{"id":62,"date":"2011-06-20T08:57:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-20T12:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=62"},"modified":"2011-06-20T08:57:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-20T12:57:00","slug":"the-glass-is-well-the-glass-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=62","title":{"rendered":"The Glass Is. . . Well, The Glass Is."},"content":{"rendered":"

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I can still recall my reflexive annoyance at seeing the cute little smiley face appended to the signature of a former colleague\u2019s written communications \u2013 and the momentary pleasure I\u2019d take in blacking it out. The implied \u2018have a nice day\u2019 seemed to invite an \u2018I\u2019ll have whatever kind of day I choose, thank you very much\u2019 accompanied by thoughts of pathetic Pollyanna\u2019s and irrepressible Ricky\u2019s (for those of us old enough to have watched Ozzie and Harriet). Give me a good, solid cynic anytime: grounded realists all. In short, I\u2019d always harbored a view (a suspicion) that optimism lacked gravitas, smacked to some extent of self-delusion \u2013 or, at best, na\u00efvet\u00e9; pessimism, while \u2018harder to look at\u2019, was the real deal, the unvarnished truth.<\/p>\n

Mellowing somewhat, as I expect we must, in the past few decades \u2013 and I suppose fortunate, professionally, that psychology as a discipline has gravitated toward the middle ground \u2013 I\u2019ve found myself a little less dark and now quite accepting of \u2018balanced thinking\u2019. Cognitive behavioural techniques, with their emphasis on rational thought and a \u2018just stick to the facts, m\u2019am\u2019 methodology, have displaced, for the most part Freud\u2019s sinister interpretations of our hidden compulsions as the intervention of choice. My personal pendulum had begun its inevitable return trip to the midpoint. Nevertheless I was not about to turn in my cynic\u2019s club membership just yet and become a card-carrying optimist.<\/p>\n

So it was with some skepticism (of course!) that I read Sarah Hampson\u2019s piece in the Globe last weekend highlighting the findings of a recent book entitled The Happiness Advantage<\/em> (Shawn Achor) associating, among other things, a performance edge going to the happy camper. Identifying a range of potential within the individual, research reviewed by Achor reportedly suggests that we operate more toward the upper reaches of that range when we are \u2018happy\u2019. In fairness (to us former cynics), he is quick to differentiate between that chronically effervescent, resilient state that so reminds me of those inflatable \u2018bobo\u2019 dolls with sand in their feet that pop right back up each time you\u2019d whack the bejeezus out of them \u2013 a condition he calls \u2018irrational optimism\u2019 \u2013 and its more grounded sibling: rational optimism. (We didn\u2019t all buy into The Secret<\/em> and its questionable, though wildly popular contention that \u2018if you put it out to the universe, it will happen\u2019 \u2013 and if it doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s because you<\/em> had a little doubt sneak in the side door \u2013 and neither, it seems, did Mr. Achor.)<\/p>\n

His rational optimist<\/em> is not just somebody who thinks happy thoughts (think Chicken Soup for the Soul author tacking his cheque for $1 million on the ceiling above his bed \u2013 until it showed up. Oh really!!). Rather, he\/she is someone who exhibits three characteristics that Achor claims are responsible for 75% of our performance in any given situation (intelligence, skill set, etc. accounting, in his view for the other 25%): optimism<\/strong> (of course), a positive and supportive social network<\/strong>, and a positive response to stress<\/strong>. The last of the three is the one I found most compelling \u2013 and, in some ways, most relevant to and accessible through mindfulness practice. The author identifies, as part of the rational optimist\u2019s tool kit, post-traumatic growth<\/em><\/strong> as key. He defines this as the individual\u2019s capacity to respond to crisis, hurt, disappointment, tragedy with a readiness to incorporate these difficult, even tragic circumstances into their ongoing psychological growth \u2013 as he puts it, \u2018growing because of<\/em> trauma, not despite<\/em> it\u2019. I contrast this with what an acquaintance of mine calls \u2018victim mode\u2019 \u2013 the adoption of one\u2019s tragedies as a defining element in their identity going forward. A wonderful exploration of these two polarities is contained in Rohinton Mistry\u2019s, A Fine Balance<\/em>, chronicling the undeniably tragic lives of two, poverty stricken tailors from the north of India and their infallible and personally innocent \u2018instinct\u2019 for participating in one disaster after another buoyed only by their resilience; and a spoiled relative afforded every opportunity who ultimately suicides, a \u2018victim\u2019 of his own \u2018thoughts\u2019.<\/p>\n

In mindfulness practice, attachment represents a considerable impediment. Among its other \u2018roles\u2019, becoming attached to or entrenched in a particular state or event fails to allow us to move on. We become \u2018stuck\u2019, in the present context, \u2018in victim\u2019 \u2013 which then begins to define who we are, how we see ourselves, and even what our expectations for the future might be. (In clinical terms, we may become depressed or overly preoccupied with the past; even making \u2018predictions\u2019 about the probable negative direction we\u2019re headed in \u2013 the \u2018nothing ever changes\u2019 or \u2018without bad luck, I\u2019d have no luck at all\u2019 outlook.) Regular mindfulness practice, with its attendant emphasis on the basics of letting go, allowing what is, accepting that change and evolution is inevitable, can be figural in our adoption of a more fluid, tolerant (of all<\/em> experiences) mindset \u2013 living with the \u2018full catastrophe\u2019, in Jon Kabat Zinn\u2019s description. In Mr. Achor\u2019s view, this becomes important as we sort out how we\u2019re going to address the inevitable \u2018downturns\u2019 in our lives (he claims something of the order of 10% of what we face is externally determined and therefore unavoidable) \u2013 do we treat them as \u2018confirmations\u2019 of our \u2018traumatized\u2019 state; or adaptively<\/em>, with rational optimism.<\/p>\n

This thinking is not new. I can still recall seeing Norman Vincent Peale sitting prominently on my parents\u2019 bookshelf (well, his book, anyway). Much more recently, and for the hard-headed scientist in me, more palatably is the work of Martin Seligman, a prominent psychologist, whose earlier research centered on learned optimism<\/em>, leading to his very readable book, Authentic Happiness<\/em> in 2002. In it he provides compelling evidence and manageable formulae for (in language very similar to Achor\u2019s) \u2018fulfilling one\u2019s potential\u2019. His listing of \u2018signature strengths\u2019 (vs. defining pathologies) \u2013 what\u2019s right, rather than what\u2019s wrong \u2013 reads like an index to mindfulness practice: openness to experience, objective consideration, social intelligence, perspective, integrity, genuineness, honesty, (loving)kindness, generosity, self-control, humility. . .the list goes on to twenty-four such dimensions. (Just a tad more \u2018optimistic\u2019 than reading the DSM-IV, the catalogue of psychiatric mental health disorders, prominent on our current bookshelves.)<\/p>\n

For a full, working example of what Achor\u2019s formula might look like in action, have a look at this morning Globe\u2019s lead story at:
http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/national\/toronto\/from-a-child-with-cancer-a-lesson-in-living\/article2067054\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Optimism, supportive social network, positive response to stress \u2013 indeed! Maybe there\u2019s hope for this aging cynic after all.<\/p>\n

Cheers.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can still recall my reflexive annoyance at seeing the cute little smiley face appended to the signature of a former colleague\u2019s written communications \u2013 and the momentary pleasure I\u2019d take in blacking it out. The implied \u2018have a nice day\u2019 seemed to invite an \u2018I\u2019ll have whatever kind of day I choose, thank you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}