ARCHIVE - Lisa's blog

ARCHIVE - Forgiveness

Lisa — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:31:06 -0800

Positive Psychology

Forgiveness – Activity 6

Lisa Wilson

Forgiveness, this is a hard activity for me to do…there is only one person, that comes to mind, who has hurt me and betrayed me in a way that I can not forgive or forget. I have thought about this activity for days and have put off writing about it because of what is involved. Bottom line for me is …I am just not ready to forgive her. I don’t think I can just say, “Okay, I have to get this activity done, so here goes…” It is not that simple for me. I will, however, hang on to the paper and when I am ready to forgive this person I will do as the activity says.

ARCHIVE - EMP

Lisa — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:13:55 -0800

Positive Psychology

Field Trip to EMP

Lisa Wilson

I had such a great time in Seattle and exploring EMP. I had the pleasure of my daughter’s company during this field trip which made the day even more enjoyable. When I think about concepts that we have learned this quarter, positive emotions and positive communities stood out for me on this day.

ARCHIVE - Beautiful Day

Lisa — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:11:02 -0800

Positive Psychology

Activity 4 “A Beautiful Day”

Lisa Wilson

In order to complete my activity for a beautiful day by today, I had to do it during the week which was not my preference because I would like to have started my day off by sleeping in and not having to go to work. However, with that being said, I decided to have a positive attitude and make it work. I started off by dressing in something pretty for work. Generally I wear pants to work but on this day I thought I would begin my “beautiful day” by wearing something more feminine and beautiful, so I put on a skirt. It worked. I felt good and looked forward to my day at the office.

ARCHIVE - The Resilience Factor

Lisa — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 22:31:19 -0800

The Resilience Factor

Lisa Wilson

The Resilience Factor reminded me of a few years ago when I lost weight. I had a lot of stress in my personal life and I began to run and I lost 30 pounds. At 5’02” that was a lot of weight, but to get to my point; people commented on my achievement and how losing weight was something they also wanted to do but didn’t want to run or didn’t have time. The excuses for not doing it were numerous. It is the same with the book. If a person truly wants to make a change in their life then this book will help them. I believe this because as I read the book I had “aha” moments. One such moment was in the section on page 66, You Are What You Think. The very last paragraph on that page states, “In fact, it is not the events that happen to us that cause our feelings and behaviors – it is our thoughts or, as we’ll call them, Beliefs (B’s) about the events that drive how we feel and what we do.” After reading that particular sentence a couple of times, I thought back to situations where I did exactly that…I let my thoughts about these particular situations take over. The ticker-tape was the same in each of these situations which caused me great misery. I can see that now.

ARCHIVE - Activity 3 "Three Blessings" and Activity 5 "The Gratitude Letter"

Lisa — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:57:25 -0800

Activity 3: “Three Blessings”

Positive Psychology

Lisa Wilson

I enjoyed doing this activity. Usually I think about all that I am grateful for on my drive into work. It relaxes me and makes me appreciate my life. In the evenings as I am going to bed, I generally think of all that has happened during the day and most, of course, is the negative things that played out. So when I started this activity it was nice going to bed thinking about what I am grateful for instead of what went wrong. I found myself more relaxed as I prepared for bed and I seemed to fall asleep faster once I got into bed. I did as the exercised stated by naming my positive event, then visualizing it, and finally saying the name over and over in my head. This was all good but I must confess that I rarely dreamt about my positive event. The majority of the mornings I awoke remembering my dreams but there were some mornings that I couldn’t even remember putting my head down on the pillow. However, I did wake up many mornings in a good mood, well rested and ready to start my day.

ARCHIVE - An Introduction to Positive Psychology

Lisa — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:17:23 -0800

William Compton’s book was very informative and thorough. The chapters were well thought out and organized. Beginning with the definition of positive psychology and the history of its development, Compton offers an insight to how positive psychology materialized and how it continues to grow. In part two of the book, chapters 3-6, Compton discusses positive emotional states. Two of the chapters that stood out for me were Chapter 5 – Love and Well-Being and Chapter 6 - Wellness, Health Psychology, and Positive Coping. Chapter 5 interested me because just as the book states, “…the search for love and supportive relationships is a significant factor in the lives of many people.” mine included. Before reading this book, I had read information on the studies of married couples being happier and healthier than single people, but two things I found particularly interesting about this chapter were: 1) Arlene Skolnick’s research on marital stability. She states, “…each marriage is really two marriages: the husband’s and the wife’s.” For some reason that statement really struck me because I have always thought of a marriage as two people coming together as one. The idea of a marriage being two marriages makes perfect sense. Skolnick discusses how each person in a marriage has a different interpretation of satisfaction in a marriage and that a “…a successful marriage is built on a variety of behaviors…What is less important is how people behave, just as long as those behaviors enhance affection, support, and the necessary processes.” (emphasis added because I found that comment interesting). I would like to have read more about her theory of the “two marriages.” 2) the Gottman’s suggestions to enrich a marriage. Looking back on my marriage (I am currently divorced) I realize that a lot of were we went wrong was due to the fact we did not nurture our relationship. We didn’t work on building our relationship on a daily basis. It was much easier to walk away than try to fix our problems. Having read their seven principles to make a marriage work, the fourth principle, Let Your Partner Influence You, is difficult for me. I am stubborn in some ways and I can see (looking back on previous relationships) how I damaged relationships because of my stubbornness – something to work on.

ARCHIVE - Activity 1 and Activity 2

Lisa — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:16:16 -0800

Activity 1:

Two activities that I do to lift my mood are: exercise and spend time with my children. With exercise, I would say I experience being in flow as described by William Compton in An Introduction to Positive Psychology. This happens only when I run outside. If I am lifting weights or running on the treadmill in a gym I am focused but I do not have a loss of self-consciousness. When I run outside, my blood starts to pump before I even begin to run. My heart starts to race as I get closer to my starting point. When I run, my mind doesn’t wander; I am focused on every step I take and every breath I breathe. My body relaxes and unwinds. My breathing gets into rhythm with my legs. Together they set a pace that stays with me until I finish. When I am done I am exhilarated with no presence of time and I feel great.