Report on R&D lecture on “Positive Psychology”

Department of Science and Humanities held its monthly Knowledge Sharing Session, under R&D cell on 23 October through google meet. The session was taken  by Ms . Mayalin Noronha

Ms. Maya Lin started her session with a quote from Martin Seligman who said “The aim of Positive Psychology is to catalyse a change in psychology from a preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also building the best qualities in life.” —

 She said Scientists from the positive psychology movement, tells us that, to live a good life it is not enough to remove what is wrong with it, but to work on the positivity you have within. We put emotions in a spiral, giving a spiralling effect…a downward spiral for negative emotions and an upward spiral for positive emotions.  And so each emotion,implicitly takes as its job to recreate itself in the next minute.  And each emotion in this moment affects our emotions in the next moment.

Negative emotions differ from positive emotions in that positive emotions are so much more subtle than negative emotion, that is, negative emotions kind of scream at you, and positive emotions are just a little whisper sometimes. It’s interesting that the, positive events happen more frequently than negative events, so we really just need to take notice of the positive events that are already there and appreciating things that are there.

She spoke on 10 different types of frequently experienced common positive emotions. All of these positive emotions are in the order of their frequency in people’s daily experience.  The Positive emotion that’s probably closest to happy would be Joy, followed by Gratitude, Serenity, Interest, Hope, Pride, Amusement, Inspiration , Awe and Love.

She then further spoke about how positive emotions help us and how to work on it

She quoted from Rick Hanson, author of Hardwiring Happiness, suggestion, that pausing to let good events sink in for ten to twenty seconds allows them to become part of you. And this habit can rewire your brain to create a lasting positive psychology inside of you. 

 She said that there is an analogy with how plants flourish because of Sunlight and a similar heliotropic effect happens in humans, where at some level, your brain knows this, and turns towards sources of positivity, and stretches itself open to take in as much as it can in order to flourish where positivity is crucial for the life of all humans.

 We were introduced to an experience of Loving Kindness Meditation This meditation, of loving kindness involves generating feelings of warmth, caring, and friendliness toward oneself and others and is a way of developing intentions and concentration. She spoke on the Vagus nerve and how it is really implicated in both psychological health and in physical health.

She also spoke on how the immune system responds to stress and adversity.  in good times, when you’re connected with other people, those emotions of connection kind of warn the immune system that there’s a lot of togetherness going on. “Other people matter”, period.

At the same time that positive emotions beget health and health begets positive emotions.

She concluded by saying Everything is possible, maybe not immediately, but the very seeds you plant, the very seeds you water will create the future. Take time to quieten your mind, meditate, open your heart, listen to the trees, the voice of nature and just cultivate loving-kindness.

The session was coordinated by Ms.Gladys Da Silva  with the encouragement from HoD   Dr.Kala Nayak and was well attended by all staff.