Positive psychology started in the late 90s, when Martin Seligman took a step back and asked a very simple question that changed the field: why are we only studying what is broken in people, when so much of life is about what makes us feel alive, hopeful, strong, connected?

Instead of looking only at pathology, he proposed something radical for the time: let’s also study what works.
Let’s understand joy, growth, resilience, courage, meaning.
Let’s look at what’s right in people, not just what hurts.

This did not erase suffering, but it certainly widened the lens.

Because being human is not only trauma and anxiety. It’s also everything that helps us stand back up, everything that pulls us forward, everything that makes life worth living.

The core principles are simple: we grow. We adapt. An with the right tools, we become more than our pain.

But let’s take a step back and start with the roots of Positive Psychology. 

It did not appear out of nowhere. It came from a long line of thinkers who had already pushed the idea that humans are built to grow.

Positive Psychology is grounded on the work of Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.

Abraham Maslow did not just draw a pyramid: he changed how modern psychology thinks about human potential. His biggest achievement was to prove that people naturally strive upward once their basic needs are secure. He studied high-achieving individuals — people like Eleanor Roosevelt or Albert Einstein — not to idolize them, but to understand what made them psychologically fulfilled. He showed that self-actualization is not about perfection or achievement; it is about authenticity, creativity, and alignment. One of his most important contributions was reframing “peak experiences,” those intense moments of clarity and connection when life feels meaningful. Before him, psychology had no language for that. Maslow gave us one.

Carl Rogers transformed therapy and, in many ways, transformed how we treat each other. His main contribution has been to demonstrate — scientifically — that genuine acceptance, empathy, and congruence from another person can trigger deep psychological change. He introduced the idea of the self-concept and showed how individuals expand when they are seen without judgment. This was revolutionary. Before Carl Rogers, therapy was dominated by interpretation and analysis. He brought humanity into the room. Today, almost every therapeutic approach — even those that disagree with him — uses elements of his method. His client-centered therapy is one of the most validated approaches in psychology, and his ideas now influence coaching, leadership development, parenting, and even conflict resolution.

Leveraging the work from his predecessors, Martin Seligman is the one who turned Positive Psychology into a scientific movement. He built a rigorous framework around the idea of what makes life worth living. He ran large-scale studies on optimism and discovered that how we explain events to ourselves predicts everything from resilience to performance to health. 

One of his key findings came from research with children: he proved you could teach optimism the same way you teach math or reading, and that doing so reduced their risk of depression years later. 

Another milestone was his work on “learned helplessness,” showing that when people or animals feel they have no control, they shut down — emotionally, cognitively, and behaviourally. This work became foundational in understanding burnout, victimhood, and chronic stress.

Later in his career, he pushed the field further by creating the PERMA model: Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. This framework helped psychologists, teachers, and companies measure well-being in a structured, scientific way. And because Martin Seligman is a researcher at heart, he validated each component with thousands of data points, showing that well-being is not accidental — it can be cultivated deliberately. One of his most striking achievements was proving that increasing meaning and engagement has a stronger long-term impact on life satisfaction than pursuing pleasure alone. He brought well-being into universities, workplaces, the U.S. Army, and education systems across the world. Thanks to him, “human flourishing” became something you could test, track, and improve.

Martin Seligman’s legacy is simple and profound: he gave psychology permission to build the conditions for a fulfilling life, not only to treat suffering. He offered the science and the vocabulary for something many people intuitively felt but could not articulate — that thriving is not a luxury, it is part of being human.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who co-founded Positive Psychology with Martin Seligman; delivered one of the most elegant concepts in Positive Psychology: flow. He studied thousands of people across dozens of fields to understand its mechanics. He interviewed climbers, composers, surgeons, chess players, CEOs, dancers, and factory workers. 

And everywhere he looked, the same pattern appeared: humans feel most alive when challenge meets skill. His research helped companies redesign work to reduce burnout. It helped educators transform learning. And it gave athletes and artists a framework to repeat their best performances intentionally instead of accidentally.

Barbara Fredrickson added more data into Positive Psychology. 

She created the Broaden-and-Build Theory and proved it with dozens of controlled experiments. She showed, for example, that when people experience emotions like joy, curiosity, or gratitude, they literally think more broadly. They solve problems more creatively. Their cardiovascular system functions better. Relationships deepen. 

