#24: Positive Psychology, Body Positivity & Self Awareness

March 8, 2020

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Your weekly round-up of wisdom, habits, inspiration and practical solutions, including How to cultivate better Self Awareness

#24: Positive Psychology, Body Positivity & Self Awareness

Welcome to issue #24 of The Power Up, the curated email magazine from Man Body Spirit.

Every day I scour the Internet in search of wisdom, habits, inspiration and practical solutions to help improve the mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing of our readers, curating the best bits together in this neat little package – and delivered direct to your inbox.

This week we look at the relatively short history of Positive Psychology, identify some of the most common Mental Blocks, consider Body Positivity from Men’s point of view, and deep dive into the subject of self awareness.

With ideas from Harvard Business Review, Ted, Vox and the Yoga Journal, there’s loads to get through, so I hope you enjoy it.

Positive psychology is a booming industry. But is it science, religion, or something else?

Positive Psychology is ubiquitous.
Book store shelves are lined with the latest releases promising us science-backed techniques to boost our happiness.

In the little more than 20 years since Positive Psychology was coined as a term, the field has captivated the world with its hopeful promises. Yet it has also drawn critics for its moralising, pseudo-religious overtones, and serious commercialisation.

Here Vox provides a short history and analysis of positive psychology’s commodification.

“We all seem to want what positive psychology is selling,” they say. “What is it that makes this movement so compelling?”

Mind

3 mental blocks that keep you from doing what you say you want to do

At times we all face powerful mental blocks that get in the way of achieving our goals. Fitness goals, career goals, relationship goals – whatever they might be.

In this Ted Talk, cognitive psychologist Amanda Crowell lists three common mental blocks that trip us up and suggests workarounds to keep us on track.

This article from Ted’s ‘How to be a better human’ series summarises the key points – buy you can also watch the Ted Talk itself.

Body

Body positivity affects men too

Over the last few years ‘body positivity’ has emerged as a primarily female-focused movement pushing back against the negative impact of unrealistic media standards of beauty – most often portraying skinny or highly toned bodies as the norm.

Hitting back, #bodypositivity accumulated over 11.5 million hashtags on Instagram at the end of 2019, as women everywhere made it clear they’d had enough of being made to feel not pretty enough.

Yet it isn’t just women who are impacted by the pressure to meet certain body standards. Statistics reveal that men are unhappier with their body image than ever before.

This piece from Thrive Global suggests things we can do to open the dialogue on the issue and support each other to feel more comfortable with our own respective bags of bones.

Spirit

What Self-Awareness really is (and how to cultivate it)

Research suggests that when we increase our self awareness, we are more confident and more creative. We make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively.

What’s more, we’re less likely to lie, cheat, and steal, we’re better workers who get more promotions, and we’re more-effective leaders with more-satisfied employees and more-profitable companies.

Pretty compelling, right?

This feature from the Harvard Business Review looks at some of the roadblocks, myths, and truths about what self-awareness is and what it takes to improve it – including why experience and positions of power often diminish our ability to be self aware, and why introspection might not be as effective a measure as we might think.

How to move from Self-Awareness to Self-Improvement

Giving you a double dose of self-awareness guidance this week, this follow up piece, also by HBR, looks at self-awareness’ equally important sibling: self-management.

Once we have awareness of our weaknesses and tendencies, self-management is becomes the conscious choice we make to resist them, and instead demonstrate more productive behaviours.

Read on to discover a simple four-step process to better self management.

Bonus content

7 perfect pre-workout snack ideas

What you choose to snack on before your workout matters.
It can be the difference between staying focused, feeling powerful and finishing with energy to spare, and a workout where you feel distracted, tired and can’t wait for the end.

This article recommends seven great pre-workout snacks, full of whole food ingredients that will keep you energised, and ready to get the most out of your next session – whether you’re doing yoga, playing tennis, football, crossfit, or anything else.

Visit the Blog at ManBodySpirit.com

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”

Stephen Covey

Thanks for reading, I hope you found some great value within this week’s edition. If so, please pass on a recommendation to your friends. If not, then please give me feedback on what more you would like to see. See you next time, Adam.

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#24: Positive Psychology, Body Positivity & Self Awareness

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