Louise Stanger is a speaker, educator, licensed clinician, social worker, certified daring way facilitator and interventionist who uses an invitational intervention approach to work with complicated mental health, substance abuse, chronic pain and process addiction clients.

Weve all heard the expression view the world as a glass half-full, rather than half-empty. This is one of the most favorite and common phrases to describe a positive outlook. The study of psychology, research and findings, however, over the years has portrayed a glass half empty. In fact, Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, maintained that behavioral health was built on the disease model, with a focus on uncovering what was wrong with the person. As a result, he posed the following question:

What happens when we look at human behavior with a positive spin?

Thats exactly what Seligman did. As such, his research on human psychology flipped the script and began to take a closer look at healthy states such as happiness, strength of character and optimism.

In short, one can take a look at their personality, hobbies, traits, skills, character, etc. from a strength-based perspective. Clinicians, interventionists, and social workers like myself look for goodness to help the clients develop and implement in their daily lives - behaviors that foster personal growth, healthy relationships and meaningful engagement.

Lets begin with strengths. Since anyone can brainstorm an endless list of those qualities we draw power from, we decided to highlight the Positive Psychology Program, a website dedicated to providing education and resources for positive psychology. Researchers assembled human behavioral data and collapsed the data into the following six categories:

If you answered yes to some or many of these questions, you may identify with that particular strength of character. The truth is we probably draw from all of them. The key is to sow the seeds of positivity, nurture and grow the strengths you see in yourself for achieving healthier relationships - with your mother, father, sister, brother, grandparent, husband, wife, etc. These attributes will also equip you with the ability to start a business, ask for a promotion, negotiate with your boss, land the big account, or treat yourself to something special. Finally, youll see your life grow toward the sunlight because you put in the hard work.

Keeping your strengths in mind, another essential ingredient to nurture a positive outlook is your own well-being. Well-being is like happiness, a feeling of contentment and peace about oneself. Its the emotional response that the world is okay, that the future is bright or your own creation, and theres room for possibility.

Building well-being is not easy. This demands attention, detail, perseverance, routine, and daily practice. In collaboration with Pyramid Healthcare, a program that adapted Seligmans work to create a framework for clients to harness positivity, the following are our ideas on how you practice well-being each day:

As with finding happiness, our thoughts and ideas and the ways in which we view the world helps shape our physical and emotional health. Optimists think about misfortune the opposite way. They tend to believe that defeat is just a temporary setback or a challenge, that its causes are just confined to this one case, says Seligman.

That being said, it is inevitable that we will at times experience negative feelings. That is part of being human. Here are ways we have discovered to build resiliency.

Positivity begins with unleashing your strengths, using them to foster healthy well-being, working these behavioral practices in daily living, and constructing a defense against negative emotions. Remember that positive and negative emotions, good days and bad, ups and downs are the lifeblood of being human. You have a choice each morning to seize the day. What positive emotion will you pick?

To learn more about Louise Stanger and her interventions and other resources, visit her website.

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Climbing to Positivity - HuffPost