Currently, I am involved in running a mindfulness & stress reduction workshop in the world of medicine. Around that a few interesting dialogues ensued regarding the way we think, teach and learn, and I have gained a few insights that I'd like to share. Oh, also the soccer world cup is on, so...
Medicine, much like psychology over the better part of last century, was very much enamoured with looking for flaws, looking for symptoms, stuff that wasn't working right and then fixing it. In doing so, the goal was to get a person back to normal functioning (however that may be defined). So, if normal were a horizontal line, psychology and medicine are largely concerned with what lies below that line. These specialities deal with disease or shall I say dis-ease.
Over the last 20+ years a bunch a psychologists started looking at what happens above the line, in other words what makes people thrive, excel, and rise above the norm. They decided that what makes human experience extraordinary or über-normal is just as important to understand, research, teach and support. Hence, positive psychology was born. A science concerned with what enables people to be at-ease, to flourish and be in the flow. Interestingly when your focus starts to shift from what is broken to what is working, from your shortcomings to your strengths, then strange things start to happen. Things begin to shift. Your spectrum of options starts to open up, you start seeing solutions where before there where only problems. You become more creative and flexible. Becoming aware of, and deliberately seeking out positive emotions breeds more positivity. Think going to see a funny movie as opposed to a drama, doing things that make you laugh, smile, be merry. Looking for the good moments throughout your day and relishing those. Deliberately putting yourself in the path of fun is actually a very worthwhile thing to do for your health. The cultivation of positive emotions not only breeds more positive emotions but also buffers against the negative ones (yes including stress, physiological stress response and subsequently disease). Now if this all sounds too simplistic, or simply too good to be true, rest assured that this is scientifically proven. There is evidence for this, even using physiological measures of stress (check out Barbara Fredrickson's work and her Broaden & Build Theory).
Sadly, Western medicine is a bit slow to catch on. So yes, 1:0 for Psychology! Luckily, however, there are services popping up in health care that take a more holistic view of providing care. It no longer is only about fixing things, but also about ensuring optimal wellbeing on top of the fixing of dis-ease. The focus is on enabling people to be as much at-ease as possible whatever their story. And of course, that makes sense. If something is malfunctioning it needs fixing. In addition though why would you not do your utmost to ensure that all other systems are in place to optimise overall well-being, sleep, nutrition, exercise, a mind at ease, emotional & social support, spiritual wellbeing and self-care & compassion.
And here lies the thought I really want to drive home. Why wait until you have dis-ease to start using these powerful tools? We all could use a bit more self-care, self-compassion and cultivation of the positive in our lives. So, I invite you to take a pen & paper and spend the next five minutes writing down what those tools are that help you thrive? And how and when you intend to use them?