Move From Surviving to Thriving - University of New Mexico

1 2 move From Surviving to Thriving : The Positive Psychology workbook for Challenging Times First Edition Bruce W. Smith, If you would like a printed copy of this workbook , it is available at minimal not for profit cost of approximately $ , go to: Bruce W. Smith on Amazon Dear Reader, This workbook is freely offered to anyone who wants to use it to create a life of greater joy, happiness, meaning, and fulfillment in spite of the challenges we often face. You have my permission to use anything in this workbook as long as you use it for increasing human happiness and well-being and make it as freely available as you can.

2 Please feel free to email us at if you have any questions or if the above link is not working. Warmly, Bruce W. Smith 4 Kindle Direct Publishing Seattle, WA, USA ISBN: 9798571856447 Copyright 2020 Bruce W. Smith 5 Table of Contents Preface .. 7 Acknowledgements .. 9 How to Use this workbook .. 11 Part 1 - Basic Training for Your Best Life .. 13 Chapter 1: A Call to Adventure .. 15 Chapter 2: What Do You Want Most? .. 23 Chapter 3:How Can You Make It Happen? .. 31 Chapter 4:Mindfulness and Acceptance .. 37 Chapter 5: Resilience and Stress-Related 43 Chapter 6: Wisdom and Creativity.

3 50 Part 2 Bringing Out Your Best .. 57 Chapter 7: Discovering Your Best .. 59 Chapter 8: Authenticity .. 67 Chapter 9: Perseverance .. 75 Chapter 10: 83 Chapter 11: Self-Efficacy .. 89 Chapter 12: Self-Control .. 96 Part 3 Bringing Out the Best Around You .. 103 Chapter 13: Social Intelligence .. 105 Chapter 14: Love .. 113 Chapter 15: Kindness .. 121 6 Chapter 16: Community Positive Psychology .. 127 Chapter 17: Fairness and Justice .. 133 Chapter 18: Forgiveness .. 140 Part 4 Creating the Best Possible Future .. 147 Chapter 19: Creating a Better Future .. 149 Chapter 20: Optimism and Hope .. 157 Chapter 21:Humor.

4 165 Chapter 22: Appreciation and Gratitude .. 173 Chapter 23: Meaning and Purpose .. 180 Chapter 24: Review and Celebration .. 187 Appendix A: Additional Readings .. 195 Appendix B: Positive Psychology Activities .. 197 Appendix C: Links to Author Videos .. 199 Appendix D: Links to Special Videos .. 200 Appendix E: Well-Being Survey .. 202 Appendix F: Pleasant Activities List .. 204 Appendix G: Strength Spotting Tool .. 210 Appendix H: Relationship Appreciative Inquiry .. 211 Appendix I: Acts of Kindness Planner .. 213 Appendix J: Community Cause Inventory .. 213 Appendix K: Guidelines for the PATH Process .. 224 7 Preface This workbook is a labor of love and free offering to all who might benefit from it.

5 It is based on my gratitude for years of being able to teach positive psychology and especially to the students and teaching assistants who have taught me so much. It is my attempt with the help of the Center for Applied Positive Psychology in Albuquerque, New Mexico to offer as many people as possible the best of what positive psychology, and broader psychology and science, have to offer each one of us. Positive psychology is the science of happiness and what makes life worth living and it is bringing the power of modern science to enable all of us make the most of our lives and live them to the fullest. I first taught positive psychology at the University of New Mexico in 2005 and it quickly became my favorite part of everything I do!

6 Since that first class of 30 students, the class has continued to grow to include two face-to-face classes of 400 students every year and another 100-200 students in an online course developed in 2018. The course has been voted the best class at our University more than once and, most important, I have seen how much of a difference it can make in the lives of students and in my own life. Since 2016, we have collected data on how students do during the class and have consistently found that students have significant increases in happiness, well-being, and resilience and decreases in anxiety, depression, and stress. In the past few years, several community leaders and I joined together to form the Center for Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) whose mission it is to share the benefits of positive psychology to as many people in as many communities as possible.

7 This past summer, in response to the uncertainty and stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the related social, economic, and mental health problems so many were experiencing, the people at CAPP and I decided to create a four week positive psychology challenge that took the best of what we know about positive psychology to make it available to others. This challenge, as captured in this workbook , includes what I and other in CAPP have found to be most beneficial in our teaching, research, and personal experience. Because the initial response to our pilot online challenge was so positive, we decided to make its benefits as broadly available as possible by creating a workbook to enable anyone to do it whenever they wanted at their own pace.

8 The positive psychology challenge in this workbook contains 24 chapters with lessons that represent the best of positive psychology, the videos that we created to help communicate the lessons, other videos that have been highly rated by hundreds of students, questions to help you reflect, learn, and grow, and most important, the activities and exercises that more than anything will enable you to bring positive psychology to life. Positive psychology is not a spectator sport, but a participatory sport that we can all take part in and it s only when we do that we see what it has to offer. 8 Now here comes the best news of all.

9 Positive psychology is not just about Surviving , it is about Thriving even during the most challenging and stressful times of our lives. Rather than avoiding or denying the bad things that come our way, positive psychology can enable us to face them, prevail, and use them as opportunities for learning and growth. It is for each and every day of our life even when we are under stress, going through a hard time, or trying to deal with loss, failure, or rejection. In fact, you might even say that positive psychology is especially for these times because it enables us to be at our best in all circumstances and make the most of our lives whatever we are going through.

10 More than anything else, the positive psychology that you can come to experience in this workbook will enable you to bring out the best in yourself so that you can live your life to the fullest. So welcome aboard! You are on a wonderful journey and what has to be one of life s greatest adventures. All we ask is that you be open to what you can learn and, most important, try it out for yourself and see what happens! Bruce W. Smith December 7, 2020 9 Acknowledgements I began the Preface by staying how grateful I was for the years of being able to teach positive psychology and all of the students and teaching assistants who have taught me so much.