Did You Know...

A simple exercise called "Three Blessings" can increase your sense of joy and well-being?

One random act of kindness had a dramatic effect on Daniel Tomasulo, Ph.D., and completely turned around what could've been a day mired in anger and resentment. This random act of kindness was his first experience in positive psychology.Positive psychology helps us not only count our blessings, but analyze and optimize their use as well.

This field of inquiry opening up in psychology is more than a passing fad and is rapidly emerging as the direction for many researchers and practitioners. Long mired in the work of understanding negative conditions, emotion, and feelings, psychology is taking a completely different view on understanding best how to benefit the human condition. Rather than to simply ameliorate the conditions of depression and negative symptoms, positive psychology is a direct effort to both quash the frequency and intensity of depression and anxiety, and directly increase the happiness we experience in life. What positive psychology endeavors do is to make us flourish in our life.

Consider the exercise called Three Blessings. It is already one of the classics in the field. This amazing simple technique has been shown to have a powerful, positive effect on reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, while simultaneously increasing a sense of joy and well-being. The task is simple enough. As your day comes to a close, allow yourself to think about three things that happened during the day the you are most happy about and why you believed they happened.

The outcome from doing this exercise is astonishing. Participants doing this exercise for one week increased happiness and decreased depressive symptoms for six months. While research suggests that this technique may actually be more effective if done less frequently, the basics of the technique have value, a very positive one.