End of the Worst Decade or Beginning of your Best?
Post written by Dayne. Follow him on Twitter.
10 Happy Comments
A change in the world starts with you.
Will this New Year’s Day ring in the end of the worst decade ever?
That’s the claim made by Time Magazine, which recently featured an eye-catching cover of a crying baby in a party hat with the headline “Decade from Hell.”
According to Time, some of the worst events of the “worst decade ever” began with the disputed election of George W. Bush as President, which was followed by the 9/11 Terrorist attacks. There were continuing military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and a series of major natural disasters, including a tsunami in the South Pacific, Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. South, and major earthquakes in India and China. As the decade ends, we have double digit unemployment and a global economic crisis.
Granted it was a tough decade, but hardly the worst ever.
Those who are familiar with history can think of rougher decades, such as the 1930s, which saw the Great Depression, or the 1940s, when World War II brought worldwide chaos. The 1860s were another rough decade in the U.S. due to the Civil War. And then there were the 1340s, when the Black Plague led to the deaths of almost half the population of Europe. Viewing this past decade with respect to history puts things in perspective. We’ve had a tough decade, but probably not the worst ever.
By focusing solely on the problems of the past decade, Time Magazine is engaging in the type of thinking that leads many people to anxiety and depression.
While the world’s problems can’t be ignored, focusing on the negative can foster a feeling of hopelessness. No one person can change all the negative things that happen in the world. It’s overwhelming to even think about them for too long.
The biggest thing that most people can do is create a sense of peace, harmony and well-being in their own lives.
Of course, it’s easier to maintain a sense of well-being when things are going well in life. But the random nature of life means that no one is immune from hardship or misfortune at some point. Being able to rise above adversity, think clearly and still see the beauty in the world are important survival skills. When times are tough, a positive attitude can make the difference between facing up to a challenge and moving on, or becoming mired in doubt, uncertainty and confusion.
A relatively new branch of psychology known as positive psychology studies the traits of people who can rise above their problems and the problems of the world and lead happy and productive lives. Two of the leading experts in this field, Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman, recently edited a book called Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. This book, known as the CSV handbook, is the first attempt to classify positive mental states of mind in a way similar to the classification that has been done for psychological problems and mental illness.
The CSV lists 24 key traits that are connected with a feeling of well-being and happiness.
The 24 traits are categorized as follows:
- Wisdom and Knowledge: creativity, curiosity, a love of learning, open-mindedness and perspective.
- Courage: bravery, perseverance, energy and honesty.
- Justice: leadership, teamwork and fairness.
- Humanity: the ability to love and be loved, kindness, and a social conscious.
- Moderation: forgiveness, humility, discipline and self-control.
- Connection to the larger universe: appreciation of beauty, hope, gratitude, humor, spirituality.
Based on surveys of thousands of people in different countries, these traits have been found to be universal.
Regardless of their culture, people who have strengths in some or all of these 24 areas are more resilient and enjoy more peace and harmony in their day-to-day lives. The experts in positive psychology feel that these traits can be learned and can become part of one’s personality. By developing these traits, it is possible to become happier and to feel more hopeful, regardless of negative events in one’s own life and in the world.
Peterson, Seligman and their colleagues have created a survey with 240 questions to help people identify their own strengths in terms of the 24 traits of happiness. An awareness of one’s strengths can be used to identify activities that will lead to the greatest happiness. For example, if you find that you are creative and love to be surrounded by beauty, you can seek a career that provides an outlet for these traits.
You can find this survey at the VIA (“Values in Action”) website at www.viacharacter.org.
Can positive psychology help us put the “decade from hell” behind us and approach the next decade with hope? This is definitely the case. These are some suggestions for cultivating a positive outlook:
- Make a commitment to being more creative and curious. Commit to spending more time with family and friends who are positive influences. Commit to learning new things and to remaining open-minded about new things.
- Challenge yourself to dream big and to overcome the fear of failure. Tackle problem areas in your life with energy and enthusiasm. Create a strategy for dealing with adversity. Most of all, fight negative thinking and focus on the positive.
- Reach out to other people. See yourself as an important part of a community, whether it be family, work, church or school. Work to improve your community and take leadership whenever possible. Find out how your particular talents can make a difference in the lives of other people.
- Look within. Set aside time for contemplation. Seek out the beauty of nature. Enjoy music, art or whatever is beautiful in your eyes. Take care of your health and fitness.
Emphasizing a positive mindset does not ignore the fact that very bad things can happen in anyone’s life. The randomness of life can is one of the hardest things about being human. But developing the 24 traits of happiness provides the tools to conquer adversity and to stay strong in the face of catastrophe.
“Change your thoughts, and you change your world.” Norman Vincent Peale
Posted on December 31, 2009
The best we can do is love ourselves and be happy. I resonate with that sentence completely. Living the life you want is tough and it requires some courage. Fear will always be there to block those that aren’t really serious about their goals.
