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The Beethoven Factor: The New Positive Psychology
of Hardiness, Happiness, Healing and Hope
By Paul Pearsall
Paul Pearsall explains, “The Beethoven Factor is ‘SIG, Stress Induced Growth.’
“Like the composer, there are persons for whom adversity is a stimulus for personal growth and creativity. Also like Beethoven, they aren’t ’super humans.’
“Like all of us, they are flawed beings, but [...]

“We have to stop thinking about the world as being composed of these separate little atoms, and then each atom has to somehow work on itself. And rather see happiness or wellbeing flourishing as something that emerges when a system is properly configured, and all the parts are deeply engaged and enmeshed.
“That’s the happiness [...]

“Relieving the states that make life miserable… has made building the states that make life worth living less of a priority. The time has finally arrived for a science that seeks to understand positive emotion, build strength and virtue, and provide guideposts for finding what Aristotle called the `good life’.”
Martin Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness: [...]