Fantastic post.

Gratitude is very important. In modern life people critically compare themselves to others. Especially what others have and we lack. Envy cripples gratitude because it nullifies everything we have going for us. Envy becomes a vicious cycle and leads to a lot of negative thought patterns. Gratitude, on the other hand, is not just about being thankful for what you have. It's realizing and keeping track of things which others do not. Thus the focus shifts from the external to the internal. Gratitude also motivates us to be better and do better.

In addiction addicts are encouraged to practice gratitude. It entails a mental shift from blaming, being a victim and holding grudges (forgiveness?) to focussing on the positives. Although very simply put, it's difficult to completely word how freeing gratitude can be. It becomes easier to practise "intentional activities" when applying a grateful attitude because you feel that you're inherently worth investing in.

Forgiveness, wow, where does one start? Forgiveness means letting go and moving on. I've always thought about it this way: when you don't forgive, a part of you holds onto whatever the situation was and subsequently stagnates, or even 'rots'. A part of your identity is created through whatever grudge you hold and that part of, essentially, is founded on a lie. Let me use sexual abuse as an example: you cannot forgive a parental figure for the latter (which happened when you were a child) thus some part of you believes there was a 'truth' or 'meaning' attached to the event. In other words, you weren't worthy of love and protection (instead of just seeing the situation objectively). This lie somehow attaches to who you are, although it can be very subtle. Forgiving is a way to redefine events of the past and to see them for what they really were.

I like the part on intentional activities: once again (and you'll remember this) I like behaviourism in that it essentially revolves around empowering people. Intentional activities strives to do the latter. We are responsible for our own joy.

I always suspected something like hedonic adaptation existed though I've never come across a term to define the idea. This is fascinating and I believe in it, fully. Although your post touches on this, I would love to explore how we can increase this baseline over time so that the support level for hedonic adaptation, when we eventually drop down again, is always higher than the last time.

Thanks for the amazing post. I don't know much about Positive Psychology but most of it really rings true to me. I look forward to learning more from your work in Positive Psych.