Another interesting snippet of research this week examining the personality traits common to happy individuals. The best news is that these are attributes that we can train and cultivate – more on that next week. According to Caroline Adams Miller, a leading positive psychologist, these are the Big 4:
- Optimism: happy people are hopeful; they expect positive outcomes and deal well with setbacks. They are likely to celebrate their achievements along the way and in the face of setbacks they don’t personalise their problems, expect the problems to recur or generalise their problems to other spheres of life.
- Self-confidence: happy people have a healthy sense of self-esteem and their confidence stems from their high self-regard. Research shows that happy people like themselves and tend to view themselves as kinder, smarter, healthier and more generous, ethical and impartial than other people.
- Extraversion: happy people enjoy the company of others and are energised by social interaction.
- Self-efficacy: happy people have a strong sense of agency and power. They not only set goals but believe they have the necessary skills and resolve to achieve them or have the confidence that they will learn how to get the task done. People with high self-efficacy believe that they can exert influence over the course of their own lives, believing in their ability to control their own behavior and hence shape how their life evolves.
Tune in next week for some simple and practical suggestions on how to cultivate these characteristics!
Love to all,
Suz xx
Reference: “Creating Your Best Life” by Caroline Adams Miller and Dr Michael Frisch
Suzy is available for counselling, coaching and private yoga sessions at her consulting room in Cammeray, Sydney, home visits, coaching via phone or skype, and ‘walk & talk’ sessions by appointment.
Contact Suzy at: suzy@suzyreading.co.uk
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