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Three pathways leading to authentic happiness:
Living in the present - an engaged life

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We talked about how to live a pleasant life by boosting our satisfaction with the past and optimism for the future. In this article, another path to a full life with authentic happiness, living an engaged life for the present, will be introduced. Living an engaged life can be achieved by being "in flow", i.e. totally involved in the present moment. We can also obtain lasting gratification by engagement into important life areas, using our strengths and virtues.

Flow

Have you ever felt so absorbed and enjoyable when doing something that you forgot about time? That might be a "flow" experience for you. Being "in flow" refers to engagement in activities that are rewarding in and of itself. It involves intense and focussed concentration on what you are doing during which you have a sense that time has passed faster. It is a subjective experience of overcoming manageable challenges with a series of goals and feedback about progress.

"Flow" experiences can be found in different types of activities that you find interesting and meaningful, such as running, playing piano, taking photographs or working on a special project. With continued "flow" experiences, one would enhance self-esteem, resilience of depression and enjoyment in life in the long run. If you want to enhance your positive emotions in the "now", you can start by choosing a healthy activity of your interest and devoting yourself to it. Through consistent engagement in such activities, you would create the "flow" experiences for yourself when you continue to advance the required sets of skills for pursuing your goals and better performance.

Signature strengths

Signature strengths are positive moral traits that can be seen in different situations and over time, such as integrity, kindness and originality. Strengths can be built and are less innate than talents, so you can voluntarily use and build strengths according to your choice. Psychologists Dr Martin Seligman and Dr Chris Peterson have identified 24 character strengths that appear to be important across cultures and historical eras. These 24 character strengths are classified under six types of virtues - Wisdom and Knowledge, Courage, Humanity and Love, Justice, Temperance, and Transcendence.

To fully enjoy the present and pursue authentic happiness, one can develop the best within oneself and use these strengths in the service of greater goods. The first step is to identify our own strengths. Do you know your strengths as we define here? If you reflect on your own strengths as a police officer, you may find yourself having courage to take up challenges or sense of justice for fairness in maintaining law and order. These strengths are positive qualities that keep you going despite difficulties. Besides, you may identify your own list of top strengths by taking a Values-In-Action (VIA) Strengths Survey on the website of www.authentichappiness.org.

After you have identified your own character strengths, don't waste these unique treasures! Instead of putting all our efforts to focus on our weaknesses, which are usually frustrating and discouraging, we can make better use of our strengths and engage in "flow" experience in important life areas, such as work, important relationship and family. For example, if you find you have character strengths of "Bravery" and "Vitality" (two of the character strengths under the virtue "Courage"), you may try to exercise and develop these strengths by seeking opportunities to take up different challenging duties or sharing with others to learn their ways to overcome difficulties. Apart from police work, you can also find such opportunities in leisure time such as engaging in outward bound and adventure activities. This approach can deepen and sustain your sense of satisfaction and fulfillment for your present life.
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