One of the most impressive scenes of the Olympic Games may have been when U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps shed tears on the medal podium when his sight met his mother’s on the spectator stand after achieving his unparalleled goal of winning 8 gold medals in the Olympic Games.

Last Sunday night, seven women gathered around my television set as a shapely, but taut, body of a drop-dead gorgeous woman filled the screen. “How can she wear that thing and look so good?” one exclaimed. “Black makes you look thinner, but this is ridiculous. She looks half her age, and even acts half her age!” another said.

Usually, the difficulty resides not in understanding why we should exercise, but in finding and maintaining the motivation to get it done. If you need extra help committing to an exercise routine, here are my top 10 recommendations, based on positive psychology research, to help you overcome the challenge.

I am currently enjoying working with several of The Culver Academies’ humanities instructors who are teaching the nuances of John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, the coming of age story of young men at a boarding …

Don’t ever let anyone tell you a dream is unreachable. Persistence, stubbornness, passion and heart will fill in the gaps where you need a boost, and you’ll never know how many people you will touch with your spirit, changing their lives as well. Dustin Carter is changing the world, one wrestling match at a time.

“Raindrops on roses and
Whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and
Warm woolen mittens”

Julie Andrews sang about them. Oprah has them. And so I now want to do a fun column about “My Favorite Things,” too, …

Most people involved in sport agree that proper behavior makes the sport better and that character matters.  While there is a great amount of attention paid today to ideals of sportsmanship, or positive relational character …

Skiing for the first time in my life earlier this year, I was offered by my wonderful Italian ski instructor a new positive psychology construct I want to share with you.

Carlos was nearly as …

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend and present at the 1st Annual Applied Positive Psychology Conference at The University of Warwick in April. Sponsored by the Centre for Applied Positive Psychology, over 200 delegates representing 24 countries were in attendance. The program, entitled People at their Best in Work, Education and Health, featured a variety of valuable keynotes and instructive and informative workshops and paper presentations. [...]

The Department of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, launched a nationwide health promotion and disease prevention initiative called Healthy People 2010. One of the focus areas from this initiative is to increase the amount of physical activity in the largely sedentary population, in hopes of supporting physical health and reducing the staggering number of preventable deaths. For example, in the year 2000, of 2,391,399 deaths, 1,159,000 (48%) were from preventable causes. Furthermore and estimated 400,000 of those deaths were due to poor diet and physical inactivity. [...]