Curtains up! Light the lights! July 20-21 and the Canadian Positive Psychology Conference will soon be upon us! The conference will feature highlights of current research in the field, but we will also be hearing from practitioners who have successfully applied positive psychology in their practices. We are anticipating a rich dialogue between research and practice.

I recently interviewed Robert Biswas-Diener, author of the new book book, The Courage Quotient. We explored courage, strengths, self-doubt, and the future of positive psychology. My first question came from my 10-year-old, who wanted to know, “How do you measure courage? What would be a unit of courage?”

It’s only now with sophisticated brain imaging that we are starting to see the neurological impacts of habits, giving us new clues into how to change them. While the elixir still eludes us, Charles Duhigg has brought us a few steps forward in his book The Power of Habit, discussing not only the habits of individuals but also the habits of organizations and societies.

I recently gave a series of workshops to supervisors who all work together within the same organization. This was an interesting study for me, as I’d never before delivered the exact same material four days in a row to different audiences. The overall topic of the session was leadership, and the entire day was built on a framework of positive psychology.

It recently came to my attention, through a friend’s Facebook update, that Marcus Buckingham has produced a new strengths assessment, StandOut. According to the website, the purpose of this assessment is not solely to affirm the strengths you have, but rather “to help you accelerate your performance and contribution.”

Oddly enough, it was April Fool’s day when I went to see the new movie by Tom Shadyac, director of comedies such as Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, and Patch Adams. Shadyac had a serious cycling accident that resulted in him facing his own death. He emerged with new purpose – and this movie is the realization that although (to quote the trailer), he had it all, he had it all wrong.

Lisa Sansom, MAPP ’10, is the owner of LVS Consulting, an independent consulting firm that helps to build positive organizations. Lisa works with individuals, leaders, teams and entire organizational units providing services such as …