7 Positive Psychology Books That Will Help You Develop Your Personality To The Maximum

Do it, dare to think positively and you will feel differently. Change the focus, relativize and reformulate, only in this way will you shape a more integral life, where desires and behaviors are in balance, where happiness is finally a reality and not a simple purpose that never comes. To achieve this, nothing better than to help you from the best positive psychology books.

Let’s face it, we are a society that handles most of the terms associated with happiness very well. We read almost any self-help book that falls into our hands, there are those who go to spiritual retreats, conferences, Mindfulness classes. Nevertheless,… . We invest in the most diverse ways in personal growth, and even so, we do not quite achieve that internal well-being, that calm, that happiness.

Everyone can start in this world as well as they want, but if there is a message to rescue from the trunk of oblivion, it is that there is no magic and exclusive recipe in this to achieve a “full life”, in this of happiness. What there is is a process, a daily, meticulous and permanent investment in which to demolish precisely those debilitating attitudes, those defense mechanisms and the obsessive cycle of many of those thoughts that act as true enemies.

To achieve this, we can undoubtedly take multiple paths, go to some coaching, let ourselves be advised by a motivation guru or start a good course. However, and as curious as it may seem, there is a model that permeates everything, a science of human well-being that is always there and that already stands as an enriching substrate that nourishes most of the currents that we have today. .

Since Professor Martin Seligman gave it the definitive impulse, back in the 90s, it did not take long for aspects so relevant and well-known to the general public to flourish such as the concept of resilience, Emotional Intelligence, creativity, the concept of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi flow …

Therefore, if we really want to make a change, develop our personality to the maximum to achieve well-being, it never hurts to go directly to the roots, immerse ourselves in those primary concepts and in those basic and essential tools that we will find in the best books on positive psychology. They are windows of knowledge that can accompany us on this journey in search of happiness.

1. “True Happiness”, Martin EP Seligman

Martin Seligman, psychologist, writer, and chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, is without a doubt the father of positive psychology or at least its best-known representative. It was he who took that first step towards a new approach in the science of behavior where, leaving aside the study of the pathological to focus exclusively on enhancing human well-being.

Seligman is therefore the true pioneer in the development of a scientific method that explains how to achieve happiness. In this book, therefore, we will not find simple motivational phrases, empty messages edged with beautiful words.

Knowing how to enhance, understand and work on them is our priority.

2. “Practice happiness”, Tal Ben Sahar

2006 was the most popular Harvard University course of all time. The subject was called “How to be Happy” and it was given by an Israeli professor named Tal Ben-Sahar. At present, he is one of the greatest exponents in positive psychology and in this book, his entire approach, his practical observations and his theories are collected.

On the other hand, something interesting that Professor Ben-Sahar allows us to glimpse is that authentic happiness does not exclude having to assume and accept one’s own emotional discomfort and for this, he quotes Viktor Frankl in his pages : “What we need is not live without tension or fear. What we need is not to get rid of difficulties at all costs, but to find a meaning for life that is worthwhile ”.

In the book “Practice Happiness” we will also find from meditation techniques to strategies to apply gratitude on a day-to-day basis. We will also find intimate stories about the author’s own life that will serve as a reflection.

3. “Flow” (Flow): a psychology of happiness ”, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

To speak of positive psychology is also to speak of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and her works on the “state of flow”. Your presence on this list is undoubtedly mandatory and reading this book, enriching.

We could undoubtedly define the flow state in many ways, but the simplest is to see it as a dimension of grace, an “optimal experience” where chaos and worries disappear in our minds when we find well-being by performing a specific task: the one that identifies us, the one that best fits our being. It is a pleasant state, an epiphany where the essence of a happy life is actually found.

 

5. “Overcoming adversity: the power of resilience”, Luis Rojas Marcos

Luis Rojas-Marcos is a renowned psychiatrist and researcher who always puts within our reach and in the most enriching way, many of those dimensions of the field of psychology that we all need to understand in order to live better.

In “Overcoming Adversity: The Power of Resilience”, we learn how all of us, although we believe otherwise, have psychic and biological mechanisms that prepare us to resist and face adversity.

In fact, it is what the human being has done throughout its history, because. In this book, we will learn to work on it, to take care of its pillars, those basic roots such as self-esteem, self-control, optimism and of course … positive thinking.

“59 seconds: think a little, change a lot”, Richard Wisheman

This is a must-read book. In it, Richard Wiseman, professor of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, breaks the classic myths and stereotypes about happiness to open our eyes. Through ten chapters, he delves into dimensions such as motivation, persuasion, attraction, creativity, emotional well-being …

The most interesting and novel thing about Professor Wisheman is that he invites us to demolish negative ideas and wrong attitudes in just 59 seconds …

7. “Is your bucket full? AND

If Martin Seligman is the father of positive psychology, Donald O. Clifton is the “Grandfather.”  His works laid the foundations of this science and this book contains all his philosophy, all his roots and those windows of masterful knowledge that one never tires of looking at.

It is undoubtedly a reference book, because it not only guides us to “fill” our lives with positive emotions, but also inspires us by all those lessons learned in their daily work, helping people and advising thousands of companies. Tons of positive energy are hidden in its pages, and immersing ourselves in them is undoubtedly an experience.

To conclude, we are aware that there are many more titles and more bibliographic proposals with which to learn positive psychology. However, these 7 suggestions are a good prelude, a starting point in which to reflect, in which to sow those little seeds towards change …

Bibliographic references

Seligman, Martin (2011). “The real happiness” Zeta de Bolsillo

Ben-Shahar, Tal (2011). “The pursuit of happiness” , Alenta

Ekhart, Tolle (2004). A New Earth: An Awakening to Life’s Purpose: Norma

Rojas, Marcos (2011). “Overcoming adversity: the power of resilience” Booket

Donald O. Clifton, (2005). “