Self-esteem cannot be directly injected. It needs to result from doing well, from being warranted. Martin Seligman More Quotes by Martin Seligman More Quotes From Martin Seligman In a society in which individualism is becoming rampant, people more and more believe that they are the center of the world. Such a belief system makes individual failure almost inconsolable. Martin Seligman believepeopleworld There is one aspect of happiness that's been well studied, and it's the notion of flow. Ask yourselves, when for you does time stop? When are you truly at home, wanting to be no place else? Martin Seligman flowdoehome Success requires persistence, the ability to not give up in the face of failure. I believe that optimistic explanatory style is the key to persistence. Martin Seligman failuregiving-upbelieve It's a matter of ABC: When we encounter ADVERSITY, we react by thinking about it. Our thoughts rapidly congeal into BELIEFS. These beliefs may become so habitual we don't even realize we have them unless we stop to focus on them. And they don't just sit there idly; they have CONSEQUENCES. Martin Seligman adversityfocusthinking Habits of pessimism lead to depression, wither achievement, and undermine physical health. The good news is that pessimism can be unlearned, and that with its removal depression, underachievement, and poor health can be alleviated. Martin Seligman newsachievementdepression Curing the negatives does not produce the positives. Martin Seligman producedoe Not only do happy people endure pain better and take more health and safety precautions when threatened, but positive emotions undo negative emotions. Martin Seligman painhappinesspeople To be a virtuous person is to display, by acts of will, all or at least most of the six ubiquitous virtues: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Martin Seligman sixhumanityjustice On the relationship side, if you teach people to respond actively and constructively when someone they care about has a victory, it increases love and friendship and decreases the probability of depression. Martin Seligman love-and-friendshipvictorypeople People who believe they cause good things tend to like themselves better than people who believe good things come from other people or circumstances. Martin Seligman causesbelievepeople Reaching beyond where you are is really important. Martin Seligman positive-psychologyreachingimportant Positive emotion can be about the past, the present, or the future. The positive emotions about the future include optimism, hope, faith, and trust. Those about the present include joy, ecstasy, calm, zest, ebullience, pleasure, and (most importantly) flow; these emotions are what most people usually mean when they casually-but much too narrowly-talk about "happiness." The positive emotions about the past include satisfaction, contentment, fulfillment, pride, and serenity. Martin Seligman pridehappinessmean Psychology is much bigger than just medicine, or fixing unhealthy things. Its about education, work, marriage - its even about sports. What I want to do is see psychologists working to help people build strengths in all these domains. Martin Seligman medicinesportspeople One of the things psychologists used to say was that if you are depressed, anxious or angry, you couldn't be happy. Those were at opposite ends of a continuum. I believe that you can be suffering or have a mental illness and be happy - just not in the same moment that you're sad. Martin Seligman sufferingoppositesbelieve The clearer the rules and the limits enforced by parents, the higher the child's self-esteem. The more freedom the child had, the lower his self-esteem. Martin Seligman parentself-esteemchildren In your own life, you should take particular care with endings, for their color will forever tinge your memory of the entire relationship and your willingness to reenter it. Martin Seligman workmemorieslife When it comes to our health, there are essentially four things under our control: the decision not to smoke, a commitment to exercise, the quality of our diet, and our level of optimism. And optimism is at least as beneficial as the others. Martin Seligman optimismexercisecommitment The pursuit of happiness is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence as a right of all Americans, as well as on the self-improvement shelves of every American bookstore. Yet the scientific evidence makes it seem unlikely that you can change your level of happiness in any sustainable way. It suggests that we each have a fixed range for happiness just as we do for weight. And just as dieters almost always regain the weight they lose, sad people don't become lastingly happy, and happy people don't become lastingly sad. Martin Seligman pursuit-of-happinessselfpeople The optimistic style of explaining good events is the opposite of that used for bad events: It's internal rather than external. Martin Seligman optimisticstyleopposites Positive thinking is the notion that if you think good thoughts, things will work out well. Optimism is the feeling of thinking things will be well and be hopeful. Martin Seligman optimismpositive-thinkingwork-out
