Appreciative Inquiry

Kathryn Britton recently wrote about using positive psychology to deal with a sudden loss as she mourned her dear friend Linda. Grieving is an individual process, but while no two people have an identical experience of losing a loved one, there are several patterns that emerge. I’d like to offer some observations about how Positive Psychology is at work while people heal after a loss, even in the long term.

Let’s assume you were just promoted into a management job. You know that you got the promotion because you were an excellent performer on your previous assignment, but it used your technical skills. You are worried that you do not have all the skills you need to be an excellent manager. How do you go about learning them? Where’s the best place to start?

It’s summer here in New Zealand and we’re still in holiday mode so I asked my ten year old what she thought I should write about. “Family”, she said, and…

This 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.…

“People who post smiley photos on Facebook/Frowners attract happy friends.” (Nature, 2008) Social Networks and Happiness Would you be surprised to read the above finding from Nature, one of the…

One of the main principles of social psychology and positive psychology is that we are social creatures.  On the other hand, I see a big discrepancy when I hear of…

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.

If your teen is in the bottom 80% of the class, you may have been told – or thought– that she is “an underachiever” (a polite way of saying lazy or dumb). Underachiever compared to what? Compared to the narrowly-defined measures of school performance or compared to the abilities that will help her to thrive in life?

In my opinion, your child is not under-achieving. I think your child is under-appreciated.

While walking to join a few friends yesterday evening at dusk, I passed through a lush green park in the center of Philadelphia. I was lost in my own head, contemplating the many interesting topics presented at the First World Congress of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). As I stepped softly through the grass in the approaching darkness of the evening sky, a light suddenly caught my eye. Waist-level beside me, hovering in the summer air, was a firefly.

The “Positive Psychology Pyramid” is an approach to organizing positive psychology research to help those seeking “better” to move forward. What’s your metaphor or organizing image? (For those who like an organic theme, see the end of the post.)

How do we get business leaders to think of their kittens and mittens equivalent? One answer lies in appreciating what is already going well. Another in goal setting and visioning. We can help clients focus on a view of an ideal future,

Why does school often feel bad for kids? As a student, I often felt I wasn’t good enough: who I was and what the world expected me to be were at odds. As a result, I felt marginalized and alone at school. I felt voiceless.

And then I became a teacher. Finally! On the other side of the desk. But there, much to my chagrin, I saw many students—and teachers and parents with similar plights: sad, alone, and depressed—rat-racing, getting by—not enough.

When we change ourselves, it is important that we invite those in our spheres of influence into the new possibility we have created for ourselves. This invitation comes with energetic and joyful dialogue with others about our visions, hopes, needs, values, and desires.

Wishes 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.

While all people possess the ability to have hope, variability – like different grades of fuel – exists from person to person. The good news is that hope is malleable, which is to suggest we can bring people to more premium grades of hope.

It’s that time of year again. If you are anything like me – Type A, and goal-oriented – your annual list of New Year’s resolutions is beginning to take shape. In prior years, I would construct my new resolutions on the shaky foundation of last year’s failures. …This year, I am determined to change it up and see what happens when I focus on what has worked rather than what has not.

Let’s make this December a creative challenge: an opportunity to invent new rituals for being with family and friends.   In the throes of this recession, many of us are…

We form habits of thought around stories, and each time we retell them the old way, we reinforce the habit. The ruts get deeper and harder to get out of.…

At first glance there seems to be little in divorce that is sparkling and fragrant. Hopes and dreams are crashing and burning, the financial future is uncertain, and angry words are often flung in an effort to protect tender hearts. But if you can only lift your eyes above the immediacy of the moment, you might be able to recognize that the brushfire that is currently destroying many aspects of your life is clearing the path for new growth.