I'm trying to broaden the scope of positive psychology well beyond the smiley face. Happiness is just one-fifth of what human beings choose to do.
Martin SeligmanRead
You can have meaning, accomplishment, engagement and good relationships, even if you are dull on the positive affect side.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Even if one lacks a positive demeanor, it is still possible to find fulfillment and build meaningful relationships.
This quote by Martin Seligman emphasizes that a person's overall sense of meaning, achievements, and quality of relationships is not solely dependent on how positive or cheerful they appear. Rather, individuals can lead fulfilling lives and foster strong connections with others regardless of their emotional expressiveness, suggesting that depth and engagement in life come from various sources beyond just positive emotions.
Themes
MeaningAccomplishmentRelationshipsEngagementHappiness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about finding fulfillment in life regardless of personality traits.
More from Martin Seligman
All quotes βOne of my worries about America is the epidemic of depression we've been in. One of the possibilities about that is that the 'I' gets bigger and bigger, and the 'we' gets smaller and smaller.
Martin SeligmanRead
The dirty little secret of both clinical psychology and biological psychiatry is that they have completely given up on the notion of cure.
Martin SeligmanRead
The belief that we can rely on shortcuts to happiness, joy, rapture, comfort, and ecstasy, rather than be entitled to these feelings by the exercise of personal strengths and virtues, leads to legions of people who, in the middle of great wealth, are starving spiritually.
Martin SeligmanRead
I believe psychology has done very well in working out how to understand and treat disease. But I think that is literally half-baked. If all you do is work to fix problems, to alleviate suffering, then by definition you are working to get people to zero, to neutral.
Martin SeligmanRead
The good life is using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification.
Martin SeligmanRead
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