The positive psychology activity took place on a weekend. My friends and I had gone to visit an aged couple that lives on the city's outskirts. The couple is guardians to one of my friends since her parents died when she was a very small child. They brought her up and ensured that she got everything that she needed. Since she does not stay with them now, she gives them frequent visits during her free time. And this time around, she took her friends with her as a special thanks to the ageing couple. We had planned the visit for some time, and everything was ready, including the homemade gifts that we had for them. We arrived at the home before noon and spent the entire day there since we had some activities. It was a great day for the aged couple, and they enjoyed the day.
The social activity was a good way to show love to the ageing couple. Our presence in their compound made them feel socially connected, cared for and loved. My friend narrated stories that reminded them of the good days they spent together when she was young. The stories gave them memories and reminded them of the many good things that did to her. The other activities like singing together and playing games made them happy. The expressions on their faces brightened up our day. I learnt that it is good to be thankful when others do well to you. I learnt from myself and my friends the advantages of showing kindness. We had created time and sacrificed to go and visit the aged couple. It made them feel less lonely, like they are used to being alone in the house. I also learnt the goodness of remembering and making others feel that you appreciate their good deeds no matter how big or small.
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Relationship to Positive Psychology
The activity of showing gratitude and appreciation is related to optimal human functioning. It demonstrates the concept of transcendence. The activity showed thankfulness in response to what the couple had done. Gratitude is significant not only for making a person feel good but also for inspiring people to do good (Emmons et al., 2019). Our friend inspired us to show gratitude to other people, including our teachers, parents, friends, and other family members. The homemade gifts of the memories also made the couple feel connected to society even though they rarely go out to interact with others. The activity also energizes, heals, and changes lives in numerous ways steady with the idea that virtue is its prize and creates other different rewards (Wood et al., 2010). The couple was very much humbled to receive rewards for their work. Even though they cannot help like in the past years, they must have felt energized and the need to continue helping other people at all times.
Gratitude also demonstrates positive psychology as it associated with qualities like forgiveness, empathy, and willingness to assist other people. For example, my friends and I have a grateful disposition and socially useful characteristics that we expressed by our empathetic behavior, and acts of kindness to the aged couple. Most likely, when individuals feel appreciative and grateful in their everyday life, they also appear enthusiastic, joyful, compassionate, and loving (Wood et al., 2010). Remarkably, partners, friends, family, and others around them constantly state that individuals who practice gratefulness are seen as more trustworthy, optimistic, and outgoing (Emmons et al., 2019). The activity also demonstrated the notion of being helpful. We helped the couple in some activities at home that are hard for them at their age. The kind of help showed how the activity was relevant.
Application to Personal or Professional Issues
The activity showed a character that can be used in various social issues in the community. Gratitude is possible to promote happiness for many motives. Its thinking promotes the treasuring of constructive life circumstances and experiences so that individuals can get the extreme potential enjoyment and satisfaction from their situations (Wood et al., 2010). There is happiness also as they fight the daily loneliness. Visiting the aged is a great step towards assisting them in handling loneliness.
Moreover, visiting them goes a long way to show that one cares about the other person. They can get a valuable reminder of love by the visit and spending time with them. There is so much happier spending time together and retelling the old stories and memories (Biswas-Diener, 2011). The activity also promotes well-being as one can check the emotional and physical health on the visit. They can notice any trends that show anything that is not right and ensure that they are maintaining a good diet.
One of the strengths of applying my learning to social issues is that it attracts life's blessings. The person receiving the appreciation and others taking place in the activity might give blessings. These are very relevant to the life of every individual. On the other hand, some people do not feel comfortable around strangers. Thus, taking my friends to an ailing or aged person might make some people feel very uncomfortable. They might end up not having a memorable or enjoyable moment as anyone might think. Besides that, some people might have different hobbies that are hard for anyone to get through. There are also possibilities of language barrier among the people. It could hinder the delivery of various relevant services in society due to misunderstanding and miscommunication.
References
Biswas-Diener, R. (2011). Applied positive psychology: Progress and challenges. The European Health Psychologist , 13 (2), 24-26.
Emmons, R. A., Froh, J., & Rose, R. (2019). Gratitude.
Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration. Clinical psychology review , 30 (7), 890-905.
