Category: POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Many people think mindfulness is the same as meditation. However, this isn’t altogether accurate. Positive psychology trainers define mindfulness as a state of focused attention. This state can occur any time you focus on the here-and-now.  Meditation, on the other hand, is a formal practice in which various techniques are used to consciously direct attention. Mindful attention exercises are often used during meditation – which is why the two terms are used interchangeably by many people.

In the human resources field, there’s increasing interest in using mindfulness techniques to boost employee wellbeing. This is because the benefits of mindfulness are well researched. They include reduced stress, improved creativity, greater problem-solving ability and improved immune function. Accessing these benefits does not mean you have to take up a formal practice – such as mindfulness meditation. It can be as simple as doing one thing at a time and allowing yourself to fully focus on each task. Why not get some advice from a positive psychology trainer about practical ways to boost your mindfulness? It will benefit you and the people you work with.

About the author of this fun fact:

Eleanor is a master trainer and coach. She trains savvy professionals in a range of sectors – including higher education, health, finance and local government – in the use of positive psychology tools and techniques. Eleanor is the author of the Positive Psychology Toolkit for HR and L&D practitioners. She runs specialist training for facilitators and trainers, as well as delivering customised training for corporate teams.

Many people think mindfulness and meditation are the same thing. However, this isn’t really the case. Positive psychology trainers define mindfulness as a state of focused attention. It is a state which can occur any time you focus on the present moment.  Meditation, in contrast, is a formal practice in which various techniques are used to consciously direct attention. The aim of meditation is to induce a mindful state.  Additionally, mindful attention exercises are often used during meditation. However, the two concepts are slightly different.  

Positive psychology trainers teach mindfulness techniques to help professionals improve their focus, reduce stress and boost creativity. This usually doesn’t involve mediating – it means using simple techniques that focus attention. Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by bringing your attention to the present moment without any judgment. You remain aware of the surrounding environment, along with your body and thoughts, without any judgment.  

Positive psychologist, Ellen Langer, describes mindfulness as the process of actively discovering new things, while challenging your natural tendencies. She draws a  distinction between mindlessness and mindfulness. Mindlessness is a state of mind that relies on preconceived notions to categorise experiences. You become mindless when you perform an act out of habit or make assumptions. It includes automatic behaviour or acting from a single perspective.  

Mindfulness, on the other hand,  involves a state of openness. While meditation also often involves an open state of mind, it is not the same as the state outlined by Langer. Meditation refers to the intentional practice of focusing your attention. Most forms of meditation involve a postural position, mantras or repeated phrases and a focus on your breathing. Positive psychology trainers don’t use these techniques. Instead they use simple attention focusing techniques such as mindful photography to help you become more mindful.  

Some forms of meditation deliberately create a state of mindfulness, requiring you to remain aware and open to your surroundings. That’s why ‘mindfulness meditation’ is a commonly used term. However, the approach to mindfulness advocated by positive psychology trainers is more about being actively mindful in your daily life.   

According to Ellen Langer, the characteristics of mindfulness include: 

• Creation of new categories 
• Openness to new information 
• Awareness of more than one perspective 

Instead of relying on old categories and labels, you create new ones. This comes naturally to children.  As people start to depend on past experiences to shape their current ones, it becomes more difficult with age. Mindfulness also involves an openness to new information and points of view. New information helps you develop new categories and labels while different points of view help keep you open to other ideas or beliefs. 

If you want to become more mindful in your personal and professional life, try these tips. All of them are recommended by positive psychology trainers who work with corporate clients.  

• Actively try to notice new things in every situation and the familiar becomes more interesting 
• Avoid being mindless and relying on categories and labels that you created in the past 
• Reframe negative attributes in others as interesting quirks or potential areas for improvement 
• Always look for ways to grow and evolve instead of getting complacent with your current routine 
• Try to find ways to integrate work and life rather than trying to achieve an unrealistic work-life balance. 

