Positive Feelings

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.

As we grow wiser, we begin to understand that we are the only ones truly responsible for our own happiness. So today, on the 2018 International Day of Happiness, here are three simple actions to elevate your well-being.

Employing tools from aviation can allow people to take charge of their lives and pilot successful futures. Embracing your life with eyes wide open allows you to design your own life story, full of appreciation, gratitude, and awe.

Mindfulness X was developed in the Netherlands by Hugo Alberts, psychologist, researcher, and entrepreneur. The program combines the practice and psychology of mindfulness for trainers looking to apply a science-based mindfulness approach to their client bases.

Mindfulness, hypnosis, and flow all involve states of deep attention, but each has a key differentiator.

As the calendar bends towards Valentine’s Day, Happy Together is a wonderful book for you and the important people in your life. It provides a dazzling array of easy-to-implement exercises to keep your relationships strong and energetic. The Pawelskis demonstrate that relationships can get better with age, like fine bottles of wine.

Our family’s last Thanksgiving celebration was the final holiday we shared with my beloved father nine days before he died. I never know when I will experience a pang or a sobbing bout or a joyful wave of hilarious memories. The only constant is that there are no rules. I appreciate Claire Ansberry’s helpful guidance …

Our suggestions are mainly things you can do for others (the gift of a free evening of babysitting, being present, writing down your memories of any period in your life), things you can do for yourself (a starter yoyo, the feeling of helping someone else), and books we’ve really loved.

Welcome back to part 2 of the active learning studies done by my students this fall.

The students in Positive Psychology: The Science of Optimal Human Functioning did not just read books, listen to my mini-lectures, and write papers. They conducted class-based research projects to contribute to our collective knowledge.

Now in its 8th year, I’m happy to share my observations of the best movies using the science of positive psychology as a lens. In other words, if researchers/practitioners in positive psychology were the ones to give out Oscars for the best films, this is what they might say.

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) is a strong tool for exploring the past, enhancing mindfulness in the present, and imagining the future.

Margaret Greenberg has more than 10 years experience bringing positive psychology to business. In this interview, she explains how to speak the language of business professionals and help them pick up simple but profound tools that benefit employees and the business simultaneously. She closes with the offer of a discount valid through April 12 for …

I made a more gentle resolution for 2016, because I am a parent in a world where “mom guilt” is the trend. I want to do the best I can for the kids I love, but sometimes more is unproductive and better is unrealistic. By pairing my natural urges to be perfect with the remorse …

Yes there are crowds, more on the to-do list, and the flu season is upon us. But there are also more connections, sparkle, and cheer. Since I am (somewhat gracefully) surviving this holiday season with the support of the concepts I understand from positive psychology, I am compelled to spread my cheer by sharing my …

My rainbow baby writer’s block serves as a reminder that sometimes we need to sit back and let life unfold while maintaining self-compassion in our passive state.

Like any business leader, I wanted to be informed of what my employees were up to, so I requested that all of us write status reports. But status reports can become boring and sometimes feel pointless. What does science tell us about making them both a joy to write and a joy to read?

Perhaps I don’t need to fear the world I leave behind for my children. Perhaps technology is paving the way for them to come together as a common humanity.

“If you could do only one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?” This question, posed by Greg McKeown stopped me in my tracks. Applying it specifically to work, I wondered what one thing I could happily do for the rest of my life. The answer, strangely enough, arrived in my …

This is part 2 of the 2015 annual holiday gift article, supplementing part 1 published yesterday that listed books and things. Today’s suggestions are about experiences and actions that can contribute to well-being, as well as ways to think about giving.