Love

In this issue of MAPP Magazine, we sought to explore where positive psychology sits beside suffering. We also sought to make space this holiday season for celebration as well as lament. We asked, “What does the best in us look like when we’re navigating the worst?”

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.

The strengths of hope, humor, and love seem particularly vital for healthcare, where close connections between caregivers and patients are essential for good outcomes and high-stakes challenges are an everyday occurrence.

So this Valentine’s Day, whether you’re loving a baby, flirting madly with someone new, keeping the flames of love stoked with your mate, or giving to close relatives, cherished friends, strangers, or pets, remember that loving words, gazes, and gentle touch can elevate the giver and receiver to experience laughter, gratitude, and joy together.

The experience taught me a lesson about fear. It’s not just the dark and wicked emotion that we all wish would be gone because it seems excessive compared to its survival value in the relative safety of the 21st century. Like all emotions, it has an upside, for it possesses a certain goal orientation that …