The Hero Within

Throughout the millennia we have played out our lives on this tiny round rock we call home. Everyone that enters this world gets to experience it in their own unique way, based on infinite combinations of genetic predispositions and the different events and circumstances that end up shaping the course of their lives. For some people their time on earth will be short lived, while for others they will have more time at their disposal. Most people will experience emotional highs and lows of various kinds during their lifetime. For some, the valleys and disappointments will be deeper and more numerous than they are for others, while the number of peaks and personal achievements will also vary from person to person.

It’s probably fair to say, without venturing out onto ice that’s too thin, that a large majority of people want the time between their birth and death to be as long as possible. And it is probably not unreasonable to assume that most people want their lives, for as long as they last, to contain as many high peaks and as few deep valleys as possible too.

During a person’s lifetime all kinds of biochemical and psychological processes take place in the human body: processes that are set into motion from the moment someone is born until their time on earth is over. Humans are the only living beings on our planet that not only exhibit these different processes, but that also have the ability to reflect over and conduct research on them. Psychology, probably more than any other field of scientific study throughout history, has devoted itself to observing people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours – questioning how they are affected by our genes, our accumulated life history and the different life situations we find ourselves in.

Psychological capital

In recent decades a new subfield of psychology has emerged that has largely devoted itself to studying the emotional peaks in our lives. This subfield goes by the name ‘positive psychology’, and aims to increase the understanding of what is positive and desirable in our lives and under what conditions we feel, function and perform at our best. From a myriad of ever-growing knowledge, the eminent researcher Fred Luthans developed a new concept at the beginning of the millennium called psychological capital, or positive psychological capital. In general, capital refers to assets and resources of various kinds that we can use to, for example, solve problems, perform well, obtain social status and buy things. So we all have, to varying degrees, economic and material capital in the form of money and other tangible assets such as cars and housing, human capital in the form of knowledge, skills and abilities, and social capital in the form of our networks of mutually beneficial relationships with others.

Just as we all have different amounts of the various forms of capital I’ve just mentioned, we also possess various mental resources that can, in various ways, be considered assets. This so-called psychological capital supports us in developing strong relationships, performing and functioning well in different situations and contexts, and helps us to deal with difficulties