections.
How you can apply these 9 strategies to your life
Emiliya offers the opportunity to reflect on these 9 strategies through the following questions:
- How am I using meaning making to make sense of this experience? How can I make my life more meaningful?
- How can I can use coping skills like a positive appraisal to shift my thinking to thoughts that are empowering, that generate positive emotions?
- Where can I benefit from greater self-compassion?
- Where am I holding myself back from taking action I want to take? How can I find willingness to act stronger than my fear?
- How can I deepen my experience of gratitude for what I have?
- How am I using my strengths right now? Are there strengths that I want or need to develop that can help me at this time in my life?
- How can I savor and get more positivity out of my day-to-day experiences?
- How can I deepen the quality of my relationships even more? Have certain relationships faded a bit during the past few years? How can I rekindle connection?
- How can I build more moments of connection, or energy between myself and others, even in little moments?
