Psychological Richness
What is Psychological Richness?
What is a good life? What makes life worth living? Amongst all the ingredients of a good life, health and wealth are neither categorically essential nor enough to make our lives good, happy and worth living. However, loving relationships, purpose and meaning play a significant role (eudaimonia). However, researchers (Shigehiro Oishi, Lorraine Besser, and others) have recently discovered another element that makes our lives good (worth living): Psychological Richness. They have shown that psychologically rich experiences can lead us to a more valued sense of self and connection to our environment in a nonjudgmental and more receptive way.
Psychological richness is achieved by seeking challenging, novel, and complex experiences that fully engage our minds, give our thoughts new perspectives, and intensely stimulate our emotions. Such engagements with the world can develop when we notice thought-provoking, artistic, and awe-inspiring phenomena and become curious about what’s happening around us. For psychological richness, which Lorraine Besser calls “The Interesting” (robust cognitive engagement experiences that stimulate new thoughts and emotions), to take hold in our minds, we must give it the space to happen. We need to loosen the grip on our preconceived ideas, step outside our comfort zone, let in other things that we might have overlooked, and open up to the interesting.
So, we need to pay attention to the sparks of interest in our mind, seeing what lights up our interest and makes us curious. We’ve all got that spark of interest somewhere, but it’s different for each of us. The best way to pursue it is through formal and informal learning. Perhaps we can Google something or open up a news page, read the list and see where our mind lands and what captures our attention. Eventually, something will. Seize on that and learn to pay attention to how that feels. Lorraine Besser is a professor of philosophy at Middlebury College (Vermont, USA). In her new book, “The Art of the Interesting,” she explains what psychological richness looks like and how it can be achieved.
Once you’re familiar with the curious feeling, allow those sparks to expand into ripples of thoughts and emotion, which trigger a mindset that will enable exploration. Curious engagement with the world pays off. When we develop the skill of noticing and being curious about what’s happening around us, we feel more connected to the world and have a sense of agency (responsibility, involvement and control). Researchers have shown that psychologically rich experiences may encourage activism for climate change, justice, equality, and truth. They help people understand the world better, overcome hurdles when things seem too overwhelming, and rise above the boundaries of nationality, ethnicity, ideology, religion, or region.
It can also help us in the political and social environment. A non-evaluative or non-judgemental framework means we do not close our minds to diverse ideas. It gives us a sense of curiosity, interest, and connection that helps us engage with others more constructively. Once curiosity takes over, our minds will go somewhere very interesting and highly constructive. Openness to experience (one of the Big Five personality traits) predicts psychological richness. The more open we are to experiences, the more comfortably we embrace novelty, challenge and complexity.
The Big Five Personality Traits
Openness to experience (inventive and curious vs. consistent and cautious).
Conscientiousness (efficient and organised vs. wasteful and careless).
Extraversion (outgoing and energetic vs. introverted and reserved).
Agreeableness (friendly and compassionate vs. critical and judgmental).
Neuroticism (sensitive and nervous vs. composed, resilient and confident).
Pushing the boundaries of our comfort zones can help us become more open to experience, and it doesn’t take much. Reading a book or watching a documentary about a different time and place will help. Making small changes to our routines, taking a different route to work or watching the news on a different channel can help us become more open to new ideas and invite psychological richness into our lives.
There’s a massive benefit to unstructured cognitive engagement and using our mind that’s not in the service of a plan, purpose or an end goal. We can stimulate our psychological richness by actively giving ourselves the space to be more curious and aware of our surroundings, encouraging our imagination and questioning everything that happens in the world around us. We often struggle with a few uncomfortable issues: relationship problems, work-related troubles, financial difficulties and our doubtful sense of self (self-image, self-esteem or self-confidence). Everyone hopes to resolve these problems first and as quickly as possible. But what if we could feel more contented and fulfilled by embracing the life we’re already living?
The good news is that you already do many things that make your life worth living. A good life is about simple daily encounters and small moments that give us contentment. It is not about how successful we are or how much we have accomplished. Remember, it doesn’t matter what others think about our lives. Take time for yourself to reflect on what makes your life worth living. Go to your favourite coffee shop or make yourself comfortable on the couch, and spend some time reflecting on your values and what is important to you.
When we don’t act according to our values, we often experience loss, emptiness and disappointment. When we act according to our values, we usually feel more fulfilled, energised and like ourselves. Next, brainstorm things that bring you joy, happiness and gratitude or produce other positive emotions. Nothing is too big or too small for this list. A life worth living is all about finding pleasure in the small moments of our everyday life.
Reflecting on all the small things currently in our lives that may be overlooked, we can celebrate all the small wins we accomplish daily. Identifying psychological richness in the small moments of each day that make our lives worth living leads to joy and contentment. On the other hand, focusing on stressful things strengthens the stress pathways in our brains. We can help guide our brain on what we want to focus on and search out in the world by giving it a list of things that make us feel good and help us find positive moments in the chaos.
