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
The goal of a life free of dysphoria is a snare and a delusion. A better goal is of good commerce with the world. Authentic happiness, astonishingly, can occur even in the presence of authentic sadness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The pursuit of an entirely pain-free life is unrealistic; true happiness can coexist with sadness through meaningful engagement with the world.
Martin Seligman's quote suggests that seeking a life devoid of discomfort or dysphoria is misguided. Instead, one should aim for a genuine connection with the world around them. Authentic happiness can arise even when faced with authentic sadness, emphasizing that life's complexities and a balanced acceptance of both joy and sorrow contribute to a richer and more meaningful existence.
Themes
HappinessSadnessLifeDysphoriaEngagement
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about resilience during difficult times.
More from Martin Seligman
All quotes →One 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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