CHRISTIANITY AS A SOCIAL INSTITUTION IS HEALTHY ACCORDING TO THE DEFINITION OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Introduction

Positive psychology refers to the strength and abilities that facilitate individuals and the societies to succeed. The arena of positive psychology is created on the trust that the people and the community will have meaningful and fulfilling lives that will facilitate them in being the best among themselves. This leads to better experiences of play, love and work.  It helps in achieving a satisfactory life that is more effective which is better than treating any mental illness. It focuses on the personal growth rather than the pathology. When one finds positive psychology then, there is happiness within oneself which leads to improved ways and social ties. This revolves around spouses, family, and friends which in turn results to wider networks in social organization and clubs which are important in a particular way. Due to happiness, there is increased financial income and better correlation of improved mental and the well-being of an individual.

As a social institution, Christians are known mostly because of what drives them. The spirit of being positive in what they do. The conditions surrounding them may not be the best favorable ones but the energy that they have is extraordinary (Whitney et al, 18).  More often than not the challenges that they come across can be the worst in demoralizing someone. Due to this, it is possible to find Christians having the positive energy towards dealing with the obstacles. Practically it is difficult to have positive energy in dealing with such things. It is a norm in any individual person to mostly give up in such a situation but for the staunch Christians, it is slightly different. They will face the challenge head on pursuing it with positive energy. Positive human functioning will require one to flourish in different levels such as biological, relational, cultural, institutional, personal and globally in all dimensions of life. With a little faith, it is impossible to achieve this because one will experience struggles and floundering which will not facilitate anyone to have the positive strength and energy in order to pursue the obstacles (Mozdzierz& Rowena, 371).

Christianity as an institution lays a foundation that will encourage one to possess positive energy in order to deal with it accordingly. There are support groups in such institution that will lead to the encouragement of each other. This ensures that one is not struggling with matters of positive psychology. The main purpose of such am institution is to encourage and create positive strength in each individual. This is because emotional reactions are a core effect in which they are primitive and they are constantly experiencing but rarely acknowledged (Whitney et al, 20). This creates positive emotions to the individual which in return facilitates the elimination of negative energy. In this institution, they blend both pleasant and unpleasant emotions and activating and deactivating such emotions that every individual carry almost for a lifetime and at most to the unconscious levels (Mozdzierz& Rowena, 375).

Social and behavioral sciences play a very important role in the individual and community life. This sciences tend to articulate am understandable and an attractive vision in the wellbeing of the individuals (Asebedo & Martin, 55). This plays a great role in enhancing positive psychology that helps the family to flourish. This is enhanced by making a great satisfactory decision that leads to happiness and success. This results into great and strong civil engagement that makes the individuals know their worth of living.

The main goal that the Christian institution aims at achieving is to help change the negative thinking in order to change how one feels (Martin & Mihaly, 5). Using this approach of cognitive therapy, it has led to the success of the institution by changing how people think about who they are and about the other people, think of their future and how to be responsible in order to be successful.  This facilitates each individual to pull up the attention away in matters relating to chronic inner chatter away from the thoughts that can be disadvantageous to the well-being of any individual ( Martin  & Mihaly, 6). This change assimilates positive impacts as nature of happiness within oneself. In this institution they also help on to identify other different goals that aim at satisfaction and results to high productivity than in turn facilitates the one individual with the positive psychology to teach others about it. The institution also enhances the self-confident and also facilitates social support (Martin & Mihaly, 6)

The issue of being redundant is also deal with in the institution of Christianity (Martin & Mihaly, 8) sacrificing of arguments and dealing with the diverse situation is taught in the Christian institutions. This reviews the practical application and cross-disciplinary ways in order to deal with this (Martin & Mihaly, 8). In identifying positive psychology in an individual does not necessarily mean that the rest is negative (Gable & Haidt, 104). This is because it aims at identifying the positive side and strengthening it in order to cause a balance and also lower the other side. Although the imbalance is evident the role of Christian institution is to offer social support to the individual in order to make them realize the positive and the best part in them.

Despite human inequality, the positive psychology does not aim in denial of any distress, negative or unpleasant aspect of life. Its effort aims at improving the positive psychology in an individual in order to deal with suffering, dysfunctional systems in the family and ineffective institution (Gable & Haidt, 105). Moreover, Christian institutions do not make any judgement and will address the human spectrum in full in relation to their experience. This institution facilitates a personal style of defensive pessimism in order to promote positive thinking that will result in optimism (Gable & Haidt, 108).

Conclusion

It is true to say that Christianity is a healthy social institution in the way that it promotes positive psychology. Its main aim is to help an individual of the society to identify their positive side which in turn will assist them in knowing their strengths. This will facilitate each individual with making better choices that will lead to a successful life. It will also result in the self-acceptance and the self-contention of the individual. In relation to this, it will also promote better mental health to the individual and avoidance of stress related issues. An individual who is successful in the community will also in return empower the community to become successful at large. Happiness as a result of positive psychology advocated by the Christianity institution amongst the individual and the community will lead to better productivity that will result in great satisfaction, better family ties and that of relatives and friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Shelly Gable L & Jonathan Haidt; what (and why) is positive psychology? Educational    publishing foundation (2005).

Martin Seligman E.P & Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi; Positive psychology; American psychological association Inc (2000)

Asebedo, Sarah D., and Martin C. Seay. "From Functioning To Flourishing: Applying Positive Psychology To Financial Planning." Journal Of Financial Planning 28.11 (2015): 50-58.         Business Source Complete. Web. 6 May 2016.

Mozdzierz, Gerald J. "Heinz L. And Rowena R. Ansbacher Lecture: Pragmatics And Operational Principles Of Positive Psychology Research And Clinical Findings With Implications For Adlerian Psychology." Journal Of Individual Psychology 71.4 (2015): 362-398. Academic             Search Premier. Web. 6 May 2016.

Whitney, Diana, and Barbara L. Fredrickson. "Appreciative Inquiry Meets Positive Psychology."             AI Practitioner 17.3 (2015): 18-26. Business Source Complete. Web. 6 May 2016.