Numerous studies have linked mindfulness to reduced stress, increased memory and greater cognitive flexibility. According to a study conducted at Liverpool John Moores University, mindfulness increased participant’s ability to remain focused and suppress any distracting information. So if you want to experience these benefits, start using mindful awareness techniques today.  

About the author of this article: 

Eleanor is a master trainer and coach. She trains savvy professionals in a range of sectors – including higher education, health, finance and local government – in the use of positive psychology tools and techniques. Eleanor is the author of the Positive Psychology Toolkit for HR and L&D practitioners. She runs specialist training for facilitators and trainers, as well as delivering customised training for corporate teams. 

Positive psychologists define optimism as a feeling of hopefulness and confidence about the future. It’s the belief that things will turn out okay. And here’s some great news. The thinking patterns of optimists can be learned. Even if you lean towards pessimism, you can change.

Here are four ways you can embed optimistic thinking habits in your life.

1. Keep a gratitude journal. This trains your brain to scan for the positives and feel grateful for even the smallest things.
2. Edit your self-talk. Delete negative language and replace it with constructive, solution focused inner dialogue.
3. Be curious. Refocus and look through a positive lens. Notice what’s good right now or has the potential to become better in the future.
4. Leave the past in the past. Stop dwelling on distressing or upsetting events from the past. Instead, picture the future you want to create and work out how to build it!

Apply these techniques and you will experience lower stress levels, better health outcomes and higher motivation. Take the pessimistic filter off and replace it with an optimistic one today!

About the author of this tip:

Eleanor Shakiba is a positive psychology trainer. She has been training and coaching ‘positive deviants’ since 1994. She delivers customised workshops for corporate teams, as well as practitioner level programs for HR and L&D specialists. Eleanor is the author of the Positive Psychology Toolkit for HR and L&D practitioners. (link to PP toolkit page). She also runs a range of retreats and workshops for trainers and facilitators.

Want to train your team on resilience and learned optimism techniques? Call Eleanor Shakiba. 0433 126 841

When people ask me how to overcome anxious or negative thoughts, I suggest they read Learned Optimism. It’s a pragmatic, helpful introduction to the skill of cognitive reframing. It’s easy to read, yet is based on a solid research foundation.  

In Learned Optimism, the ”father of positive psychology” explores pessimism, learned helplessness, explanatory style and optimism. He then discusses how these thinking patterns impact our lives. Drawing on more than 25 years of research, Seligman describes how optimism can become a learned attitude. He describes a range of techniques people can use to think optimistically. Because these are drawn from robust research studies, these are techniques OD and HR practitioners can teach with confidence.  

Reading Seligman’s book will help you understand, apply and teach the thinking habits of optimistic people. Leaders, trainers, counsellors, coaches and Human Resources professionals are amongst the people I most commonly recommend it to.  

About the author of this review 

Eleanor Shakiba is a training consultant and facilitator. Since 1994, she has delivered thousands of workshops on resilience, positive psychology and constructive communication. She works with people in high intellect professions – such as academia, education, project management, research and development and engineering. Her skills in interactive training make Eleanor a highly sought-after facilitator. In addition to her expertise in Positive Psychology, Eleanor also holds qualifications in Social Anthropology, Counselling, Coaching, Adult Education and Neuro Linguistic Programming. 

You probably know someone who lives by the mantra: ‘be positive’. And it seems that person has a point. Optimism is good for you on a number of levels. For example, optimism can positively impact your health. Here’s some proof supporting this claim. There was a huge study conducted by Jama Network Open over the course of 14 years. More than 230,000 people were studied across 4 different continents to find a link between life outlook and heart health. After the giant study ended, the researchers published a stunning result: optimists are 35% less likely to have a heart attack than pessimists.

This finding has huge implications for the future of your health. And it is not only useful in the health field. After working with positive psychology trainers or coaches, many professionals have learned how to apply the principles of learned optimism at work. Why not do the same yourself?

