Learning to be happy

Happiness education

Psychology has spent nearly a hundred years working on a disease and disorder model, on discovering deficits in human behaviour and trying to repair the damage. The result is that psychologists know very little about healthy and happy functioning.

Positive psychology

Positive psychology, still less than a decade old, has finally arrived to study what people can do to be happier, experimentally proving what works and what doesn’t, studying positive emotions, positive traits and institutions.

Not surprisingly the happiness techniques in teaching people “how to be happier”, seem to be far more effective in combatting the “disorders”, such as depression, than ever the traditional ones of teaching people “how not be be unhappy” ever were.

Seeing the negative

With ADHD too much the focus is on the negative, on problems and trying to be normal. Not enough attention is paid to value, purpose, gratitude and strengths. In fact with ADHD clients the findings of positive psychology through a lot of light and offers valuable insight in living a happy ADHD life.

Positive psychology can be very effective for ADHD as the emphasis is on maximising the positive, using signature strengths, embracing gratitude and optimism, and aligning your life with your values.

These scientific insights to happiness inform much of my coaching approach.
ADHD Coach, Andrew Lewis

Andrew Lewis

Andrew Lewis is an ADHD Coach, writer and founder of SimplyWellbeing. He has over 10,000 hours and 15 years of experience in coaching hundreds of ADHD executives, business professionals and creatives, and previously running a large ADHD support group and an ADHD diagnostic clinic. His business expertise comes from a twenty years career in software, from programming, through marketing, sales and running a few start-ups. His ADHD insight is personal, with decades understanding his own ADHD experience and in bringing up his ADHD daughter. He has published his writing primarily via this website, with interactive ADHD courses in development.

Read more...

ADHD at work
ADHD adults know what they need to do, yet they do not change, it is so much harder than “just do it”
ADHD at work
Medicine understands disease, disorder and disability but not diversity. Research indicates advantageous traits too.
ADHD at work
ADHD medications are the opposite of simple
ADHD at work
Ken Robinson speaks on the need to modernise education. Relying on memory and rote learning, hostile to ADHD students
ADHD at work
Just because research is weak doesn't mean the evidence isn't abundant.
ADHD at work
Tomm Hartmann convincingly argues that ADHD is not a disorder
ADHD at work
A tale of two procrastinators, Douglas Adams and Leonardo himself
ADHD at work
The perfect teacher, for a connected mind
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram