About Positive Psychology
Anchored in positive psychology, ‘The Empower Life Company’ mission is to create products and services to empower people and communities to lead happier, healthier and more meaningful lives.
‘The Empower Life Company’ products and services are anchored in leveraging scientifically proven principles of positive psychology, and inspired by the healing power of nature, to energise and empower our mindset to enhance ‘happiness’, ‘health’, emotional, physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing’, and lead more ‘meaningful’ lives.
Positive psychology is "the scientific study of what makes life most worth living", or "the scientific study of positive human functioning and flourishing, and the factors that contribute the most to a well-lived and fulfilling life.
In positive psychology, to “Thrive” or “Flourish” means to grow or develop successfully to be at one’s greatest potential. To lead a more “meaningful life” refers to having purpose, significance, positive relationships, achievement, and satisfaction in life.
Based on research, those possessing a sense of meaning are generally found to be happier, to have lower levels of negative emotions, and to have lower risk of mental illness.
Positive psychology began as a new domain of psychology in 1998 by Martin Seligman, to take the focus of psychology beyond just diagnosing and treating mental illness and negative thinking, to also enhance mental wellbeing, happiness and positivity. Positive psychology has also placed a significant emphasis on fostering positive self-esteem, grit and growth mindset to help manage learning through change.
Those who practice positive psychology attempt psychological interventions that foster positive attitudes - the goal is to minimize thoughts that result in a feeling of "helplessness" and "hopelessness", and instead, to encourage a sense of acceptance of challenges and adversity, and develop excitement and optimism about the future; with a sense of contentment, gratitude and well-being in the present – with greater positivity, mindfulness and intention.
Positive psychologists have suggested a number of ways in which individual happiness and a meaningful life may be fostered. In Flourish (2011), Martin Seligman defined a meaningful life to result from 5 aspects in life – represented as the acronym PERMA: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and purpose, and Accomplishments.
Positive emotions include a wide range of optimistic feelings – which have been researched to result in positive outcomes, such as longer life, better health outcomes and social relationships.
Engagement refers to involvement in activities that draws and builds upon one's interests resulting in flow – engaged feeling of intensity that leads to a sense of ecstasy, clarity, focus and passion.
Relationships are essential in fueling positive emotions, whether they are work-related, familial, romantic, or platonic. Feeling a sense of belonging matters as Humans receive, share, and spread positivity to others through relationships; both in good and bad times.
Meaning is also known as purpose, and identifying and living with purpose leads to a flourishing or more meaningful life, as it creates the sense of something greater than one's self. Despite potential challenges, working with meaning drives people to continue striving for a desirable goal.
Accomplishments are the pursuit of success and mastery.
Each of the five PERMA elements were selected according to three criteria:
- It contributes to well-being.
- It is pursued for its own sake.
- It is defined and measured independently of the other elements.