About the author of this fast fact:

Eleanor Shakiba is a trusted coach and trainer to thousands of professionals in high intellect fields. Her expertise is in using positive psychology to build high performing leaders and teams. Eleanor works with trainers and HR specialists to build exceptional organisations and teams. She is the author of the Positive Psychology Toolkit for HR and L&D practitioners. She also runs a range of retreats and workshops for trainers and facilitators.

Here’s a great positive psychology case study on learned optimism. Aussie Optimism The program is an after-school program that helps children of all different ages.  It helps young people build their skills and use the principles of learned optimism to make a great start in life. The Aussie Optimism team uses positive psychology models to encourage young people to build their strengths. It also encourages them to look towards the future, rather than simply solving problems in the here-and-now.

The program has has helped hundreds of young people reduce mental health stress, recover from depression, reduce suicidal thoughts and behaviours and more. Young people who go through this program are less likely to drink or smoke when they grow older because they feel supported and loved. Positive psychology models fill the gaps in people’s minds and hearts where there might otherwise be nothing but negativity.

You might find that many mental health organisations focus on finding solutions to the negative mental health problems a child might have. Groups like Aussie Optimism seek to reverse that trend by highlighting the positives and helping young people build on their strengths. They’ve found that the mental health problems start to decline on their own. This is a powerful tool that you can use in your own life or organisation to promote support, independence and positivity.

Want more positive psychology updates? Follow Eleanor Shakiba and her team of positive psychology trainers on LinkedIn and Facebook today!

About the author of this article:

Eleanor Shakiba is a master trainer and coach. Her passion is teaching ‘positive deviants’ to think positively and communicate constructively. A specialist the field of Positive Psychology, Eleanor is author of the Positive Psychology Toolkit for HR and L&D practitioners. She also provides coaching and training for trainers and facilitators.

In 1967, Martin Seligman and a group of researchers completed a study on learned helplessness. The theory is that people tend to give up when they believe that they have no control over what happens.

The study that helped provide evidence for the theory involved dogs. Seligman exposed a group of dogs to inescapable electric shocks while kept inside a box with an escapable barrier.

On the first set of trials, the dogs ran frantically around the box before finally escaping across the barrier. With each successive trial, the dogs learned to escape quicker.

Another set of dogs were placed in inescapable Pavlovian hammocks and given inescapable shocks. The dogs were then placed in boxes with escapable barriers. The second set of dogs failed to cross the barrier to escape the shock.

After repeated trials, the second group of dogs eventually gave up on any attempt to escape. They laid down and passively accepted the shocks. The study helps verify the idea that a lack of control leads to a sense of helplessness. While the study involved animal behaviour, the same concepts can be applied to human behaviour. When people experience a lack of control, they start to give up and may overlook opportunities for change.

Learned optimism is the opposite of learned helplessness. Seligman defined learned optimism in 1990 as the idea that people can learn how to become more optimistic when facing adverse situations. Seligman created a system for learned optimism that requires you to challenge negative thoughts after facing adversity. When you successfully challenge your negativity, you feel energised, which helps to condition your mind for optimism.

This is just one of the examples of positive psychology that can have a profound impact on productivity and happiness in the workplace. To learn more, schedule a training session with Think Learn Succeed.

About the author of this article:

Eleanor Shakiba is a master trainer. She specialises in positive psychology techniques such as positive deviance, learned optimism and positive leadership. Eleanor can help you and your people build a thriving business, using evidence-based tools. Eleanor is the author of the Positive Psychology Toolkit for HR and L&D practitioners. She also runs a range of retreats and workshops for trainers and facilitators.

How optimistic are you? Your answer to this question matters if you want to be well equipped to deal with failure. Optimists who take failure in their stride – believing the future will be positive despite setbacks – have higher levels of resilience. Indeed, optimism plays a key role in how quickly you can bounce back from adversity. A series of positive psychology studies prove this.

One study in 2001 showed that optimism among football players led to better performance and more wins. A 2006 also found a direct link between optimism and success rates for sports team. Players who looked for learning opportunities in their failures were more motivated to improve themselves. This positivity became contagious, rippling through the entire team. Thus, players focused on building their skills and set themselves up for the next win.