But the truth is that fear puts up a really weak barrier, all you have to do is poke and it falls down. This is when you realize that it isn’t all that bad. Fear will always be there.
Thanks for a good last post of 2009!
Henri @ Wake Up Cloud´s last blog ..Law of Attraction for Conscious People – The Series
I agree with your thoughts about media encouraging stress, anxiety etc with their focus on negative events. I would think that another leading magazine could write a stunning article on the exact opposite and highlight the wonderful things that the last decade bought us.
Each individual can take the opportunity to look within their own life over the last decade and see what they found that was wonderful, challenging and what they have learnt to help them enjoy the next one!
Thank you for the post… absolutely love Seligman’s work with Learned Optimism as well. It was great!
This is a very good and interesting read. Overcoming the fear of failure sometimes seems harder then it actually is. When truthfully its all in our head
Josten´s last blog ..Zig Ziglar Ethical Leadership
awesome article Dayne! I agree with focusing on too much negativity can really lead to too much in action. Thanks for the list of 24 characteristics. really helpful !
Rocky | R O C K O N O V A . C O M´s last blog ..What A Mortal Enemy Has Taught Me About Right Understanding
For me, it’s both! It was a rough decade up until last year and now things are starting to look like this decade is going to be the best yet. Can’t wait! Happy New Year!
Great post as always Dayne! Thank you for addressing Time’s politically leaned negative declaration. The fact is that time is neutral days and years are neutral. Even when its tough there is not a worse or a better. Its always good.
And I am definitely going to dive into the survey right now, Thanks for making it available!
Justin Dixon´s last blog ..How to Prepare Yourself For a Marriage That Lasts
Can’t wait til challenge myself even more this year. I think that is what will make me the happiest.
Great thoughts Dayne!!!
Check out this post I just did on WHERE HAPPY PEOPLE ARE…
http://lifeexcursion.com/index.php/less-space-less-things-more-life/
and you may like this site…
http://www.bluezones.com/
David Damron
LifeExcursion
Dave – LifeExcursion´s last blog ..Less Space. Less Things. More Life.
Each day that you wake up and discover that you’re still alive, you have another chance to grow, succeed, to thrive. So, the start of the new decade is definitely full of hope because it’s in front of us. What we do today, this day, this minute determines what we’ll be looking back on later.
Emphasizing a positive mindset is definitely not ignoring the bad things that can happen, but it makes it easier to handle them when they do. It’s kind of like insurance. We certainly don’t want to have accidents or illness, but the last thing we want to think about when they occur are the bills that result. Insurance frees us to focus on recovery. A positive mindset assures us that we can handle whatever comes up, and we do.
Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D.´s last blog ..Happiness is Becoming What You Were Meant to Be
Dayne -
Thanks for this viewpoint on the noughties. I agree that proximity definitely exaggerates how bad the last ten years may have been – certainly nothing compared to the 1940s which saw a worldwide war. The last decade saw a technological and information revolution that has transformed humanity. We have the ability to interact globally with like minded others in a way we may not have imagined 10 years ago. There is more of a sense of global responsibility and a blurring of traditional (and some might argue artificial) state boundaries. It is true that the world is more complex, there are more people and things happen much faster now. There are also big issues to address such as global warming and the provision of resources. However i believe that the changes in information sharing and community building will allow humanity to triumph and move past these challenges. Seeing the response to the Iranian elections, with global dissent mobilised by Twitter and Facebook is a flash of the future and I think there is hope more than fear about that. Ideas such as positive psychology and the rise of spirituality can spread quickly in this new culture and will change the very definition of success for us all. So bring on the teenies! Thanks again for a great post.
Phil
Hi Dayne!
This was a great post! I agree that the way that one chooses to look at their world directly determines how happy and successful they will be in that life.
Personally, I believe that we are witnessing the death of an old world and the birth of a new. Those who are embedded in the institutions of the old will naturally look around them and see the end of the world.
But those of us who simply pull back a bit quickly realize that there is logic in the chaos around us. You just have to look at our world slightly differently. It is an exciting time to be a part of the birth of a new world. Perhaps a more enlightened one? Let’s hope so.
And of course simply choosing to look at the positive side of life is a powerful way to live a fulfilling life in even the worst of times.
I think of the writings of young Anne Frank, the little Jewish girl whose family lived in hiding and in terror of discovery by the Nazis for years during the early 1940s. Yet she lived and loved. To us she had no life at all, but she didn’t know that.
I think of people like that when I hear folks spouting off about how bad everything is.
Keep up the great posts!
All the best,
Hugh
Hugh DeBurgh – The Passionate Warrior´s last blog ..The 5th Secret to Getting the Life You Want