Learned Optimism

I've been fascinated with happiness in the last five years, so it seems obvious that this book, now considered a classic in the field, would be a book I should read.

And now that I have, I must say that I agree with the crown that has been placed upon this book's head; it's a worthy read for anyone interested in happiness.

I took away from it a paradoxical and disquieting idea: the happiest people are the most optimistic, but fail again and again to see the dark truths in life, while the unhappiest people are able to see and act on the grimmer life truths yet suffer deeply from the sadnesses that looking at reality brings.

What do you do with that?

Seligman encourages us to use optimism in most everyday situations, to keep us buoyed up, to face the daily difficulties of life, but to weigh in with realism in situations that could endanger our physical existences.

I have heard that Seligman has a new edition of this book (this is a library book, copyright 1991) which I probably need to seek out. I am also interested in reading his book entitled Flourish.

This book celebrates its status as a “self-help” book, but that is not meant to be a detrimental statement. Whereas most books aimed at making us feel better ask us to blindly believe that we as individuals are awesome, limitless creatures; have us repeat a number of mantras designed to brighten our spirits (images of SNL's Stuart Smalley come to mind); or irrationally discredit the negative feelings we are all guaranteed to have/ this book gives us tools to combat those feelings and encourages us to realize their validity.

Now, with all of that said, I will agree with a number of critics and say that the steps advocated in Part III are a lot easier said than done. In tone and speech, I am an optimist, but privately, I tend to be a pessimist and particularly hard on myself. I get pessimistic and down on myself for “having to resort to something like this book to pick myself up”. If, after all, learning optimism were as easy and intuitive as Seligman makes it seem, then why can't I pick myself up?

Seligman, though, taps into a very useful strategy for not only learning optimism, but also for dealing with the random shit that will pass our way. Use evidence to support one's thoughts. If you feel bad, sad, overwhelmed, etc., think about why. Identify evidence that supports the feeling. Identify evidence that contradicts the feeling. Make an informed decision. So many times, we form an opinion of ourselves or our situation and believe it whole-heartedly because it originated in our own brain...and, as Seligman notes, what more credibility do we need?

In short, I recommend this book. Read it not as a “cure all”, but as a tool to store in your own mental tool box to use at strategic times.

An older book (1990) in the field of cognitive psychology but a great introduction to the early research that led Professor Seligman (U of Penn) to spend his career researching helplessness and how to overcome it. There are online versions of the various tests in the textbook so I'd recommend using those rather than doing them out of the book and then having to grade them (the online versions do the automatic grading). I'd also recommend checking out his TED talk if you enjoy the book.