Read Rec – Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman

For me, one of the best parts of the holidays is cuddling up with a good book. I’m pleased to say I got to do that for about 6.5 minutes this Christmas before I was interrupted by my four year old.

Despite this grave obstacle, I did manage to get through Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman. An oldie but a goodie, Seligman is widely regarded as the father of Positive Psychology, or, the study of happiness and well-being. Below are nine things I took away from this book. 

Too long to read? The crux is that authenticity makes you happier. So be yourself by bringing your signature strengths to all facets of your life.

1️⃣ Know your signature character strengths. Authentic happiness comes from cultivating these every day, in all facets of your life. You can do a test on authentichappiness.org

2️⃣ Don’t spend a lot of time trying to correct your weaknesses. Focus instead on building and using your strengths

3️⃣ All strengths can be learned

4️⃣ Resilience: Something that so many of us want more of. Optimism, hope and signature strengths are key to resilience. And they can all be built 

5️⃣ Positive moods create different ways of thinking than negative moods. People in a positive mood set higher goals, perform better and persist longer

6️⃣ Women experience more positive AND negative emotions than men. Women have more extreme emotional lives than men 

7️⃣ The belief that the past determines the future is linked with unhappiness 

8️⃣ You can enhance positive emotion in the past, present and future

9️⃣ Gratification: when does time stop for you? This is the concept of Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and its key to psychological growth, contentment and success 

How's that for a dose of optimism going into 2025?