He formado parte del cisma en la psicología que se conoce como psicología positiva, un movimiento científico y profesional. En 1998, como presidente de la American Psychological Association (APA), apremié a la psicología a complementar su venerable meta con un nuevo objetivo: explorar lo que hace que la vida valga la pena y crear las condiciones habilitadoras de una vida digna de ser vivida. La meta de entender el bienestar y crear condiciones habilitadoras para la vida no es de ningún modo idéntica a la meta de entender el sufrimiento y deshacer las condiciones incapacitantes de la vida. En este momento, varios miles de personas en todo el mundo trabajan en este campo y se esfuerzan por promover estas metas.2 Este libro narra su historia, o por lo menos el lado público de esta historia.

I used to think that the topic of positive psychology was happiness, that the gold standard for measuring happiness was life satisfaction, and that the goal of positive psychology was to increase life satisfaction. I now think that the topic of positive psychology is well-being, that the gold standard for measuring well-being is flourishing, and that the goal of positive psychology is to increase flourishing. This theory, which I call well-being theory, is very different from authentic happiness theory, and the difference requires explanation.

Alcanzar una meta ambiciosa lo obliga, necesariamente, a crecer como persona. Tendrá que desarrollar nuevas destrezas, aptitudes y capacidades. Tendrá que esforzarse al máximo, dar lo mejor de sí, y al hacerlo, dará lo mejor de sí para siempre.

Psychological despotism, whether enlightened or not, is gross misuse of psychology. The main purpose of psychology is to acquire insight into, and mastery of, oneself. Not for nothing were what we now call the behavioral sciences originally called the moral sciences and “Know thyself” their main precept. To use psychology to control, dominate, and manipulate others is self-destructive abuse of knowledge. It is also a particularly repugnant form of tyranny.

Si cada meta es una “meta flexible”, ¿cómo sabrás qué es el éxito? Las metas se fijan para cumplirlas.

But of greater concern is the fact that psychologists tend to give progressively less attention to a motive which pervades our entire lives.

No tengo todas las respuestas. Pero espero que haya tenido éxito en conseguir que empieces a hacerte las preguntas correctas. ¿Estás trabajando en la maximización de la felicidad cada día? ¿Cuál es el efecto neto de tu existencia en la cantidad total de felicidad en el mundo cada día? ¿Cuáles son tus valores? ¿Qué te apasiona? ¿Qué te inspira? ¿Cuál es tu meta en la vida? ¿Cuáles son los valores de tu empresa? ¿Cuál es el propósito superior de tu empresa? ¿Cuál es tu propósito más elevado? Al caminar con un propósito chocas con el destino. BERTICE BERRY

Psychology is the science of mental life

Psychology is the science of mental life.” William James

Remember, our goal is not to ignore the problems of life, but to put ourselves in better mental and emotional states where we can not only come up with solutions, but act upon them.

Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.

I am of the opinion that an entirely new light would illuminate many psychological and psycho-physiological questions if we recognised that distinct perception is merely cut, for the purposes of practical existence, out of a wider canvas. In psychology and elsewhere, we like to go from the part to the whole, and our customary system of explanation consists in reconstructing ideally our mental life with simple elements, then in supposing that the combination of these elements has really produced our mental life. If things happened this way, our perception would as a matter of fact be inextensible; it would consist of the assembling of certain specific materials, in a given quantity, and we should never find anything more in it than what had been put there in the first place. But the facts, taken as they are, without any mental reservation about providing a mechanical explanation of the mind, suggest an entirely different interpretation. They show us, in normal psychological life, a constant effort of the mind to limit its horizon, to turn away from what it has a material interest in not seeing. Before philosophizing one must live; and life demands that we put on blinders, that we look neither to the right, nor to the left nor behind us, but straight ahead in the direction we have to go. Our knowledge, far from being made up of a gradual association of simple elements, is the effect of a sudden dissociation: from the immensely vast field of our virtual knowledge, we have selected, in order to make it into actual knowledge, everything which concerns our action upon things; we have neglected the rest.

the goal of psychic development is the self. There is no linear evolution; there is only a circumambulation of the self.

A more recent development in the cognitive field is “positive psychology,” which has sought to reorient the discipline away from mental problems to the study of what makes people happy, optimistic, and productive.