Lisa Buksbaum

The lovely city of Angers, France hosted the eighth European Conference on Positive Psychology (ECPP). Angers has been voted the “happiest city in France.” It was certainly easy for conference attendees to be happy in Angers. Happy and stimulated, we learned about red-cape and green-cape interventions, about heroism and heroic leadership, and much much more.

In this series, I take you on a four-conference tour, starting with a conference at Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada.

The Canadian Positive Psychology Association (CPPA) Conference had me at its title: I got to Exhilarate! for two days with hundreds of positive Canadians.

Throughout the World Congress of the International Positive Psychology Association, a dazzling array of new scientific breakthroughs and research set off fireworks to rival those of the Magic Kingdom. Martin Seligman challenged his own earlier research on learned helplessness. Tal Ben-Shahar invited us to focus on the growing tip as we work on positive change. Tom Rath reminded us of often neglected qualities that help us be fully charged.

Self-compassion is a way of relating to ourselves kindly, as we truly are, flaws and all.

This article contains an invitation to the Saturday party at IPPA on June 27 to benefit programs for hospitalized children by Soaring Words.

I was thrilled to speak at two back-to-back Positive Psychology conferences this summer. I came away from the two experiences with my brain filled with new resources to integrate into my work and dozens of new connections. I am so grateful to be part of a community that is at the forefront of bringing positive health and wellness to people worldwide.