I'm trying to broaden the scope of positive psychology well beyond the smiley face. Happiness is just one-fifth of what human beings choose to do.
Martin SeligmanRead
If you were an optimistic teen, then you'll be an optimist at 80. People's reactions to bad events are highly stable over a half century or more.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Optimism in youth often translates into a lifelong positive outlook on life.
This quote from Martin Seligman emphasizes the idea that the way individuals respond to adversity is consistent over time. If a person cultivates an optimistic attitude during their teenage years, this outlook tends to persist, influencing their perspective even into old age. The stability of people's reactions to negative experiences underscores the importance of fostering a positive mindset early in life.
Themes
OptimismAttitudeResilienceYouthPerspective
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about the power of positivity.
More from Martin Seligman
All quotes βOne of my worries about America is the epidemic of depression we've been in. One of the possibilities about that is that the 'I' gets bigger and bigger, and the 'we' gets smaller and smaller.
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The dirty little secret of both clinical psychology and biological psychiatry is that they have completely given up on the notion of cure.
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The belief that we can rely on shortcuts to happiness, joy, rapture, comfort, and ecstasy, rather than be entitled to these feelings by the exercise of personal strengths and virtues, leads to legions of people who, in the middle of great wealth, are starving spiritually.
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I believe psychology has done very well in working out how to understand and treat disease. But I think that is literally half-baked. If all you do is work to fix problems, to alleviate suffering, then by definition you are working to get people to zero, to neutral.
Martin SeligmanRead
The good life is using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification.
Martin SeligmanRead
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