These results are not only relevant in the sports field. There is ample evidence that optimistic thinking patterns support development in any field. This is why learned optimism techniques are so popular with positive psychology trainers and savvy HR practitioners.

About the author of this fun fact:

Eleanor is a master trainer and facilitator.  She specialises in positive psychology, helping leaders and HR practitioners build flourishing organisations. She is known as a creative, dynamic facilitator with a flair for helping ‘positive deviants’ excel at work. Eleanor is the author of the Positive Psychology Toolkit for HR and L&D practitioners. She runs a range of practitioner retreats and workshops for trainers and facilitators.

Learned optimism is a concept developed by Martin Seligman, a leader in the area of positive psychology. It’s widely taught by positive psychology trainers and coaches, because it helps people overcome negative thinking patterns. Seligman has shown that you can learn to think optimistically by challenging negative self-talk. He has modified techniques from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to help people who don’t need counselling reach their full potential.  

Research suggests that optimism brings a variety of positive outcomes to your life. According to work from researchers at Concordia University’s Department of Psychology, optimists have a better biological response to stress. While pessimists experience higher cortisol levels as part of their stress response, optimists often find it easier to regulate their cortisol levels. Positive psychology trainers draw on this information when teaching their students to modify their thinking patterns using mindfulness techniques and Seligman’s ABCDE model for cognitive reframing.  

Overall, it seems that optimists respond better to stress and recover faster when they experience setbacks. This provides a significant advantage in stressful situations, such as a looming deadline or unexpected setback on a project. Through learned optimism, entire teams and organisations can develop the mindset needed to remain cool under pressure.  

According to positive psychology trainers, these simple steps can help you shift into a more optimistic mode. 

• Pay closer attention to your negativity, including negative assumptions and the conclusions you draw 
• Always try to dispute negative beliefs by generating counter–arguments to your initial reaction 
• Write out the counter–evidence on a piece of paper to help visualise your thoughts 
• Look for positive aspects in negative situations to help reframe the way you view adversity 
• Give yourself and others positive feedback whenever possible to encourage more positivity 

About the author of this article: 

Eleanor Shakiba is a specialist in positive psychology training. She has helped over 50,000 professionals to build confidence, presence and influence at work. Her passion is working with the ‘positive deviants’ in organisations – equipping them to think creatively and build a better world. Eleanor is the author of the Positive Psychology Toolkit for HR and L&D practitioners. She also runs a range of retreats and workshops for trainers and facilitators. 

Rapport is essential for relationship success. It helps you bond with other people. And those bonds are critical for your social success, mental health and team results. So what’s involved in developing a strong rapport? Here are three techniques to get you started.

First, synchronise your verbal and nonverbal behaviours with the other person. This is called ‘matching’. This creates a subconscious connection between you, because it triggers mirror neuron responses. The more you match, it seems, the more you connect. Second, ask open questions. This helps you uncover the other person’s values and interests – so you can connect with them. Remember that great questions often start with ‘what’. For example:

• What brings you here today?
• What are you most interested in?
• What’s your favourite hobby?
• What do you love about your job?

Third, always look for common ground. Focus on how you are similar to others: whether it’s your professional interests, someone you both know or their great taste in pets. Pointing out similarities is a great way to encourage self-disclosure: which is a hallmark of rapport.

Keep in mind that developing a stronger rapport may not happen overnight. If you struggle to make a connection with someone, remember to try mirroring their behaviour. Remember that we like people who are like us, so always focus on what you have in common!

About the author of this tip:

Eleanor Shakiba is a specialist in positive psychology training. She has helped over 50,000 professionals to build confidence, presence and influence at work. Her passion is working with the ‘positive deviants’ in organisations – equipping them to think creatively and build a better world. Eleanor is the author of the Positive Psychology Toolkit for HR and L&D practitioners. She also runs a range of retreats and workshops for trainers and facilitators.

Want to teach your team to build positive relationships at work? Call Eleanor Shakiba. 0433 126 841