October Full Moon

I just finished reading an article that really put certain things in perspective. I took a lot of psychology in university, and the article I read was about the field of positive psychology. This field comes from the surprising finding that people are happier if they learn to focus on the positive in their lives, rather than dwell on the negative. Why is this surprising? Because the entire field of clinical psychology for many years was based on the idea that, to achieve happiness, one must work though problems, meeting them head-on and making progress in correcting them. Positive psychology has found that this does not enhance happiness. Ignoring the negative and focusing on the positive does.

It is a goal of mine in life to be happy. (I don't believe everyone has this goal. At least, many don't appear to, if their behaviour is any indication.) It is not the most important thing to me, but as long as all my principles are met, happiness is a major goal of mine.

This article also talked about goal-setting. If we set intrinsic goals (ie. those focused on our own behaviour, like "I will study 5h a day.") we reach them more easily and are happier than if we set extrinsic goals that depend on the actions of others or chance (eg. "I will get an 'A'.")

This full moon, I have focused on intrinsic goals. I will work hard and be the best scientist I can be. I will be the best mother I can be. I will enjoy my work, my son and my family each moment I can. I will choose to be happy.

Extrinsic goals will be met or they won't. My son deserves a happy mother, and I deserve to be a happy person. It is my most natural state, anyway.