MAPP 2.0 : A Vision for Our Evolution

/

Photo BY: PEOPLEIMAGES on Unsplash

When I entered the University of Pennsylvania Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program back in 2009, it was because I felt a calling to apply more substance and salience to my work in television. I had recently left a job as a news anchor, and although I found great fulfillment in the work, the substrate left me…wanting. I was using my face and voice to disseminate information that, net-net, made people sick. I didn’t realize this consciously at the time. It took my education in positive psychology and my capstone on positive psychology and the media to crystallize with research most of us now know empirically: Watching the news engenders anxiety (McNaughton, 2001) and depression (Potts & Sanchez, 1993). Until then, however, it was just an instinct. An instinct that turned out to be correct.

 It was the “applied” aspect of the degree that I felt called to apply for. I planned to absorb the spectrum of well-being science in one concentrated dose over the course of the year, then to bring it right back to my career on camera. It didn’t exactly work out that way. For one, I found it difficult to find projects that aligned with my morphed self. No one wants all positive news all the time—it’s not a realistic depiction of the world, but that’s all I wanted to sell. Unfortunately, the stuff that does sell (and therefore drives ratings) tends toward the salacious. It tends toward that which snags our attention by playing to our negativity bias (the cognitive tendency to weigh the negative more heavily than the positive) and panders to our worst and deepest fears (Soroka, Fournier & Nir, 2019). I ended up becoming somewhat of a poster child for positive psychology and well-being on and in various media outlets and publications, touting its truths wherever and whenever I could. This is how I stayed close to the media world and owned my new voice within it, but I couldn’t re-enter it fully.

 Meanwhile, my study of positive psychology began opening portals to other realms of well-being in which I dove deep into trainings and racked up certifications: mindfulness, yoga, psychological safety, coaching, and past-life regression therapy. This aggregate of science and practice took me far and only so far. It wasn’t until I found myself in Peru to work with Ayahuasca (a psychedelic plant medicine) that the real integration of well-being began. Over the course of ten days and five intense ceremonies lasting about eight hours each, I received truths and released traumas that hold no counterpart or substitute in the material, scientific realm. I might venture to say here that plant and psychedelic medicines hold potential that nothing in psychology, psychiatry, or modern medicine can match in efficacy, safety and potency. At the least, I honor that the two realms exist in a necessary and inextricable tag-team, the combination of which is vital to our progress.

Last summer I worked with 5-MEO-DMT, the most powerful psychedelic on the planet, and my life inflected. Ego and fear have given way, across the board, to the higher-vibrational states of love, humility, courage, connection and oneness. I believe there’s an essential thread we must re-establish and reinforce with the divine parts of ourselves if we are to manifest our evolution—as a community dedicated to well-being and as a species.

You don’t need to take my word for it, although I sort of wish you would. Faith compels us to cede our quest for evidence—the need “to see” to believe. And yet, positive psychology is a predominantly evidence-and-science-based field, so I’ll add simply that research continues to proliferate on the lasting, positive impact of psychedelic tools to alleviate psychological trauma and distress and engender lasting well-being (Carhart-Harris et al., 2017).

 My instincts called me to attend the most recent MAPP Summit in October, again coming to the fore to show me their validity. I hadn’t attended a Summit in several years, in part because I felt somewhat alienated from this community that I had for so long held near and dear. As I evolved spiritually, I felt a widening gap: There were undercurrents of competition among us rather than collaboration. The nagging sense that there were limited opportunities for positive psychology practitioners put us in a cattle charge for the plum jobs, like rushing to grab a seat in musical chairs. It pit us against each other rather than magnetizing us toward each other.

The consequence was an intense dissonance within me that what we practiced, we didn’t necessarily preach. And then Dr. Seligman (whom many in the community familiarly refer to as “Marty”) shared that he would be traveling to Amsterdam in a few months to work with psilocybin. Marty articulated a desire to “merge with the cosmic ocean” (M. Seligman, personal communication, October 30, 2022). When I returned home from my work with 5-MEO-DMT, the overarching realization I carried with me was that I’d been invited to “swim in the ocean of cosmic bliss.” The alignment of our phrasing was not lost on me. The gap I’d been feeling began to narrow.

