Strengths

Jane Strunk Anderson’s book, 30 Days of Character Strengths: A Guided Practice to Ignite Your Best lays out a month-long series of practices to help people intentionally develop their own character strengths. I did the 30-day practice with a group of friends. We realized that the book also allowed each of us to customize strengths practices to our own personalities.

Now in its 10th year, I’m happy to offer you the best of the best positive psychology movies from the past year. I comb through popular, independent, and obscure films to select important films across some of the most important positive psychology themes.

Dr. Diener, what are you working on now? What are the newest developments in research on happiness?

When is a joke not a joke but a lie? What is a white lie, and when is it ok to tell it? Can silence be a lie? Should one always stand up for the Truth? How do you answer when you consider the question inappropriate?

This article continues the answer to the question, “How does a relationship with our natural environment help us develop a life of meaning?” The actions in this article are involved with deeper self-discovery and expression.

How does a relationship with our natural environment help us develop a life of meaning? 13 actions to explore this question. Come back tomorrow for an additional 13 actions.

Watch on YouTube Hi, I’m Carin Rockind. Welcome to PPN Bites, where we give you 60-second helpings of the Positive Psychology News you need to know. Humans are great at…

I have traveled a long, rugged road to find my way back to see you with new eyes. Dear Mister Rogers, thank you for the opportunity to offer you my gratitude. You taught us that feelings are not forever. We may be sad now but we’ll also be happy again. We get to feel all of the feelings because they are all part of life.

ANNOUNCEMENT:  On September 5, we will have a Positive Psychology News webinar featuring Christine Duvivier, author of the eBook, Best-Loved Love Notes to My Child… What I’d Say if You Wouldn’t…

I invite you to participate in a research study by filling in an online questionnaire about courage in the workplace.

“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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.