In the days leading up to Christmas Day, some people like to use an Advent Calendar to count down the days, some with a small gift each day such as a chocolate. In 2011, Kurt Shuster turned this idea around to create the online Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar. Find out why and what he learned in this interview by Amanda Horne.

Have you ever wished you could find a more effective way to share what you know about happiness with your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors? Ever wished there were an entertaining way to get across to kids what really matters when it comes to living well? Then take action now to be part of World Happy Day — a day when the movie Happy will be shown around the world.

Both George Vaillant and Jonathan Haidt acknowledge an ancient truth: meaningful rituals reliably produce positive emotions. But the benefit lies less in the act itself than in context and intention.

Today, Jeremy’s blog is a listed stop on the online book tour (cool idea) for the book, Situations Matter by Sam Sommers. Jeremy had already published one article on the book – Why Men are Better than Women at Math. But he liked it so much that he signed up to write another article so that he could join the online book tour. We are running that article here simultaneously.

Celebrating the 5th anniversary of Positive Psychology News Daily, with numbers, notes, and authors’ choices of articles that are still fresh and relevant.

It’s difficult to change. This is demonstrated by the number of New Year’s resolutions people make and how few of them actually persist. But what if most failures to change are not because of a lack of motivation, commitment, or willpower? What if understanding immunity to change could lead to lasting beneficial change?

To celebrate the beginning of 2012, we asked our PPND authors what they’d like to share with you. For most of the following suggestions, there is also a a link to an earlier PPND article that connects a story to research. Happy New Year!

After three decades of strong economic growth, China is now focusing on the well-being of her 1.3 billion citizens. There is a vibrant, science-based well-being movement already in full swing in China, well launched in a number of actions taken in 2011.

The holiday season and the New Year can be pretty stressful, but this time of year provides us with some ideal opportunities for savoring – noticing, appreciating, and enhancing the things which are already positive in our lives – and there is nothing easier to do. The rules of savoring are simple to follow, and you don’t need any special skills or equipment. In fact anyone, young or old, rich or poor, can learn how to savor and reap the benefits.

Whether religiously we celebrate the birth of Christ and perhaps the promise of a life hereafter, or we celebrate the turn of a season and the coming beauties of spring or autumn, we are celebrating the future.