3.5 pages due within 12 hoursenglish classMLA formatPersuasiveRequirements: Choose to write Burkeman's modern stoic approach;Can refer to the journal I wrote before myself;Now that you have read about

Yulin Huang

Journal 2

February 12, 2019

‘Positive Thinking’ and ‘Negative Path’

Psychology has formed various branches after hundreds of years of development, and the article “Positive Psychology” gives a clear introduction to one of them. In the article, positive psychology has been defined as a study on the lives of happy people and concluded a theory that genetic inheritance occupies 50% of our capability to be happy, and another 40% is depended on what we choose to do in life, and only 10% is influenced by outside circumstances. The article also points out some shortages of positive psychology, for example, the influence of outside circumstances might exceed 10%, and we may become too harsh for those who are not able to be happy. In the study and research, the defects of the subjects itself are easily overlooked, so these unique concerns bring critical insight for us about positive psychology. For happiness, positive psychology encourages us to seek it, which is a positive action, but in fact, for some people, it is difficult to remain positive all the time. There seems to be no way for positive psychology to give a suitable answer about how these people attain their happiness.

British journalist Oliver Burkeman attempts to provide a seemingly straightforward way for those who are not able to stay positive to find happiness in his book The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking. Throughout the book, he argues not to follow the cult of self-motivating optimism, but rather embrace those negative emotions and cultivate a kind of calm indifference towards whether good or bad circumstances. Burkeman balances the idea of the philosophers and thinkers who have inspired him and his own experiences to explore a better way, or “negative path,” accepting the world as it is. This approach might help to explain some unexpected fact that the people in a poorer country report to be happier than the people of wealthier ones. However, Burkeman could be argued when he says that the whole notion of ‘seeking happiness’ is a mistake while telling people how to be happy.

Nevertheless, both works provide useful approaches to happiness, and it is hard to say which one is better. Personally, I will apply these approaches according to different situations. In any case, maintaining a correct and peaceful state of mind is the most important.