Personal Strengths Positive Psychology Author:Darrell Franken Positive Psychology is an academically based guide to personal functioning within one s optimum potential. This book is for persons who want to meet the challenges of life with the best set of guidelines that psychology has to offer. That is what Positive Psychology is mostly about. The highway of life has many intersections. People will signal ... more »you to get off for pleasure, for satisfaction, for happiness, or for well-being. You can stop where you want, but unless you are heading for fulfillment, you may get sidetracked and become stalled. Without a goal you may become distracted by delights and stagnate there, never finding adequate personal fulfillment. Back on your personal highway people like you are looking for meaning and fulfillment. In this chapter the student learns about getting on the right track toward gaining optimum fulfillment. It s about focusing on your optimum potential and making sure you choose rather than succumb to lethargy and dread, pressures of ill-advised friends, and media bombardment. All references to psyche (soul) are in the domain of psychology. Fulfillment involves sensitivity to certain inherent dynamics, which are seen in love (libido for Freud), acceptance (Carl Rogers), feeling useful, autonomy, self-actualization (Abraham Maslow), flow and creativity (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi), spirituality (Helen Palmer), meaning, Peak Experiences (Abraham Maslow), moral commitment (Alan Gewirth), values, conscience, AAHHhhaa! and psychic energy (Freud-updated). This chapter is an overview chapter and many of the concepts in the chapter are amplified in later chapters.« less