FROM YESTERDAY: The Psychologically Healthy Workplace Conference held in Washington, DC last weekend gave everyone concrete and reliable evidence to make the topic a priority. The conference showed that creating a psychologically healthy workplace …

This academic year, I met a student who I will call James.  He is one of several high school and college student clients that were referred to me with new diagnoses of attention deficit disorder …

When my daughter, Lauren, chose her college, she picked-up on an aspect that didn’t jump out at me. I guess I was the only one surprised at how that played-out four years later and it made me curious: how does a college foster a service culture that stands out to a high school student?

The countdown of the top 10 positive psychology films of 2009 is about to begin. These are films that both appeal to a wide audience and have important messages. Many are perfect for use in …

Is there any substance and meaning behind the choice of who wins an Academy Award? In an analysis of 1,132 films, Simonton found that the Oscars do matter; they provide meaningful information about creativity and …

Inspiration, or more precisely the lack of it, strikes fear into the hearts of many students faced with an assignment or test, a blank sheet of paper and a ticking clock. I can remember countless …

The stories we tell weave moments, days, and years into a meaningful sense of life. Researchers have found that the way we tell those stories about our own lives is directly related to long-term …

How does happiness “work?” Here are three quick stories from my own life that have given me a hint about how happiness might create good things in life.

Dear Student,
Don’t worry when people tell you it will be hard to find a job. What the doom-and-gloom folks don’t understand is that they have something as contagious as the H1N1 virus– anxiety. Like the flu, they are probably “carriers” without even realizing it. You can innoculate yourself.

What do you use your strengths in service of? Linking strengths to purpose may help you refine and clarify your own sense of purpose in life. It may also expand your sense of what your strengths can be used for. It may also increase the priority you place on strengths development and strength-related goals, and thus it may increase goal-striving and achievement.