The PERMA model
Well-being cannot exist just in your own head. Well-being is a combination of feeling good as well as actually having meaning, good relationships and accomplishment. ―Martin Seligman
👥 Serves: 1 person
🎚 Difficulty: Hard
⏳ Total time: 61-120 minutes
🥣 Ingredients: –
🤓 Wholebeing Domains: Meaning, Positive Emotion, Radical Care
💪 Wholebeing Skills: Contentment, Fulfilment, Goal-setting, Love, Optimism, Pleasure, Purpose
The PERMA model
📝 Description
A model for psychological wellbeing.
Martin Seligman, often known as the “father of positive psychology” created the PERMA model to describe five core elements of psychological wellbeing, helping people reach a life of fulfilment, happiness, and meaning. PERMA stands for:
- Positive emotion: Feeling good, positive emotions, optimism, pleasure, and enjoyment.
- Engagement: Fulfilling work, interesting hobbies, and flow.
- Relationships: Social connections, love, intimacy, emotional and physical interaction.
- Meaning: Having a purpose, finding meaning in life.
- Accomplishments: Ambition, realistic goals, important achievements, pride in yourself.
The following activity helps you look at your life through these five lenses to see what’s going well and which aspects you can improve on to increase life satisfaction and psychological wellbeing. This model can also be applied to your team and organisation to see how you work in an environment conducive to fulfilment, happiness, and meaning.
For more information about the PERMA model, we invite you to watch Seligman’s TEDx talk on the topic. You can also read this in-depth guide to PERMA kindly put together by Cleverism.
👣 Steps
Step 1 – P for Positive emotion
Remember to adopt a positive perspective as often as you can.
Step 2 – E for Engagement
Find the things that make you happy and engaged.
Step 3 – R for Relationships
Focus on your relationships with family and friends, and find ways to connect.
Step 4 – M for Meaning
Search for meaning and lead a life of purpose.
Step 5 – A for Accomplishments
Save your accomplishments and strive for further achievement.