On Feb. 13, PTSA invited students and parents to the “What Makes You Happy” discussion held in the library from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Psychologists Adam Dorsay and Mark Forman explained the basics of positive psychology and how to incorporate happiness exercises into daily life. The event, publicized through School Loop, the PTSA website and announcements throughout the week, drew a total of about 60 attendees.
“I really wanted the students to come because this was the PTSA, not the PTA,” Parent Seminar Coordinator Kathleen McCulloch said. “I asked my son what would make him come, and he immediately said ‘donuts,’ so we went along and brought donuts, and I was really happy to see we had a handful of students.”
The lecture, by Dorsay and Forman, was titled “Simple steps to increase Happiness and Resilience,” and discussed the benefits of the currently scientifically-unexplored field of positive psychology. The field focuses on the retention of the positive aspects of life, and emphasizes the necessity of remaining optimistic. Dorsay, a Lynbrook graduate, prefaced the lecture by explaining the academic pressures he observed in FUHSD schools.
“For Darwinian reasons, people generally have a negative filter [to remember negative things] for survival,” Dorsay said. “It sounds silly, but there really are reasons to be happy.”
Both Forman and Dorsay describe the process of human cognitive development through a gardening metaphor, in which they compare the human brain to a rose. They view the necessity of pulling out the weeds to be representative of the current psychiatric model, in which psychologists focus on allowing patients to overcome the bad memories. However, they also argue that just as necessary is the addition of fertilizer, which promotes positive growth.
Their aspect of positive psychology focuses on bringing an individual’s strengths, defined to be their most positive traits, to the forefront. This allows individuals to be meaningfully engaged at the task at hand. According both Dorsay and Forman, the individual’s ideal condition is described to be the flow state of mind, in which the individual is so engrossed and focused in his activity that he is able to look back and enjoy the experience afterwards.
“Common sense isn’t always equal to common practice,” Forman said. “[The latter] is what we’re trying to teach tonight.”
For more information regarding the developing field of positive psychology, visit the University of Pennsylvania, one of the leading researcher institutions in the field, at their site: authentichappiness.org.
