Breathe
By Arlen Solodkin
Martin Seligman, father of positive psychology and considered the most influential psychologist of our times, questioned the name given to our species: "Homo Sapiens".
In his opinion, what best defines human beings is their ability to foresee the future; therefore, for the researcher we are "Homo Prospectus". Why is that? According to Martin, the term "wise" describes the result of nature, but not its origin. That is, we are not born wise and we do not become wise as a seed becomes a plant. To become wise we have to learn and learning depends on our ability to extract information from the experiences we live and apply them in the future.
Thus, for Martin we are Homo Prospectus who may or may not become Sapiens. Prospecting is the mental process of projecting and evaluating future possibilities and using these projections as a guide for thought and action.
Any animal or person would be better trained with a greater dose of anticipation and prediction of the future, of what is going to happen. Therefore, learning is necessary to build experiences and anticipate well, but anticipation is at the core of learning, since it is through the formation of expectations that animals are able to detect errors and metabolize experiences by selectively using information.
Thus, a person's success in the face of an external event or circumstance lies in anticipating and evaluating the various possibilities he or she has to act and achieve his or her goal in the future. In fact, we all make this analysis constantly.
The area of our brain that is responsible for seeing the different possibilities and deals with forward thinking is known as the "default circuit" and is a network of interrelated brain structures. This part of the brain is very active, as studies have shown when people are asked to solve math problems, for example. But the most curious thing is that it is also active, even if the person has not received instructions and is at rest.
People are wired to evaluate and anticipate future situations in order to respond to possible adversity, as well as to better adapt and prepare for the future. Now, how you relate to and anticipate your future is of utmost importance to living a full and optimistic life, a life of hope and peace.
Martin Seligman, who will lead the talks at the Hope Circuit international meeting, which will take place on November 23 and 24 in Mexico City, mentions that the cortex is an area of the brain that allows us human beings to prospect the future, and if this prospect is positive, it allows us to have hope by offering us a repertoire of good options that can happen. According to the researcher, learning is in the prefrontal cortex and when it feels in control, it turns off the part that generates helplessness.
This theory, developed by him in the last 50 years, questions therapies that have been used to treat cases of depression or anxiety in which the only goal was to change the past or the present; but according to Martin, a good therapy seeks to metabolize the past and the present by focusing on generating a sense of control and hope for the future through the prospection and analysis of the possibilities that the individual has to act and achieve his or her goal.
The way psychology should work is to create many futures and then deduce the past and the present. If you focus on the traumas you think about the past, if you focus on what you want to build, you focus on what you choose. What defines positive psychology is choice.
Authors such as Phillip Zimbardo and Ilona Boniwell believe it is healthy to have a balanced orientation to time. Seeing the past offers traditions and identity, focusing on the present offers enjoyment of the moment, being in a state of mindfulness and planning for the future helps us build the life we want.
Psychotherapy has focused a lot on the past, coaching on the present. The theory of hope developed by Rick Snyder suggests that optimism is a way of looking to the future with hope and that people with high levels of hope score high on two types of thinking: Agency Thinking, which refers to the person being able to act and being in control of their actions and Pathways Thinking, where the person has the ability to think of different alternatives for action to find new paths in the face of possible obstacles.
Thinking about the future is something we do constantly, but we often do it without realizing it. Many of us limit our own ability to create and innovate because of our inability to imagine a different future.
To bring about change, whether at a personal, community or work level, it is essential to cultivate our imagination and deepen our understanding of what we need to do to build a better future. This also implies surrounding ourselves with visionary people, capable of imagining and guiding the way to that possible future. Only through shared imagination and action can we transform our hopes into tangible realities.
*Founderand director of the Instituto de Bienestar Integral and the Hope Circuit meeting.
**ABOUT HOPE CIRCUIT
Hope Circuit is the international meeting that brings together the most recognized leaders in the fields of integral wellness, happiness and human progress; which will take place on November 23rd and 24th at the Westin Hotel in Santa Fe, as the first of other actions that seek to create a more positive future for Mexico. In the next publications we will share practical tools and findings of world leaders who will be at Hope Circuit, such as Dr. Martin Seligman, considered one of the most influential psychologists of our times; Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, professor of the most popular course at Harvar University or Andrew Schwartz, director of the World Wellbeing Project, in order to challenge the status quo and enrich our community so that together we can find solutions that will help us build a future of greater optimism, empathy and hope.
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The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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