One of her most cited studies demonstrated that loving-kindness meditation increased vagal tone — a marker of emotional resilience and physiological health. Another experiment showed that positive emotions accumulate over time, expanding our capacity to face adversity. 

Thanks to her, “positivity” became measurable, and no longer a vague concept.

Sonja Lyubomirsky’s work changed how we understand long-term happiness. She ran multi-year experiments showing that simple, intentional practices — writing a gratitude letter, performing acts of kindness, investing in relationships — produce measurable increases in well-being. Her achievement was demonstrating that happiness is not a personality trait; it can be trained like a muscle. 

One of her most famous findings is the “40 percent solution”: roughly 40 percent of our lasting happiness comes from intentional activities. This broke the belief that happiness is mostly genetic or circumstantial. It also gave Positive Psychology its most practical tools.

Together, these contributors did not just build a field — they rewired the foundation of modern mental health. They shifted us from “What is wrong?” to “What helps humans thrive?” They showed, each in their own way, that strength, meaning, resilience, and purpose are as real — and as scientifically grounded — as stress and pathology.

And when you go through the core ideas, stripped of jargon, that Positive Psychology brought to us – they are extremely practical and accessible.

It teaches us to focus on strengths over weaknesses.

Most of us spend years trying to fix what we think is wrong with us.
Positive psychology flips the equation: start with what is strong.
Use your talents.

Use what energizes you.

Build on what already works.

It teaches us that flourishing is more than lacking mental strength.

The absence of depression does not mean life feels whole. Flourishing is about meaning, connection, growth, joy, contribution.
It is about living, not just coping.

It teaches us that positive emotions act as fuel.

Joy, gratitude, curiosity, love — they expand us.
They open our mind. They make us more creative. They soften relationships. They rebuild resilience.
And yes, their effects are measurable — in the brain, in the body, in our behavior.

It teaches us a growth mindset.

We are not static.
We change.
Our past is information, not a life sentence.

It teaches us that we always have a choice.

Even in difficult situations, we still have a say in how we respond.
This is not about pretending everything is fine.
It is about remembering we are not powerless.

It teaches us the importance of resilience and relationships.

Humans heal through connection.
We grow through meaning.
We become stronger when we face difficulty and integrate what it teaches us.

And beyond all these teaching, Positive psychology is not a theory to admire or to be intellectually fulfilling. It is something to practice, in very concrete ways – and to use in everyday life. 

For instance, identify your strengths and deliberately use them. Create micro-moments of positive emotion throughout your day – such as a good laugh, a warm message, a breath of sun on your skin. Choose your focus carefully instead of letting your brain spiral into fear. Picture the person you want to become and let that image guide you. Grow without chasing perfection — and focus on progress, not relentless performance. Build relationships that nourish you, and not drain you. Treat setbacks as feedback, not final judgments.

None of this means ignoring pain. It means not letting pain run the whole show.

And there is plenty evidences of it. 

This field is backed by decades of data. 

For instance, people who practice gratitude and savouring experience higher well-being and stronger mental health. Positive emotions lower stress hormones, improve immune response, and support cardiovascular health. Well-being predicts longevity, creativity, better relationships, and higher success levels. Intentional habits — writing, mindfulness, acts of kindness — create measurable improvements that last.

Again: this is not wishful thinking.
This is biology and psychology working together.

But why does this matter to us?

Because most of us are experts at scanning for threats, not possibilities.
We know how to critique ourselves. We know how to fear.
While growing up requires a different muscle — one many of us have never been taught to use.

Positive psychology gives language and structure to something deeply intuitive: we are allowed to want more than survival.
We are allowed to change and become better, stronger.
We are allowed to feel joy.
We are allowed to build the life we want — even if the path is messy, imperfect, and unpredictable.

It is not about ignoring pain.
It is about refusing to let pain be the only narrator of our story.

The work is simple and powerful: stop attacking and abandoning yourself.
Start listening.
Respect your own internal signals.

And it fits perfectly with everything Thee Puzzle stands for: clarity, resilience, agency, and the courage to build a life that feels like yours.