Alexander the Great looked at the philosopher sitting there, impoverished, rags over the rib-thin body, and asked what he was doing. “I am experiencing nothingness,” said the philosopher. “What are you doing?” “I am conquering the world,” responded Alexander, and they both laughed. Each thought the other was a fool.
Sean Doyle
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Approaching the world as fundamentally fair makes us sensitive to when it is not. This is good and powerful and essential for proportionality and equity in our world. It is how laws are made and changed. It is what calls us to protect the vulnerable. But if we are not attentive to the biases and wishes cast by our strengths, they can also blind us to other values that may be at stake. You might not see that there were other facts holding the scales in balance.
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AllBook ReviewChangePositive EmotionTaking Action
The 3 Promises (Book Review)
by Sean Doyleby Sean DoyleIn The 3 Promises, David Pollay illustrates a beautiful way of living and sets out a simple formula to help us get there.
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Just as the possibilities beyond the horizon are endless, so too are our potential ways of interacting with the world. The challenge is to embrace the sweet density and obscurity of life, recognize the meaning in the rawness of experience, and acknowledge that through reflection we may never catch up. What we decide now matters. If we have to play the game, we might as well play it beautifully, see what we can learn, try to make things better and easier for one another and enjoy the ride as much as we can.
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Slowing down re-energizes us and allows us to nurture ourselves so that we can enjoy what we are doing in the moment we are doing it. It allows us to connect with people, rather than just check in. It opens us to awe and wonder, and it lets us play and discover the beauty that exists all around us.
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AllKindnessLoveRelationshipsSpiritualityTaking Action
Increase Peace by Increasing Humanity
by Sean Doyleby Sean DoyleWhen my parents responded to a drunk, despondent and aggravated old woman with compassion and respect, they did not know that this kindness would reach the child quietly listening in the next room, plant seeds in his soul, and continue to grow outward for forty years. Whether we are seeking peace in middle school or the Middle East, in most circumstances, the most effective strategy is the one that increases the amount of humanity between people.
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Forgiveness. Mercy. Prudence. Modesty. The strengths of temperance don’t get as much attention as our more muscular qualities. Yet in a certain sense, maybe this cluster of strengths enables every other strength, and thus makes the good life possible.
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AllBusinessGratitudeTaking Action
Gratitude in the Time of Downsizing: A Case Study
by Sean Doyleby Sean DoyleFlorentino is in his mid-forties, and has worked for a fortune 500 company for the last ten years. For the first six, he worked hard and stayed late. However after several small events that caused him to question his role in the organization, he was passed over for a promotion. No one acknowledged his work, or talked with him about his progress. While he continued to do the minimum necessary for his job, by all measures, Florentino was disengaged and unhappy. How did he change that?
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AllBook ReviewGoalsMotivation
(Book review) Positive Motivation: A Six Week Course by Dr. Kennon Sheldon
by Sean Doyleby Sean DoyleHow do we choose our goals? How do we decide how to spend our time and energy and where to direct our attention? These are the topics covered in another…
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AllAppreciative InquiryCommunicationParenting & Schools
The Positive Psychology Equivalent of Hand-to-Hand Combat
by Sean Doyleby Sean DoyleThis semester I taught positive psychology at North Carolina State University. After our studies of, and exercises on, “savoring” one student lost 20 pounds by changing her relationship with food.…
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AllPathway 1 "Pleasure"Savoring / In-the-Moment_1 Positive Experiences
Tonight, Dance without a Need for “Why”
by Sean Doyleby Sean DoyleSocrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. To which philosopher Iris Murdoch replied, “Lighten up, Socrates!” Well, I am paraphrasing a little. What Murdock really said was…
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AllAppreciative InquiryAweCommunicationGoalsGratitudeHappiness ExercisesHopeInterviewLoveMediaOptimismPathway 3 "Meaning"Positive FeelingsResilienceSavoring / In-the-MomentTopics
What Do You Wish For?
by Sean Doyleby Sean DoyleWishes touch on so many aspects of positive psychology. That is because wishes tell us something about what it means to be human. They frame for us our vision of what is important – both those things that are “big I” Important that give us meaning and purpose, as well as the little pleasures and comforts that ease and aide us in our enjoyment of life. Wishes help us define a vision of what is possible and show us what life could be.
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AllAweCommunicationGratitudeHopeHumorInterviewLoveMediaOptimismPathway 3 "Meaning"Positive Feelings_1 Positive Experiences
Me, and Six Billion Others
by Sean Doyleby Sean DoyleHow can our children develop these sort of empathic bonds with others if their interactions are with a screen rather than real-life, flesh-and-blood people? Photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand had an idea. While stranded in Mali in the 1980’s, Arthus-Bertrand spent an evening listening to another man’s life story. […]
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AllHumorPathway 1 "Pleasure"Resilience_2 Positive Traits
Living with Cockroaches
by Sean Doyleby Sean DoyleSometimes I feel like I have this life-thing all figured out. The roof leaks: no problem. The dog pees on the Christmas presents: primo-fodder for our holiday letter! But then there are other days … I catch a glimpse of cockroaches scurrying away as I crack open the cabinet doors, and it DOES bother me. I stress about them all day.
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AllDecision-MakingPathway 1 "Pleasure"Pathway 2 "Engagement / Flow"Pathway 3 "Meaning"_1 Positive Experiences
Poetry and Midlife
by Sean Doyleby Sean DoyleWhen, at 39, I was trying to decide whether to pursue training in positive psychology , I made for myself all the “practical” objections. I was already a successful lawyer,…
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AllGlobal PoliciesGoalsHealthHopeMindfulnessOptimismPathway 3 "Meaning"Resilience
Locating Hope in “Hopeless” Circumstances
by Sean Doyleby Sean DoyleI have always been drawn to the quote by Friedrich Nietzsche that “Freedom is to struggle with no hope for reward.” There a great deal of courage in that line.…
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In his speaking and writing, Sean Doyle, JD, MAPP ’07, explores the poetry and science of well-being. Whether in the work place, parenting, community, home, or hardship, Sean’s invites us…