Marty Seligman, the father of Positive Psychology

When the Bridgeville tragedy occurred last week, I felt grief, sadness and deep sorrow for individuals, families and the community. It was a senseless shooting.

Then, just a few days ago I had a fortuitous conversation with the worlds greatest optimist. Marty  Seligman is best known as the father of positive psychology and is often credited with turning the discipline of psychology from the state of what is wrong to what is right.

Seligman started his career studying helplessness and was perplexed that in difficult environments not all subjects became helpless. His work transitioned from observing negatives to the study of positive psychology, which is about positive emotion, positive character and positive organizations.

I explained the scenario of the recent shooting to Dr. Seligman, and needed to know how would he explain it, his perspective and how to move forward. He was well aware of the shooting and immediately asked if paranoid schizophrenia was causal. Seligman’s perspective is that crime is based on interpretation of past experiences and intervention includes the perspective of starting with today and creating the better future you envision.

A message to the suicidal gunman might have been ‘What if you were born yesterday?’ and ‘Imagine a future that is different form your past.’ This supports breaking out of a pattern of thinking that is negative and can be detrimental. Notably, we can not easily do this alone, but often need someone to show us the way, to support in us a sense of positive expectancy, and a vision of what life could look like if it were better.

Positive psychology is much more than optimism and hopefulness, or positive expectancy. It is also intervention. It is about creating an alternate future for yourself, which when embraced by all leads to positive outcomes for your community or organization, and collectively for nations and the world.

I learned from my brief conversation with Dr. Seligman to be even more diligent and courageous in teaching possibilities and hope.

Do you have a tragedy or trauma? Do you have a sense of desolation or despair? Do you know someone who feels empty or desperate? Does there sometimes appear to be no solution?

Be supportive of yourself and others. Find support, personally or professionally. Seek out the optimists for help.

Find a positive. Now.