There are many things that differentiate each of us from one another — our personality, our beliefs, our actions, our desires, our wants, our needs. But there is one thing that every human being shares: the pursuit of happiness.
Every person, regardless of age, sex, race or anything else that poses an invisible barrier between us, wants to be happy. Everything we do, whether we realize it or not, is an unconscious attempt to find happiness. It is the one thing that unites even the most different of human beings. It is the one thing that proves we are not as divided from each other as many of us believe.
The majority of historical psychology has been dedicated to studying mental illness and the shortcomings of the mind, but there has been very little research addressing the positive aspects of the mind. Positive psychology is a relatively new field of research that is growing increasingly popular among the psychological world. Unlike every other field of psychology, this field is dedicated not to what's wrong with the brain but to what you can do to make it right.
It is the first psychological discipline that promotes positive well-being instead of just focusing on diminishing negative well-being. It is, however, not meant to replace problem-focused psychology but is meant to be a complement to it.
We recently have added a course here at UF — which I have the pleasure of being in — called Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness. This class is purely dedicated to studying the positive aspects of psychology, including which character strengths promote well-being and what makes life worth living. The professor calls it "the most popular psychology course," and it is a class that appeals to everyone — even those who have no interest in psychology. And there is no wonder for that.
The mere popularity of the class just shows that striving for happiness is a spectacular unifier in a world full of difference.
As a psych major, I am already fascinated with psychology as it is, but positive psychology's relevance to every human being fascinates me even more. We don't all have mental illnesses to fix, but we all have lives to improve.
In the next few weeks, I will be focusing on positive psychology and expanding on any relative information I learn from either inside or outside the classroom. It is my hope to share any insights I learn to help you improve your life, as I am helping myself improve mine. After all, happiness is the one thing you can never have too much of and the one thing you can never spread too far.
Posts in Gator Minds appear on Mondays.