 Marty then shared the two prominent topics currently on his radar: morality and the potential of psychedelic protocols in psychology. In my experience, surrender is the most significant aspect of psychedelic work. We are called upon, nay, compelled to give in. Understand, giving in is not the same as giving up. When we give in, we surrender, and we allow the truth of our human journey to be revealed. At its essence, this is a journey of dissolving the ego and bringing integrity or a state of wholeness and soundness of moral character front and center. In this way, Marty’s two hot topics are inextricably intertwined, one baked into the other. And this interplay is, I believe, our future.

 We’ve devoted the majority of our attention over these last several years to self-focused approaches. And we’ve made great strides. Indeed, the exponential swell of positive psychology as a field of study, practice, and power over the last decade has created that much more space for us, its researchers and practitioners, to gain traction and find opportunity. There are enough chairs for us all.

It’s a natural evolution, therefore, to turn our focus outward again. If we set our compass to point in the direction of integrity, then we realize a future where integrity to self naturally equates to integrity to other. We invest in research and methodology based on how it serves the collective. We take calls on initiatives when they’re remunerative of all of us, not just some of us.

 I accepted my current role as co-chair of the MAPP Alumni Board Communications Committee in the spirit of wanting to be part of the sextant that guides our community forward from a seat of spirituality, morality, mindfulness and integrity, alongside scientific prowess and power. The world expects of us, as positive psychology practitioners and experts in the science of well-being, to be, simply put, good people. We must bring our focus down now, from the head to the heart, and the goodness will naturally flow.

Key Takeaways:

  • The success of our community hinges on our reaching for a higher vibrational state.

  • Our evolution is dependent on our integration of morality and integrity into our study and practice.

  • We may consider a turn outward now, from self-focused approaches to other-focused initiatives.

  • The world expects us, as positive psychology practitioners and proponents of well-being, to be good. We must emphasize the heart as much as we do the head.

 

References

Carhart-Harris, R. L., Erritzoe, D., Haijen, E. C. H. M., Kaelen, M., & Watts, R.(2018). Psychedelics and connectedness. Psychopharmacology, 235, 547–550. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4701-y

Forstmann, M., & Sagioglou, C. (2017). Lifetime experience with (classic) psychedelics predicts pro-environmental behavior through an increase in nature relatedness. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 31(8), 975–988. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881117714049

Knudsen, G. M. (2023). Sustained effects of single doses of classical psychedelics in humans. Neuropsychopharmacology 48(1), 145–150. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-022-01361-x

McNaughton-Cassill, M. E. (2001). The news media and psychological distress. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 14(2), 193-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615800108248354

Potts, R., & Sanchez, D. (1994). Television viewing and depression: No news is good news. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 38(1), 79–90. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08838159409364247

Soroka, S., Fournier, P., & Nir, L. (2019). Cross-national evidence of a negativity bias in psycho physiological reactions to news. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(38), 18888–18892. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1908369116

 
 

About the author | Pax Tandon (C’10; also known in MAPP circles as “Paki”) is an author, writing consultant, producer, public speaker, and singer-songwriter. Her award-winning book, Mindfulness Matters, was released in 2018, alongside her Mindfulness Matters short film, which she co-produced, co-wrote, and voiced. Pax has spent the last decade + passionately engaged in the study and practice of well-being, picking up certificates in applied positive psychology, positive psychology coaching, past-life regression therapy, and psychological safety. She has 200 hours of yoga teacher training and has engaged in multiple ceremonies with Ayahuasca and 5-MEO-DMT. Pax completed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course through the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Mindful Teacher Certification Program with Mindful Schools. At the moment, she’s deeply invested in work on her next book, a teen edition of Mindfulness Matters. 

/ /

Pax Tandon (C'10)

Pax (also known in MAPP circles as “Paki”) graduated from the MAPP program in 2010 as part of its 5th class. She is an author, writing consultant, producer, public speaker, and singer-songwriter. Her award-winning book, Mindfulness Matters, was released in 2018, alongside her Mindfulness Matters short film, which she co-produced, co-wrote, and voiced. She has spent the last decade + passionately engaged in the study and practice of well-being, picking up a Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology, a Certificate in Positive Psychology Coaching, 200 hours of Yoga Teacher Training, a Certificate of Training in Past Life Regression Therapy, a Certificate in Psychological Safety, and engaged in multiple ceremonies with Ayahuasca and 5-MEO-DMT. She also has extensive study and training in Mindfulness, having completed the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course through the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine and the Mindful Teacher Certification Program with Mindful Schools. At the moment, Pax is deeply invested in work on her next book, a teen edition of Mindfulness Matters.