Positive Psychology: Stonecutter Wisdom

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Stonecutter Wisdom

Three stonecutters were asked what they were doing.

The first man replied: “I am making bricks from this stone.”
The second said: “I am making the foundation for a building.”
The third answered: “I’m building a cathedral.”

If you change your perspective you change the way you experience the world.

Positive Psychology given credence by Academia:

Positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

Commentators on the subject Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, note that:

"The field of positive psychology at the subjective level is about valued subjective experiences: well-being, contentment, and satisfaction (in the past); hope and optimism (for the future); and flow and happiness (in the present).

At the individual level, it is about positive individual traits: the capacity for love and vocation, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, future mindedness, spirituality, high talent, and wisdom.

At the group level, it is about the civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship: responsibility, nurturance, altruism, civility, moderation,tolerance, and work ethic."