Energy is the core engine, or driving force, of the underlying mechanism of holistic psychology.

– Introducing ‘holistic psychology’ for life qualities: A theoretical model for consideration

The internet is analogous to junk food. It satisfies your appetite for 30 minutes, but an hour later you are hungry again.

– Small Data

Clara Chow’s Want Less conveys in a quirky and bold way the frustration of trying to find the right balance between having drive and being driven. A scientist discovers a vaccine to address the root cause of unhappiness which he believes is wanting more. He is never able to put in words what this vaccine should achieve.

Along with its fundamentally philosophical message, it shows also how language is related to well-being. If it was actually possible to create such a vaccine, what should its purpose be? The objective was phrased in some of the following ways:
A. … a vaccine that reduces the desire that a human being feels for anything
B. … a vaccine that stops a person from wanting more of everything
C. … a vaccine that suppresses any impulse to acquire more than one needs in life
D. … a vaccine that cures people of their need to amass more things than they need, and of their tendency to take up more space in the world—physically and psychologically
E. … a vaccine that prevents people from wanting more than what they need to exist comfortably

All the foregoing is in some way problematic and this encapsulates the nub of the problem. When this question was posed to some students, they came up with creative (in the sense of infusing their own take on the problem) alternatives. One student showed in her version how it was impossible to experience only positive emotions all the time. Another student showed in his version how self-denial of wants could lead to self-denial of needs.

While we may or may not at this point have access to such nature altering technology, we do have in its place an approach to education which seeks to confer protection from life’s adverse events and to produce all-rounded students able to adapt to and be useful in an evolving society and workplace.

This is known as holistic education which according to, Tsuneyoshi and others (2020) refers to developing the whole child; “not just in the intellectual sense, but emotionally, socially, physically, etc. as well.”

In their book, Tokkatsu, which is short form for Tokubetsu Katsudo – special activities or extra-curricular activities (distinct from what we refer to here as CCA), they add, “there is the basic common-sense fact that a child who receives a perfect score in a math test, but is emotionally unstable and engages in impulsive acts of aggression, is low in self-esteem and cannot get on with his/her life, is not an ‘educational success’.” In Chapter 15, subtitled Learning Better Together, Iwabuchi and others state, “in order to thrive in the 21st century, it is important to assure social and emotional development, not just cognitive learning.”

This much is indeed, as they put it, “common-sense”. When someone highly intelligent goes through some adverse circumstance and the sense of self is questioned, such a person may subject others to the same trying circumstances in a very clinical way. For instance, a highly intelligent person may have had to hear what this person considers harsh, presumptuous and very insulting. Such a person may have reacted in a manner which on hindsight suggested an overreaction or a less than collected response. Seeking redemption could mean taking solace in the fact that anyone else would also have acted in the exact same way. So, this person could in a bid to stop the self-condemnation, utter the very same words, verbatim to another just to hear and observe the response. If the response was theatrical or emotional, this person is redeemed. If the response was clever or in some other way demonstrative of strength, it would be noted and filed away for use at an appropriate future time. This is of course a very intelligent way to seek resolution and there are many buts as well.

It is becoming apparent that emotional competencies are more relevant than ever especially in the workplace. So there has been infusion of positive psychology in educational approaches and this is known as “positive education” (Phan et al., 2021). According to Phan and others (2021), positive education aims to put to practice the theory of positive psychology.

Positive psychology aims to achieve, “psychological wellbeing and optimal functioning of people’s thoughts and behaviours” (Quick, 2008 as cited in Phan et al. 2021). Someone who is functioning optimally is termed in positive psychology as “flourishing” – to be in possession of “vitality, self-esteem, resilience, positive relationships, positive emotions, optimism, meaning, engagement, emotional stability, and competence”.

However, Phan and others (2021) note, citing several others, that many have criticised positive psychology for, “its strong emphasis on positive life conditions and experiences, and the masking of negativities”. Traditional psychology on the other hand focused on treating maladaptive behaviour and had an intense, less cheerful feel.

In response, they have put forth a model of psychology which not only squares but also rolls with life’s valley experiences too. They call this ‘holistic psychology’. This approach by their own admission is in line with and/or is inspired by what eastern philosophers have suggested about living well.

It has four steps which are,

– Reflection (on negative life experience)
– Contemplation (sourcing for new supply to improve the situation – positive psychology)
– Inner Strength
– Onset and Continuation of Improvement

Let us say someone has experienced something negative. He would first have to do some soul searching in the form of questions such as, Where did I go wrong?, Why am I feeling like this? and What do I want to do next? (Phan et al., 2021). Then he moves on to the next stage of Contemplation which is to find help in whatever form required. Realising that he is on the path of self-improvement would imbue him with a renewed sense of vigour and energy. This would bring him to Step 3 which is that as he continues on the path of self-improvement, his inner resources would be enhanced, leaving him with a sense of buoyancy. This sense of buoyancy comprises, “personal resolve, mental strength, effort expenditure, intrinsic motivation, and effective functioning” (Phan et al., 2019b as cited in Phan et al., 2021). With this sense of buoyancy or enhanced inner resources he could continue unabated on his journey of self-improvement.

Significantly, in-built in this model is the acknowledgement that even positive qualities such as mental strength can lead to negative outcomes and the teaching that we should stop avoiding negative outcomes which would follow as surely as the night follows the day.

There is nothing wrong in wanting more; within not without.

The Brain Dojo