The Positive Neuroscience Project has announced the recipients of the 2010 Templeton Positive Neuroscience Awards, $2.9 million given to 15 new research projects at the intersection of neuroscience and positive psychology. Read on to learn about the winning projects that explore a range of topics including how the brain enables humans to flourish, the biological bases of altruism, and the effects of positive interventions on the brain.

One of my fascinations with positive psychology is the existence of its many paradoxes. So as soon as I came across this new research report Money Giveth, Money Taketh Away, my eyes lit up. The researchers explored the widely-held belief that experiencing the best things in life undermines your ability to enjoy life’s little pleasures.

Research shows we are more likely to sustain positive change by changing actions and patterns than by improving external circumstances. But that assumes we do them. Stephen Schueller is the first researcher to develop a structure for recommending positive interventions based on a person’s preferences for prior interventions.

The 5th European Positive Psychology Conference took place this week in Copenhagen, Denmark on June 23-26 2010. This article covers addresses on June 23 and 24, including opening talks by Professors Henrik Hans Knoop and Antonella Delle Fave, as well as keynotes by Professor Corey Keyes on building mental health as well as addressing mental illness and Professor Barbara Fredrickson on how positive emotions work and why.

Aristotle claimed that a virtue or strength is developed through action: “Brave people became brave by doing brave things.” He said there were six states of character development: brutishness, self-indulgence, weakness of will or caving into temptation, strength of will or mastering temptation, character excellence, and heroic excellence.

Kathryn Britton recently wrote about using positive psychology to deal with a sudden loss as she mourned her dear friend Linda. Grieving is an individual process, but while no two people have an identical experience of losing a loved one, there are several patterns that emerge. I’d like to offer some observations about how Positive Psychology is at work while people heal after a loss, even in the long term.

Have you, or has someone you know, been annoyed, hurt, or wronged by another person? Are you still holding onto that hurt? Are you hanging onto baggage, giving power to the past, being held back …

Keynote speaker, Miriam Akhtar, described the Positive Emotion Kit (PE Kit) approach to countering depression. To boost mood naturally and experience more positive than negative emotion, people can form personal PE kits by selecting interventions from five essential evidence-based categories.

There has been a lot of press about health, fitness, and obesity lately. It seems like everywhere we turn, there are new stats telling us why we need to pay serious attention. As …

To further elaborate on why the riches are not equivalent to happiness, I adopt the approach used by Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, of looking at happiness as moment-to-moment experience instead of general well-being or flourishing. When we break down happiness into moment-to-moment experience, riches do not necessarily make people happier. Why not?