By Andrew S. Kane
Ask a patriarch or matriarch of a family what they wish for and they will likely say a happy and healthy family.
A deeper conversation may focus around wanting children to be successful, without any clarity of how success is defined. A parent may also say that they themselves are only as happy as their least happy child. We throw words around like success and happiness to cover a broad range of emotions, aspirations and values, Perhaps the scientific research within the science of positive psychology can shed some light by focusing happiness around the concept of wellbeing.
Positive psychology is now a well-researched science that has been developed over the past 20 years or so. Some of the leading lights in this science are Professor Martin Seligman known as the father of Positive Psychology (author of books such as Flourish and Authentic Happiness), Professor Mihaly Csiksentmihayli (author of books such as Flow and Creativity), Barbara Frederickson (author of Positivity) and Sonja Lyubormirsky (author of The How of Happiness). There are many others such as Robert Biswas-Diener, continually adding to the breadth and depth of the understanding of the science and focused on the study of happiness and wellbeing.