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. We say grace, and I do feel grateful for the food, but it is quite a different kind of thanks knowing that grocery stores are open 24-hours. Something has been lacking from my holiday traditions. My Thanksgiving was in need of repair.

As my experience with the masters program in positive psychology at Penn nears its conclusion, I thought it might be appropriate to spend my time this month writing about adventure.
The last year certainly has been …

The approaching Memorial Day weekend marks, for us Americans at least, the official start of the summer season. And summer just might be the season of positive psychology. Beautiful, long days that allow for outdoor …

Roughly 30 million Americans do it every week. And I hate to admit being one of them.
But watching American Idol has become a habit for many people as the show has grown into an icon …

Every few days or so, when I need a break from the world, I go to my sanctuary on top of a remote mountain in the Canadian Rockies.
Well, at least my brain is convinced that …

Derrick Carpenter, MAPP ‘07, currently manages experientially-based team building and leadership development seminars at Team Concepts, Inc. in Philadelphia. He has worked previously as a research coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania studying perceptual learning …