Hope

Love is … . From that sentence stub, poets, philosophers, and psychologists have taken flight. Now, Barbara Fredrickson gives us a new angle on love in her book Positivity. She also discusses the 10 positive emotions that her research subjects have recounted as most common. Love, while most common, is listed last — and it has to be.

We all want the best for our kids. So when we urge a teen to be the best possible student, it’s often because we know this will get him into the “best” colleges—and we assume this will lead to the best life. On the flip side, we assume that if you’re not a top student, you won’t have a wonderful life. We assume wrong.

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.

Think about the leaders you’ve followed in the past. Which one has had the most positive influence in your life? What three words best describe what this person contributes to your life? In a recent study bringing more clarity on this complex topic, Gallup interviewed over 10,000 people and asked them the two questions you’ve just answered.

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.

Law schools are beginning to take seriously the challenge to produce lawyers both capable of good lawyering and good relationships, skilled advocacy, and without the fuel of anger, contempt, derision, scorn, and humiliation. Further, we are finding that many practicing lawyers both want to change and can change.

How can our children develop these sort of empathic bonds with others if their interactions are with a screen rather than real-life, flesh-and-blood people? Photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand had an idea. While stranded in Mali in the 1980’s, Arthus-Bertrand spent an evening listening to another man’s life story. […]

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.…

As I am sure you have, I recently witnessed a heated argument between two neighbors who disagree over the Presidential campaign. If your relations with people supporting the opposing view have been more difficult as of late, please pay attention! … Studies of everyday reasoning show that people tend to make their decisions instinctively and then try to find evidence to support their point of view.

I am irrevocably changed by my divorce. For the better.

Don’t get me wrong – I am not an advocate of divorce as a way to bring about “happiness,” as it is typically defined in our culture. In fact, going through my divorce was like walking through fire and having the outer layer of my skin burned off. It was no quick fix, and it hurt like the dickens. I am, however, acutely aware ….

If we are to find meaning in life, we must pay as much mind to our limbic “hearts” as to our neocortical cognitions. … To see meaning as due to purpose, values, self-esteem and efficacy is to judge the brain book by its cover. Positive emotions, not cognitions, are the engines that drive meaning. The positive emotions that create meaning are love, compassion, hope, awe, gratitude, trust and joy.

Last week British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading presented a series of 15 minutes programs on BBC Radio about choirs, from gospel to world music and classical. In one, she interviewed medical…

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 make us hopeful and anticipative of our future?

“[Appreciative Inquiry] deliberately seeks to discover people’s exceptionality – their unique gifts, strengths, and qualities. It actively searches and recognizes people for their specialties – their essential contributions and achievements.…

I’ve been a bit of a grump today.  Not a bad, grump.  Just some tacky, negative comments.  I said as I started out this morning that I was feeling that way,…

Don’t ever let anyone tell you a dream is unreachable. Persistence, stubbornness, passion and heart will fill in the gaps where you need a boost, and you’ll never know how many people you will touch with your spirit, changing their lives as well. Dustin Carter is changing the world, one wrestling match at a time.