7 Positive Psychology Books That Will Help Develop Your Personality

Go ahead! Dare to think positively and you will feel different. Shift focus, relativize and reframe. Only then will you form a fuller life, in which desires and behavior are in balance, in which happiness finally becomes a reality, not a simple purpose that is never attained. To achieve this, nothing better than receiving help from the best positive psychology books.

Let’s face it, we’re a society that handles most terms associated with happiness pretty well. We read almost any self-help book that falls into our hands. There are those who resort to spiritual retreats, conferences or Mindfulness classes. However…many of us remain stuck in the same negative attitudes and the same thought loops. We invest in the most diverse forms of personal growth and, even so, we do not fully achieve that internal well-being, calm and happiness.

Everyone can start in this world as they wish. But if there is a message that can be retrieved from the chest of oblivion, it is that there is no magic and exclusive recipe for achieving a “full life”, for achieving happiness. What exists is a process, an everyday, meticulous and permanent investment, in which to defeat exactly the debilitating attitudes, the defense mechanisms and the obsessive cycle of many of these thoughts that act as true enemies.

To achieve this, we can undoubtedly choose several paths, resort to some coaching, seek advice from a motivation guru or start a good course. However, as curious as it may seem, there is a model that permeates all of this, a science of human well-being that is always present and that stands as an enriching substrate that nourishes most of the currents that exist today. We are undoubtedly talking about positive psychology.

Since Professor Martin Seligman gave the decisive impetus, back in the 1990s, it did not take long for aspects as relevant and well known to the general public as the concept of resilience, emotional intelligence, creativity, Mihaly’s concept of flow to flourish. Csikszentmihalyi…

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

1. “Authentic Happiness”, Martin EP Seligman

Martin Seligman, psychologist, writer and chair of the Psychology department 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 this first step towards a new approach in behavioral science, in which the study of the pathological is set aside to focus exclusively on promoting 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 adorned with beautiful words. In this work there are studies, there are comparative and valid approaches that will show us that true happiness is born from the strengths of the human being.

Knowing how to promote, understand and work on these strengths is our priority.

2. “Learn to be happy”, Tal Ben Sahar

In 2006 the most popular course of all time at Harvard University took place. The subject was called “How to Be Happy” and was taught by an Israeli professor named Tal Ben-Sahar. He is currently  one of the greatest exponents of positive psychology, and in this book his approach, practical observations and theories are presented.

On the other hand, an interesting thing that Professor Ben-Sahar reveals to us is that true happiness does not exclude having to assume and accept one’s emotional discomfort, and for this he quotes Viktor Frankl: “What we need is not to live without tensions or fearless. What we also need is not to get rid of difficulties at all costs, but to find a meaning for life that is worthwhile”.

In the book “Learn to be happy” we will also find from meditation techniques to strategies to apply gratitude in everyday life. We will also find personal stories, about the author’s own life, to serve as a reflection.

3. “Flow”: the psychology of happiness”, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Talking about positive psychology is also talking about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his works on the “state of flow”. Your presence on this list is, without a doubt, mandatory and reading this book is enriching.

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

In this world of countless technological and scientific advances, Csikszentmihalyi invites us, with this book, to focus all our psychic energy and our attention on concrete goals, on finding pleasure in the simplest tasks. We must establish in our horizon plans and goals that are of our choice to feel a true well-being.

4. “A new world: the awakening of a new consciousness”, Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle suffered from deep depression for most of his life. When he was 29 years old, he began to have suicidal thoughts, to the point of almost putting an end to his life on a certain night. However, by the next morning everything had changed. The obsessive thoughts had disappeared because he had found a new vital purpose, an inner awakening and a hope: he wanted to live.

While it is true that Ekhart Tolle’s books enter the field of the spiritual, it is still a direct immersion in positive psychology, in which we learn to work with dimensions as basic as self-acceptance, learning to deal with adversity, conflict and , mainly, how to face those moments when depression hits everything.

In this book, Tolle goes a step further to explore, for example, the structure of the ego and explain to us how the ego takes us away from what Seligman repeats over and over again: the good points of being human.

5. “Overcoming Adversity: The Power of Resilience”, Luis Rojas Marcos

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

In this work we learn how all of us, even when we don’t believe, have psychic and biological mechanisms that prepare us to resist and face adversity.

In fact, this is what human beings have done throughout their history, because survival is the rule and we are able to do this thanks to a wonderful instrument: resilience. In this book, we learn to work on resilience, take care of its pillars, basic roots such as self-esteem, self-control, optimism and, of course… positive thinking.

6. “59 seconds: Think a little, change a lot”, Richard Wiseman

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

The most interesting and innovative thing about Professor Wiseman is that he invites us to end negative ideas and wrong attitudes in just 59 seconds…

7. “Is your bucket full? The Transforming Power of Positive Emotions,” Donald O. Clifton

If Martin Seligman is the father of positive psychology, Donald O. Clifton is the “grandfather.” His works laid the foundations of this science, and in this book is all its philosophy, all its roots and those windows of masterful knowledge through which we never tire of looking.

This is without a doubt a reference book because, in addition to guiding us to “fill” our lives with positive emotions, it also inspires us due to all the lessons learned in our daily work, helping people and advising thousands of companies. Its pages hide tons of positive energy and diving into them is, without a doubt, a complete experience.

In conclusion, we are aware that there are several other titles and other bibliographical proposals from which we can learn about positive psychology. However, these 7 suggestions are a good start, a starting point to reflect on, with which to plant the little seeds along the way…