RationalSnowflake

This week at fsz we talked about positive psychology, one of my favorite subjects in psychology. I really like thinking about what it is that makes some people strong and resilient in the face of challenges. The lab I used to work in studies depression, and looked at childhood adversity (being abused or neglected or experiencing another significant form of hardship in some way as a child) as a contributing factor. So there were many depressed people with childhood adversity, which is to be expected. And of course there were some people who were depressed without having experienced any adversity. But then there were the people who went through really rough experiences throughout their lives, but never got depressed. Why? One way to explain it is through positive psychology. If you learn to enjoy what you have, like yourself for who you are, be present in the moment, grateful and appreciative, if you have hope, and strong social ties, if you see hardship as a interesting challenge, a puz...

Ten days ago, on March 27th, I wrote the previous post, talking about how I was happy. I expected to wake up the next morning and have everything be back to normal. I didn't think I'd be sad or anything, but definitely not happy. I was wrong. I was happy the next day, and the day after, and just about every day until yesterday. It was a good kind of happy; I just saw everything in a positive light. It's been rainy almost every day. When it rained, I listened to music and walked in puddles, lifting my face to the sky, thinking "let it rain - it can't stop me." Or something like that. Maybe slightly less cheesy-sounding. Last Saturday was an exception - it was very warm and sunny, and I went to the terrace and sat by the lake, studying and every now and then looking out at the water, just enjoying everything about my surroundings. Every day, I was surprised by my happiness, and wondered how long it would last, but didn't worry about it too much. So what ha...