John Yeager

Have you ever observed how people try to change their behavior and become increasingly frustrated while they keep on doing the same thing over and over. It’s no easy task to change an individual’s behavior. Prochaska and DiClemente prepare us for the story of change –that it can be a spiral and that there are specific processes that support an individual in moving through each stage.

Last month, in Part 1 of a Journey to Self-Regulation, the focus was on the influence of character on behavior, how people develop habits that help them control their urges. However, there is another interesting way to look at self-regulation that addresses the power of the environment, regardless of how virtuous a person might be.

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.

The use of imagery may be compared to a mental video/DVD library, a cataloged collection of thoughts that one has the power to create, recall, and consequently use to evoke a variety of psycho-physiological responses. We have amassed a great number of mental movies that have been stored in long-term memory. We have good movies, bad movies, and even horror movies.

How an adult responds to, and forgives, a child or adolescent  has lasting consequences. A constructive style of responding can foster self-forgiveness and learning in a young person, while a…

Although sports mean different things to different people, most theorists and enthusiasts would agree that physical activity and sport participation can be intrinsically valuable. We learn the joy of movement…

How do we help children growing up in poverty build “future stories” that give them hope and energy? In Charles Dicken’s book, A Christmas Carol, the ghost of Christmas Present…

Schools are complex environments with many factors and relationships, as well as people with different values, purposes, and ways of making meaning. The Appreciative Inquiry process is a positive way to incorporate change in schools. It focuses on the “high moments” of people and values the complexity. AI can help people develop healthy relationships by mobilizing and building high quality connections between students and students, teachers and teachers, teachers and students, parents and students, and teachers and parents.

The new school year brings renewed hopes and aspirations for both students and teachers. It is an opportune time for teachers to appeal to the strengths of their students to…

Parents and teachers are the major educators of children, for ill or for good. Whether it is through modeling, the feast of dialogue, or the handling of consequences, young people…

We all think, but may not think well. Critical thinking, however, is a reflective process that is clear, precise and purposeful. “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make…

In a study we conducted with high school freshmen and seniors from the Midwest, we found that humor and playfulness, along with curiosity and humility, were predictors of pleasure as a pathway to happiness. We also found that humor was highly endorsed by students. But humor can have a dark side. Several years ago, one of my students, Jason, was dismissed from an athletic team for showing disrespect to other players and the head coach with constant, sarcastic humor. […]

“You must retain faith that you can prevail to greatness in the end, while retaining the discipline to confront the brutal facts of your current reality.” The Stockdale Paradox – Jim Collins

Do you have a memory of a teacher who really made a difference in your life? For me, it was Miss Robinson, my third grade teacher. I vividly remember one moment when she greeted me at the classroom doorway. She always had something nice to say to me, but that day was special.

The students were eager to take the class taught by Dr. Love. They knew the enrollment was limited, but they were determined to get a seat. No, this isn’t Tal-Ben Shahar’s Positive Psychology course at Harvard. It was 1972 at the University of Southern California and Leo Buscaglia was teaching Love 101, a unique way at looking at human love through the lens of sociology and psychology.

What are the foundations that help people awaken their dreams to make them a reality? Unfortunately, wishing has become magical thinking for so many people who have high expectations, but haven’t developed a strong will to develop a vision and a plan, and subsequently, are not able to cash in on the rewards of their aspirations.

What do you want more of? This is an important question in positive psychology circles. For me, the answer is more and better integration in my life. I find myself trying to balance a continual series of trade-offs between work and home. I want change, but behavior change is a finicky phenomenon. Sometimes, life presents conditions for a perfect storm of epiphany. The confluence of two recent events nudged me closer to cracking the “code of life integration.” […]

I began my 33rd year of teaching this fall. The vibrant reflections of the following “educator’s affirmation” by Boston University School of Education professor Steve Tigner continue to resonate with me each day I walk into the classroom. Most teachers do not realize the scope of influence that they have on the students they serve.

Have you cracked the code yet? Have you figured out how your strengths get you more of what you want? A great example is the Culver Military Academy Class of 1956. In 2006 they celebrated their 50th reunion, one that set a record for the most attended by a 50th reunion class.

Louis J. Alloro is a consultant to schools in the area of character education. He has an intriguing perspective on making leadership come alive in organizations. I wanted him to share some of his thoughts this month.