What is Positive Magic?
Positive Magic is the idea of combining the art of magic with rthe science of positive psychology to ensure that the performance will bring out more feelings of joy, happiness,fulfillment and makes people feel more connected, engaged, energetic & excited about life! In short it's magic that entertains, and entertaining boils down to making people happy. =)
The Science of Positive Psychology
According to the Positive Psychology Center at UPenn, Positive psychology is "the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play."
In other words, it's the science of what makes people live happy sucessful, fulfilling lives. =) Most people think that you need to gain or achieve certain things to become happy but it turns out that it's actually the other way around! Happiness leads to success but only if you remain realistically optimistic. And thankfully, there's a lot of practical things we can do to raise our baseline of happiness...
In other words, it's the science of what makes people live happy sucessful, fulfilling lives. =) Most people think that you need to gain or achieve certain things to become happy but it turns out that it's actually the other way around! Happiness leads to success but only if you remain realistically optimistic. And thankfully, there's a lot of practical things we can do to raise our baseline of happiness...
Simple steps to help live a meaningful life
There's a lot of simple exercises you can do to improve your wellbeing based on the research. Here's a few of them:
-Dust off that journal, get out a pen & pen, and jot down 3 things that happened today that you're grateful for. Make it specific, and something that happened during that day. Repeat this for 21 days in a row and let the magic work. Research shows this will significantly improve your optimism even 6 months later, and raises your success rates significantly.
-Do a random act of kindness for some. Maybe get a surprise gift for your significant other, donate the junk lying around your house to someone who will make better use of it, or donate to an effective charity. This simple prosocial behaviour has shown to be more effective than antidepressant meditation and of course has a beneficial effect even if you're not depressed! =)
-Try meditation, or exercising. Even as little as 10 minutes of exercise a day or 5 minutes of meditating can boost your mood.
-Developed a growth mindset (one where you believe attributes can be learned), as opposed to a fixed mindset (i.e. "I can learn to be good at math" vs. "I'm not good at math" )
Some Resources:
www.workonwellbeing.org (great free tool for individuals to measure their psychological wellbeing, flourish, and some tailored exercises )
www.happify.com
www.tuesdayprogram.com
www.happinessadvantage.com
www.authentichappiness.org