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“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” gets most heads nodding like a metronome. Except, of course, when the apple does in fact fall far. This stunning documentary takes you behind the scenes with several incredible families where individual children are outliers, entirely distinctive from all the other kinsfolk. Right now the film is opening in theaters across the United States and I encourage you to observe positive profiles in resilience, hope, and the enduring power of love amongst five amazing families.

The world news has been pretty challenging lately. No matter what your political preference there’s a lot going on. Even I began to lose hope, and I teach happiness for a living. So the question is, is there anything we can do to regain hope?

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 .

ANNOUNCEMENT:  On July 18, we will have a Positive Psychology News webinar featuring George E. Vaillant, M.D. discussing the REAL difference between happiness and joy.

It’s beautiful out, and it’s no surprise that nature makes us feel good. But the question is how and why, and how do we get more out of it?

As much as we need to feel that we belong and that others want us, it is even more critical to know that we matter, that we have something to offer, and that our contribution is seen and appreciated. Here are some actions that can facilitate a culture of mattering.

Is there a connection between mothers working outside the home and adolescent depression? What emerged when I studied this question surprised me. It appeared that children of mothers with rewarding careers are actually doing quite well. However children with mothers who are depressed, working or not, are at a much greater risk for adolescent depression. In my quest to help working mothers find well-being, I have found numerous simple mechanisms that working mothers can use to improve their daily experience, thereby reducing the risk of depression in themselves and their children..

We interviewed Alex Goldfayn on our most recent PPND Webinar on May 23, 2018. We discussed how to utilize the idea of positive psychology in sales from Alex’s most recent book, Selling Boldly: Applying the New Science of Positive Psychology to Dramatically Increase Your Confidence, Happiness, and Sales.  Here is the webinar in case you missed it or want to see it again!

Researchers have long talked about the good of savoring. Recent research that came out in 2018 also shows that savoring the past can help with being optimistic about the future.

How Using Our Talents in Service of Others May Help Keep Obsessive Passion in Check

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.

Do you keep up with the news? If you’re like me, you find that your well-being takes a nosedive after a dose of the news. Nonetheless, I don’t think we should avoid it. A strong democracy requires us to be informed citizens. That’s what led me to study the question: What can we do to keep informed without a major cost to our well-being?

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.

The Positive Psychology News Movie Award series is now in its 9th year of providing the best of the best positive psychology movies. I comb through popular, independent, and obscure films from the previous year in order to share with you these awards across positive psychology themes.

In sports and other major league efforts, positive psychology can help all of us deal with an inescapable reality: Bad situations happen. Those that can rise above bad situations are able to perform not by getting rid of bad feelings, but by doing what they do in the presence of negative thoughts and feelings without letting them get in the way.

When we have to deny parts of ourselves in order to be accepted in society, the effect is disorienting and energy draining. Imagine a world where men and women can embrace and exhibit all their qualities. It’s worth striving for.

To work on positive medicine, I had to decide where to start. The opportunities to make medicine a more positive discipline are vast. Finally I decided that the place to start was with the healers themselves. Principles of self-care and positive psychology could be embedded in medical training starting as early as Day 1 of medical school.

Sir Anthony Seldon interviewed Martin Seligman on the occasion of Dr. Seligman receiving an honorary degree from the University of Buckingham on March 28 in New York City. I was there to capture the highlights.

I developed a concise survey instrument to assess 6 qualities in managers from the perspective of their subordinates. Work by Steger, Rosso, and others associates these qualities with greater likelihood of employees finding their work meaningful. In a survey of 586 German employees, I found that those who found their managers high in CAARMA were more likely to experience flow, to find their work meaningful, and to

So my friends, it seems we are wired to feel good when we smile and when we share smiles and laughter with others. So laugh away on April Fool’s Day and every day because, after all, laughter is the best medicine for health and vitality.