Dmitry Leontiev read Martin Seligman’s book Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being* for us.
“Nine years after the release of the programmatic book Authentic Happiness (in the Russian translation of The New Positive Psychology, Sofia, 2006), in which the leader of the new trend, Martin Seligman, outlined its main provisions, it is time to sum up some results. Positive psychology has many achievements, its discoveries are being discussed and used more and more by politicians and economists. But now Seligman is reformulating the very subject of positive psychology. He abandons the course of «happiness» in favor of a more generalized «well-being» (well-being). Today, the idea of happiness, which caused numerous criticism from both supporters and opponents of the movement, Seligman recognizes as “one-sided”, and the word itself is too ambiguous. “Well-being” includes several components: positive emotions, involvement, meaning, positive relationships and achievements. In other words, for complete well-being, a balance of external success and internal harmony is necessary.
This desired state Seligman calls prosperity and put forward as a new goal of positive psychology. For us, this is all the more relevant because, according to the data presented in the book, only 6% of Russians can be called «prosperous». An example to follow can be the leaders of the list, the Danes, of which one in three flourishes.
Seligman writes about different areas of application of positive approaches and their significant results — how these methods work in hospitals, in schools, in drug prevention. But the author’s most impressive story is about a visit to the Pentagon, where he was assigned to develop a program to improve the well-being and improve the mental health of US military personnel: at a working lunch, 12 three-star generals took notes of his words, after which, after 60 days, the program was ready and began to be implemented. Special training was given in the first year to 2000 career sergeants; all 40 will be covered in the coming years.
Will positive psychology ever work effectively, not only where we are not? I hope to get an answer to this question at the VI European Conference on Positive Psychology, which will be held in Moscow in June. One way or another, Seligman’s book clearly and with specific examples shows that people who are strong in spirit and with clear goals are able to change, both in their own lives and in the life of an entire state.
* «Prosper: A Revolutionary Perspective on Happiness and Prosperity», the book has not been translated into Russian.