{"id":13798,"date":"2025-08-28T13:53:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T18:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/for-your-health\/?p=13798"},"modified":"2025-08-28T13:53:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T18:53:16","slug":"strategic-pillars-happiness-and-well-being-courtesy-dr-andy-mclean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/for-your-health\/2025\/08\/28\/strategic-pillars-happiness-and-well-being-courtesy-dr-andy-mclean\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategic pillars, happiness, and well-being (courtesy Dr. Andy McLean)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The School of Positive Psychology<\/a>, a movement based on the work of Dr. Martin Seligman, identifies the following core pillars of concern for human wellness: Positive Experiences, Positive Individual Traits, and Positive Institutions.<\/p>\n

This past week I was working on linking these pillars to those within our School, and to well-being. (Thank you, Dr. Van Eck for the AI introduction.)<\/p>\n

Our University and School likewise have five Strategic Plan pillars: Learning, Equity, Affinity, Discovery, and Service (LEADS). The American College of Lifestyle Medicine, which we are looking to eventually incorporate into our various curricula, has the following six pillars: Connectedness, Optimal Nutrition, Restorative Sleep, Risky Substance Avoidance, Stress Management, and Physical Activity.\u00a0 Our Well-Being Task Force work group has also been focusing on the areas of Learning, Environment, Culture, and Benefits. The above School of Positive Psychology further delineates six pillars: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment, Health.<\/p>\n

Related to all of the above, happiness is a component of well-being, though several contemporary authors have been tying happiness to well-being, defining happiness as not simply an emotion, but a much broader experience. Writer Arthur Brooks (whose presentation I unfortunately missed at the Fargo Theater last fall) has written extensively<\/a> about this (\u201cManaging Happiness\u201d is one of the most popular courses at Harvard<\/a>). He notes that happiness is a balance of enjoyment, meaning, and satisfaction. Dr. Seligman has also written extensively on this topic, indicating that a state of well-being\/happiness is manifested in three areas: The Pleasant Life (seeking pleasure\/enjoyment), The Good Life (engagement through one\u2019s strengths\/skills), and The Meaningful Life (via a greater cause than oneself.)<\/p>\n

The Pleasant Life can be associated with what Epicurus, a Greek philosopher, indicated was \u201chedonic,\u201d accomplished by avoiding pain and mental disturbance and moderately pursuing natural pleasures. The term hedonism has taken on a much more negative meaning over the centuries.<\/p>\n

Other Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle and, later, the Stoic Epictetus, saw the key to happiness not through hedonic practice but by living a virtuous and pragmatic life. Termed \u201ceudaimonia,\u201d this longer-term state of well-being is accomplished by living well and doing right. As with hedonism, over millennia stoicism took on a distorted definition, associated with \u201ca life of suffering.\u201d Not so.<\/p>\n

However, it is the combination<\/em> of these practices in moderation which allows for happiness and well-being. Those who focus purely on a hedonic approach have difficulty with long-term goal attainment and career success, not to mention relational difficulties. Shanafelt et al., who has written extensively<\/a> on the well-being of medical students and physicians, found that extreme eudaimonic motivation might lead to overexertion and burnout.<\/p>\n

Enjoyment, meaning, satisfaction. Using one\u2019s skills increases strength for a greater cause. It is gratifying to see how the pillars we have chosen to focus on, both institutionally and individually, can foster The Pleasant, Good, and Meaningful life, thus supporting our pursuit of happiness and well-being.<\/p>\n

Reminder, if you would like to share inspirational quotes, stories, or ideas which might be helpful to others, please feel free to email our colleague Dr. Melissa Naslund at\u00a0melissa.naslund@UND.edu<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The School of Positive Psychology, a movement based on the work of Dr. Martin Seligman, identifies the following core pillars of concern for human wellness: Positive Experiences, Positive Individual Traits, and Positive Institutions. This past week I was working on linking these pillars to those within our School, and to well-being. (Thank you, Dr. Van […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":13813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3714,2731,897,3713,1994,3321,985],"class_list":["post-13798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-happiness","tag-leads","tag-mclean","tag-pillars","tag-strategic-plan","tag-well-being","tag-wellness"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStrategic pillars, happiness, and well-being (courtesy Dr. Andy McLean) - For Your Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/for-your-health\/2025\/08\/28\/strategic-pillars-happiness-and-well-being-courtesy-dr-andy-mclean\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Strategic pillars, happiness, and well-being (courtesy Dr. Andy McLean) - For Your Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The School of Positive Psychology, a movement based on the work of Dr. Martin Seligman, identifies the following core pillars of concern for human wellness: Positive Experiences, Positive Individual Traits, and Positive Institutions. 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