I've long believed that positive living _isn't about being optimistic every minute of every day. That kind of permanently happy state can't be the goal, because it's impossible to achieve.
It turns out that psychological research finds true happiness comes from authentic positivity, and authentic positivity comes from emotional flexibility.
Being flexible emotionally means being open to the full range of emotional experiences, including the challenging ones like anger, disappointment and sadness. Emotional flexibility means being able to shift behaviors and mindsets to meet different situational needs, and adapting when circumstances change.
However, emotionally flexible people are not chameleons(变色龙)whose outlook changes based on which way the wind is blowing. Instead, emotional flexibility is a skill that helps people judge the complexities of daily life, and stick to their deeply held values.
I've learned a new word that I'd like to share with you: eudaimonia (幸福感). Eudaimonia is the opposite of hedonism(享乐主义), the idea that happiness comes from the constant pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain, Eudaimonia, by contrast, encourages us to pursue meaning and authenticity, growth and honest joy. Both are philosophical approaches to happiness, and recent psychological thought is leaning toward eudaimonia as a more sustainable, satisfying model.
Eudaimonia was first mentioned by Aristotle, who got the term from the Greek word" daimon," which means" true nature." To me, walking a positive path means accepting that we each have positive true nature and permanent goodness. What we learn from the concept of eudaimonia is that we are best equipped to realize this nature when we are emotionally honest and flexible.
