Strengths

Reading the book, The Strengths Switch by Dr. Lea Waters, can help you see what is right about your children and then nurture their innate strengths and talents.

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.

As we approached this new year, we decided to ask our authors to look back at something they learned in 2017 and to look forward with a suggestion. Resolutions are often running out of steam about now. You might find some ideas here to support making 2018 a great year.

A few years ago, I embarked on a 250-mile road trip to meet Mata Amritanandamayi, affectionately known as Amma, a Hindu spiritual leader who has amplified the simple, powerful, loving gesture of a hug to an astonishing level. Like many things that are authentic and true, when I had my chance, it was nothing like I had imagined, and it was wonderful.

Today I want to highlight two compelling concepts from Happy Together that can help you cultivate stronger and happier relationships.

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.

How do we act toward people who seem different? Those that act with kindness and respect create something wondrous.

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 for people wondering how to say and do helpful things gracefully for people who are grieving.

If you or someone you know is going through any kind of major challenge during this holiday season you might want to read these five easy actions to help reduce holiday stress. Better yet, share this post with your friends and family and then figure out something simple that you can do together to make the holidays meaningful.

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.

Seligman is the lead author of the 2016 book, Homo Prospectus, a work of interdisciplinary collaboration about the human ability to assess what we face in the future. Authorship is shared with philosopher Peter Railton, leading willpower researcher Roy Baumeister, and brain mechanism scientist Chandra Sripada. Together, they identify four distinct ways of thinking that guide us to purposeful choice.

We are so excited to have the esteemed author Louisa Jewell as our guest for the first ever PPND webinar. Join us for a three part program: A brief interview, followed by a highpoint from her brand new book, and live questions from the audience.

What do you get when you mix together a compelling idea, numerous engaging stories, a clear structure, and a firm research grounding? You get a book that is made to stick and useful from the moment you read it. This is a book I’ll keep close by to help me plan for moments that matter. I’ve thought of at least 3 opportunities to use the ideas this week.

Character Strengths Interventions is a gold mine for practitioners. Its tips, 24 handouts, and 70 interventions are valuable nuggets. Figuring out how to quickly finding those nuggets will make this book even more useful. I hope this review helps you efficiently strike gold in this valuable book.

Getting Grit is like getting a coach between book covers. It is a clear, application-oriented book full of reflection questions, activities, and exercises for people who want to build authentic grit that will make a difference not just for themselves, but also for the communities around them.

Pondering the possibility that the theory of learned helplessness is both backwards and incomplete.

Including psychological well-being in a company’s health promotion effort can take you from basic wellness to greater overall well-being. It helps us do more, and do it better.

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.

If you are eager to make sense of life’s inevitable adversities, read this book. Akhtar reminds us that our future can be bright perhaps not in spite of the adversity we face, but because of it.