Today is National Grouch Day…let’s use today to celebrate what is right with us!
Positive Psychology is the study of what is right with us, what makes us thrive and smile in spite of what is happening in the rest of the world. So why am I linking Positive Psychology to National Grouch Day? To answer that I need to tell you a story of a little girl who challenged her father’s perspective.
A five-year-old little girl was in the rose garden with her father. She had been trying to gain her father’s attention when he turned around and snapped at her. Unhappy with his response, his daughter asked him if he remembered when she used to whine when she was 3 and 4?
She told him when she turned 5 she decided to stop whining and if she was able to stop whining then he was able to stop being a grouch!
It was this incident that ignited a new path in psychology for Martin Seligman, the father in this story and the Father of Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology could be simply defined as the practice of developing what is right with us instead of the standard psychology path of fixing what is wrong with us.
A child speaking boldly to her father woke him up and helped him make a change that has had a positive impact on many people.
This shift in perspective had a profound impact on my life several years ago when I was overwhelmed as a single mom, corporate executive, and nurturing some relationships that were adding to my unease. It was my ability to stop and change my perspective from what was not working to what I could do more of that would ignite my smiles that transformed my thoughts, behaviors, and relationships.
Today’s Simple Smile Igniter is to celebrate what is right with you. You are a unique combination of perspectives, strengths, passions, skills, likes, and desires that make you… YOU. Today celebrate YOU by noticing one special characteristic that is right about you.
Today I will celebrate me by doing some of the things I love that also bring joy to others, like writing this post that I hope ignites your smile, working in my yard that although is SO MUCH WORK some neighbors have thanked me for doing since it adds to the beauty of our neighborhood, and celebrating my mom’s birthday with my family.
What will you do to celebrate you?