Center for Positive Psychology

Center for Positive Psychology The Center for Positive Psychology is dedicated to helping people become happy, healthy and fulfille

The mission of the Center for Positive Psychology is to employ and promote the application of positive, integrative, and complementary approaches to psychological health and growth. The "positive" reference is to Positive Psychology and its positive relatives, such as Solution-Focused approaches. "Integrative" refers to the fact that we believe that no one school of psychological thought has ident

ified the absolute and complete "truth", so we apply methods from various schools, depending on the need of the individual."Complementary" implies that we include the best of the more than 100 years of research and experience which has been gained in the field with innovative strategies that have not yet accumulated the same evidence base, but have been shown to be both safe and effective in practice.

07/28/2025

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07/28/2025
07/23/2025

In the previous post, we introduced you to the concept of positive solitude, which describes a kind of solitude in which we consciously choose to spend time alone, doing an activity or being part of a meaningful and enjoyable experience (Mor et al., 2020). This description alone might sound inviting to some of you, but what are some further benefits of positive solitude?

In a broad sense, positive solitude can improve our quality of life (Long & Averill, 2003). Reasons for this are that through positive solitude we are invited to explore more of ourselves and our interests and experience fewer constraints and more possibilities for choice (Long et al., 2003). Additionally, it can result in decreased stress and stabilize our wellbeing because it invites us to take a break from daily chores and everyday decision-making (Lay et al., 2019). On a more personal level, positive solitude can lead us to build a calmer mind and allows us to become more reflective (Long & Averill, 2003). By focusing on ourselves and what we enjoy doing, it also creates space to practice self-regulation and introspection, making us more confident in standing up for ourselves and our needs regarding solo time (Nguyen et al., 2018; Mor et al., 2020). These small steps feeding into positive solitude can improve our overall executive functioning (Long & Averill, 2003). Lastly, positive solitude can make us think outside of the box, resulting in making more diverse and morally based decisions, which may make us more effective leaders (Akrivou et al., 2011).

Taking time for ourselves, creating more lightness and freedom in our minds by choosing ourselves and taking part in enjoyable activities, can have broad and important beneficial effects on us.

What benefits do you experience after having chosen positive solitude? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

07/23/2025

Comment ‘ACT” to get three free ACT tools you can use right now! 🙌🏻

Do you find yourself caught up in continuous discomfort without really knowing how to deal with it? Or maybe you feel stressed about feeling negative emotions and want to get rid of them as fast as possible. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) could help you through that.

The Four A’s of Acceptance are a compassionate framework for embracing life as it unfolds, especially in the face of discomfort, change, or challenge (Harris, 2021).

Here we can see what the four entail:
1️⃣Awareness is the first step. It involves mindfully noticing your inner self—your thoughts, emotions, physical sensations—without judgment. Instead of rushing to fix or avoid unpleasant feelings, awareness invites you to pause and observe. This encourages  presence and self-understanding.

2️⃣Acknowledgment follows awareness. Here, you consciously name and validate what you’re experiencing. It’s the step where you say to yourself, “This is what’s happening,” or “This hurts right now.” Acknowledgment doesn’t mean agreement or giving up—it means honouring your reality rather than resisting or denying it.

3️⃣Accommodation is the heart of emotional acceptance. It means giving space to your experience, without trying to change or control it. This doesn’t mean passivity; rather, it’s about creating a non-reactive inner stance. You learn to coexist with discomfort, understanding that feelings are temporary visitors, not permanent states.

4️⃣Adaptation is the empowered step of choosing how to respond. Once you’ve created space with awareness, acknowledgment, and accommodating, you’re better able to make intentional, values-based decisions. Adaptation might mean taking meaningful action, setting boundaries, or simply being gentle with yourself.

Together, these Four A’s create a cycle of self-compassion, resilience, and emotional flexibility. They offer a path to inner peace not by changing what is, but by changing how we relate to what is.

Which A would you find the most difficult to get through?

07/21/2025

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