24 November 2021
After writing last week’s blog on mental hygiene, I wanted to research the efficacy of some of the recommended practices, specifically, positive psychological interventions (PPI).
Much of the literature search concerning PPIs involved studies that were too broad, too narrow, and of less value, as I saw them, to the addictive/trauma community. Finally, I found one that dealt with only two well-defined PPIs, use your resources, and count your blessings. It was recent (2020), peer reviewed, and admirably simple in its intentions.
Use Your Resources
This PPI involves reflecting on your personal resources e.g., a strong sense of humour, resourcefulness, optimism, high energy, financial, social, or natural resources, and organizational skills. There could be many more. You then select your top three. Each day you use one of those three resources to consciously improve your work life, home life, or the combination of these two lives. The recommendation is to write down which resource was used on which aspect of your life and then write an answer to the question, “What effect did this have on you?” (Peeters, Steenbergen, & Ybema, 2020, p. 4).
Count Your Blessings
Count your blessings is a diary exercise. Each day, at the same time, you write about an enjoyable or pleasant experience in your work, home, or combined home-work life e.g., a positive social encounter, high productivity, successful completion of a task, something learned etc. You are to record two blessings per day and answer the question, “Why was this experience positive?” for each of those experiences. (Ibid).
To succeed, PPIs, like use your resources and count your blessings require manageable or minimal stress. And repeated effort, commitment, and faith. Next week, some theory underlying the relationship between stress, coherence, and full health.
Dan Chalykoff is working toward an M.Ed. in Counselling Psychology and accreditation in Professional Addiction Studies. He writes these blogs to increase (and share) his own evolving understandings of ideas. Since 2017, he has facilitated two voluntary weekly group meetings of SMART Recovery.
References
Peeters, M. C. W., Steenbergen, E. F. van, Ybema, J. F. (2020). “Positive Psychological Micro-Interventions to Improve the Work-Family Interface: Use Your Resources and Count Your Blessings.” Frontiers in Psychology.
Comments