Another workbook in the series presented by Robert Biswas-Diener’s Positive Psychology Services, Positively Happy: Routes to Sustainable Happiness is a superb workbook.  Sonja Lyubomirsky and Jamie Kurtz have culled positive psychology’s best researched methods …

I over-think. A lot. And I bet many of you can relate.
 
My over-analysis rarely takes me to a higher state of being. In many cases, I get caught in spirals of “What if…?” and …

While walking to join a few friends yesterday evening at dusk, I passed through a lush green park in the center of Philadelphia. I was lost in my own head, contemplating the many interesting topics presented at the First World Congress on Positive Psychology of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) this past weekend. As I stepped softly through the grass in the approaching darkness of the evening sky, a light suddenly caught my eye. Waist-level beside me, hovering in the summer air, was a firefly.

There is something incredibly powerful about the natural world and its ability to provide us with a sense of psychological well-being. Because today marks the 40th annual celebration of Earth Day in the United States, it is a good opportunity to tie together a few positive psychology themes with Mother Nature. …

I believe positive psychology can inform our connection to nature in two significant ways. First, it provides great interventions to increase our connection to nature and thereby increase our happiness. Second, … we must learn to be good stewards of the environment and take care of the natural world around us so future generations may reap the same benefits.[...]

If you have ever had the chance to brew your own beer, you have probably experienced a tremendous lesson in humility. …By now you must be asking the question I posed myself a dozen times: Why endure such a long and intense procedure all for a silly beverage? The answer is simple. I wasn’t brewing alone. I had traveled to Baltimore for the weekend to visit one of my best friends, and the brewing was really just an excuse for some quality male bonding. … Male bonding is ultimately about sharing experiences which help individuals open up to one another and to develop commonalities unique and special to them.

As the United States ushers in a new political leader, many people across the world have high hopes for change, whether that be in an improved state of the world economy, substantial progress towards global peace, or a greater sense of purpose to get them out of bed tomorrow morning. Whatever the desired change may be, many people are wondering whether their high expectations can possibly be met.

A few weeks back, I overheard a friend bemoan the lack of pure altruism in the world. Pure altruism is the act of doing something good to increase another person’s well-being for which the giver receives no benefit. As many of us prepare for holiday season highlighted by traditions of giving, I felt it might be a good time to give the old philosophical search for pure altruism a closer look. … The lack of pure altruism among humans is a truly beautiful thing, a consequence of our innate predispositions to help our fellow neighbor. [...]

On the night of the presidential election, I lounged and chatted on a cozy couch with friends in a Philadelphia apartment….

… Within moments… there were hundreds of people joyfully and peacefully making their way down the middle of the road. … just watching them, hugging as they went, and listening to the buzz of energy audible through the closed window sent chills down my spine. There was a profound sense of human connection. But what does positive psychology have to say about such moments of subjectively meaningful human connection? [...]

The movie Groundhog Day, in addition to eliciting positive emotions in the viewer, is a fantastic visual display of the character strength of gratitude. Films, which intrinsically revolve around the study and exploration of character, are a terrific medium for a journey through the VIA character strengths. A new book published this summer, Positive Psychology at the Movies: Using Films to Build Virtues and Character Strengths, by psychologists Ryan M. Niemiec and Danny Wedding perfectly lays the landscape for this wonderful journey of positive psychology in film.

Holidays, such as Thanksgiving, are times for tradition. The idiosyncrasies that make up my family’s holiday traditions are precisely the reasons I look forward to the holiday season all year. What would this fourth week …