Mindfulness

Your brain has a mind of its own – a cartographer. Every action, thought, memory, habit, talent, and trouble is recorded in the firing pattern of neural networks in your brain. Why is a bad habit so hard to break? Why is the electric slide effortless for some and befuddling to others, no matter how …

Nearly all of us have had the sudden awareness that while we have been driving along, sometimes for many miles, we have not been paying attention. How did I get here? It does not just happen on the interstate in the form of highway hypnosis but also when driving through our neighborhoods or on our …

On 8-9 May, the 3rd “Happiness and Its Causes” Conference was held in Sydney, Australia, with over 2,000 participants. I’m a fan of the Happiness and Its Causes conference, and have attended every year since the inaugural conference in 2006. Each year it gets better and better. Next year’s conference is already scheduled for May …

Last Monday’s catastrophic earthquake measuring a 7.8 on the Richter Scale in Wenchuan County of China’s Sichuan province jolted not only the region, but also many of our hearts. Disasters might trigger the most magnificent qualities of humanity – which includes love, courage, unity, and the perseverance to survive.

I love to reminisce. When I get together with friends or family we tell the same stories again and again. Like the time we stared death in the face in Interlaken, Switzerland. We had decided to ride little mopeds (remember those?) on the narrow roads in the surrounding mountains. Huge trucks came within inches of …

A birthday is a special day for many of us. We all make wishes on our birthdays. It has been said that fewer than 15 per cent of birthday wishes are realized: most are broken within two weeks. We may start wondering why our birthday wishes would make us so miserable. Aren’t they supposed to …

“How do you propose we share positive psychology with strangers?” a participant at one of my recent seminars asked. The question took me by surprise, but in a flash, I answered intuitively, “Be nice”. That succinctly covered all the ways I could think of in 2 seconds. Two weeks have passed, and I think of the myriad of …

Today is my graduation ceremony for my Master degree, a big and significant day. In this sweet and warm moment, I could not stop myself from reflecting on my life as a Masters’ student over the past year. This day makes me think of Praise and Appreciation, which I have learnt from my supervisor, Professor …

I 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. There is comfort in the notion that something can us keep us going, even when the circumstances seem insurmountable. As I have maneuvered the various …

Our brains are attics – they have to be, storing all our past stuff. But we live when we can in the dizzy day-room delights of children’s laughter, family chaos, and even work. Spring seems to arrive earlier each year. So we are tempted to spring-clean our brains: let’s not. Let’s leave the attic to …

Today, I picked up Stephen R Covey’s book, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness to read and my attention was immediately riveted. Covey said that the 8th habit was not a forgotten additional habit to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People which he published in 1989. Rather the 8th habit added a third dimension, moving …

Special Note to Positive Psychology News Daily Friends This month I am posting a column that I wrote a number of years ago known as The Law of the Garbage Truck™.  My column is now widely traveling the internet in mass emails and blogs.  I want you to have it too.  You can find my …

Recently I was talking with an acquaintance of mine who is preparing to leave his job in investment banking to go to an ashram in India to practice mediation and yoga. It was clear that he was excited by the prospect of this new journey, but he was also apprehensive. Having attended business school and …

Recently, Dr. Mangels and colleagues teamed up with Carol Dweck to study the differences in the brains of people with growth mindsets and fixed mindsets. This is exciting work because it is hard empirical science studying the underlying brain functions dealing with learning and internal self-concepts.

Conversation on an Airplane “I’m planning on being a fireman.  But if my brother gets killed in Iraq, I’m going to enlist and go take vengeance over there.”  Thus spoke the young man in the seat next to me on a late night flight last month.  This recent high school graduate had already been wonderfully …