Conferences

How do adventure, curiosity, and exploration contribute to well-being? Why do some of our most treasured memories come from experiences that weren’t pleasant at the time? Why do some researchers believe we need an additional dimension of well-being beyond happiness and feeling that life is meaningful?

Let’s look at this year’s stellar IPPA World Congress from a Transcendent Strengths perspective. The transcendent strengths are those that help us connect to the larger universe. Expression of these strengths enhances the sense that life is meaningful: appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, and spirituality. Let me highlight some speakers and experiences that made this event a high point of personal and professional transcendence.

The message of an Aesop’s fable, “A man is known by the company he keeps,” is often repeated as a cautionary tale. Stay away from the idle and the gluttonous, or you too may rejected by finer folk. But what if we took a Positive Psychology on that fable? What if being known by the company you keep is an opportunity for well-being?

The 8th IPPA World Congress on Positive Psychology wrapped up on a less than positive note: Eco-anxiety. Social inequality. The Replication Crisis. Co-Chair Andrew Soren shares why the key to well-being may be a focus on well-doing.

Is the PERMA model broad enough to address all of well-being? This was a question I heard addressed at the IPPA World Congress more than once. Here are some answers I heard from Steward Donaldson and Victoria Cabrera from the Clarmont University positive psychology department. They believe there are 4 additional elements needed to extend the model to cover work and other aspects of life.

I invite you to the upcoming 8th World Congress on Positive Psychology. Over the course of the four days attendees will see the latest innovations in the field of positive psychology research and practice. To whet your appetite, I describe here 3 sessions that I can’t wait to attend. Be there in Vancouver BC, July 20-23.

The latest issue of MAPP Magazine has been published by graduates of the MAPP Program at the University of Pennsylvania. This edition has more articles on Positive Humanities. It also explores the factors that lead to habit formation.

Beginning on March 18th, the International Positive Psychology Association is kicking off the Evidence in Action Conference, which celebrates the application of positive psychology across fields and disciplines. IPPA has chosen to run a 24-hour program to engage members around the world, sectioned into blocks of time followed by a large breaks so participants can be present and engaged without getting zoom fatigue.

Back in March, Dr. Attila Oláh invited people to attend the 9th European Conference on Positive Psychology in Budapest. The conference happened in late June. Here is a report on conference happenings.

This summer, there were two major events focused on positive education. On August 8, there will be a panel to explore what people learned by participating. You are invited to register.

Continuing the report on the IPEN conference started on July 13, I invite you to learn about Angela Duckworth’s Character Lab Playbooks, about research on the behavior changes associated with meditation, and more.

The International Positive Education Network, known to friends as IPEN, held its second annual festival in Ft. Worth Texas from June 25 to June 28. The conference was jointly sponsored by the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry, so you won’t be surprised that the conference title was .

On May 6-7, 2018, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) hosted a ground-breaking Summit on Happiness Science in Health Care: Infusing Positive Psychology into Medicine and Health Care. Participants all recognize the need to connect positive psychology and health care.

Interested in positive psychology? Join us for the 9th European Conference on Positive Psychology (ECPP) and preconference meetings. The conference will take place in Budapest, Hungary, from June 26 through June 30. Luminaries in the field will explore the conference theme, “Positive psychology for a flourishing Europe in times of transition.”

We are experimenting with ways to get the word out about interesting webinars that are open to the public. There isn’t much warning for this webinar, so act fast if interested.

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.

Barbara Fredrickson opened the first full day of the Canadian Positive Psychology Association conference with the question, “Why is it important to prioritize positivity?” Then she proceeded to answer her question, extending the messages she has conveyed in past conferences with some very pragmatic reflections on putting research findings into daily practice.

In the first of a series of articles about the keynote addresses at the June Canadian Positive Psychology Association conference, find out about Dr. Lea Waters, who decided to work on introducing positive psychology into an institution with a very broad reach: the family.