Health

Graduates of the MAPP Program at Penn have just published another issue of the MAPP Magazine with articles about maintaining well-being during the pandemic, caregiving, and exploring character strengths.

What if there is a false dichotomy between optimism and pessimism?  Could the same individual filter with the caution of the pessimist and choose the hope and positive outcomes of the optimist?

Add positivity, healthy awareness, and joy to your life with a free online resource sponsored by the Penn Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Alumni Association. Along with the goal of helping people find more joy in the moment, the team also wants to help people apply positivity in order to fight infection, thereby lessening the risk of disease and enhancing the ability to thrive.

Studies have revealed that not only are physical, mental, and social well-being important components for total health, but they are tightly interrelated. The evidence also shows that a happy, engaged, and fulfilling psychological and social life is not just a consequence of good health. It leads people to live a healthy and long life. Medical providers, patients and their families need positive medicine.

In 2019, Henry Edwards published The Daily Better: 365 Reasons for Optimism. I interviewed him on December 12 about why he wrote the book. I learned that he personally changed his world view to be more open and hopeful and that he hopes his book will help others do the same.

The three studies by Crum, Salovey, and Achor suggest that our stress mindset is malleable, and that adopting a stress-is-enhancing mindset can help us handle the pressures that come our way.

I was shocked when I read that US workplaces may be responsible for 120,000 excess deaths per year, making the workplace the 5th leading cause of death in the country. What’s going on? As a way of celebrating World Heart Day, let’s think about what we can do about it.

On November 11, 2018, I had the privilege of interviewing Ed Diener about well-being and public policy. Dr. Diener is a leading researcher on happiness, the correlates of well-being, and well-being measurement.

Wendy Toh was one of my favorite bosses. She did not assume that I could read her mind about what was important to her. Wendy taught me to have Big Rocks conversations as a way to negotiate priorities. Here’s how one of these discussions might go.

Let’s take a moment to look at the ownership of your time. Some of it is yours. If you are employed, some of it belongs to your employer. But how much?

How I learned about the psycho-social costs of chronic degenerative disease and what I decided to do about it: the genesis of the HEART initiative.

Trees can teach us to embrace change. They can also teach us that with change we needn’t discard aspects of our past. We can act in ways that allow people, feelings, and experiences to fill us up and contribute to life and development of well-being. We can do this without trying to hold onto them forever and without expecting them to be a certain way.

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.

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 practice of forgiveness has been found to improve health outcomes because it reduces physiological responses to stress. Forgiveness can serve as a powerful, self-administered salve. If one does not forgive, it is like handing the transgressor the skeleton key to the door of one’s life. Forgiveness might not prevent the pain of the past, but it can reduce suffering in the future.

HERO organizations are financially healthy and stable. Because the psychosocial capital exists, they are better equipped to deal with the volatile economic times that are our everyday reality.

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.

Therapist self-care represents a unique application of the principles of positive psychology. Self-care that supports and sustains clinicians’ well-being through positive evidence-based strategies has immense potential not only for the therapists’ wellness, but also for the benefit of those they serve.

Dan Tomasulo is a master storyteller with a purpose. After reading this book, you’ll face the world a little bit differently.