Can Positive Psychology Make Us Happier - Essay Example

The proponents of positive psychology argue that the goal of life would be to pursue happiness.Negative emotions are perceived to be the main cause of unhappiness. With negative feelings come sadness, feelings of despair, and even some mental disorders such as depression. Diseases such as type 2 diabetes have also been attributed to negative feelings. With these complications, people become unhappy in life. It is therefore necessary to ensure that one controls negative emotions to have happiness.

Positive psychology indicates that people can improve their emotional wellbeing through physical activities. This may include walking, playing, or going to the gym. Happiness is not only concerned with the promotion of mental and emotional stability but physical fitness as well. Many diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity have been associated with lack of physical exercise. Positive psychology indicates the importance of physical exercises, arguing that it has the potential to enhance happiness.

Positive psychology has found a correlation between strong social bonds and happiness. This is especially family relations. Positive psychology indicates that one can gain happiness through fostering strong social bonds. People with such bonds are able to share their negative emotions with their family members. Lonely people do not have people with whom they can share their emotions. As a result, they are likely to be overwhelmed by negative emotions hence becoming unhappy. For this reason, positive psychology argues that it is imperative to foster strong social bonds if one is to become happy.

 Positive psychology identifies the job environment as one of the areas where people are likely to be stressed to the point of suffering from mental ailments. It has been found that the major cause of unhappiness is the lack of motivation among the employees. Further, unhappiness has also been associated with a lack of proper coping mechanisms. Creating favorable working conditions for employees will be able to foster happiness. Positive psychology has been criticized for lacking in objectivity, and its distortion of reality.

The critics indicate that happiness is not just a state that is just arrived by learning how to control one’s negative emotions. The argument is that happiness is a product that is achieved by a life well-lived. It is nothing that one needs to create within a short time since this will be temporary. According to Sundararajan (2005), positive psychology has erred by assuming that negative feelings affect people who are pessimistic, and who cannot control such emotions. It is argued that negative feelings, including stress, and depression are a reflection of the reality of the life that people live.

It is a true reflection of what people feel when faced with different issues in life. Negative feelings only become pathological when they adversely affect the normal functioning of the people. This is especially when people begin developing mental ailments. Nevertheless, happiness should not be defined as the absence of negative emotions, since this is part of real life.