Strengths

I am the voluntary leader of a religious congregation of over 400 members.  Like many churches, we have various auxiliaries and organizations to meet the needs of our membership.  These include organizations for the young men, the young women, the children, the men, the women, the single adults, the poor and needy, the unemployed, and …

It was a little over a year ago and I had just returned from a family vacation.  I sat down at the computer to read my email.  I had “unplugged” for a few days.  I was hoping that no big issues were waiting for me.  I started flipping through each one quickly.  I was on …

I recently gave notice at the job I have held for the last eleven months.  I place special emphasis on the word “job” because the actual day-to-day work in no way resembles the type of work that I would call a career and certainly not a calling. I would like to talk about this job …

Positive Psychology changed my life.  When I discovered Positive Psychology, I found an articulation of something that I had always been searching for.  I resonated with the concept of the three states of life—pleasant, engaged, and meaningful—and I wanted to study and support the development of positive emotions, character strengths, and institutions.  When I heard …

Since early November, I have been giving a series of positive-psychology-based continuing legal education (CLE) seminars across Tennessee. Starting last month, I was also advertising for and interviewing candidates for Associate Director for the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization. Like peanut-butter-and-jelly, these two endeavors mixed deliciously. In the seminar, Lawyering and the …

Over ten years ago I came across a book that caught my eye.  At the time I did not recognized the author by name and I was not familiar with his work.  The title, however, intrigued me and it ran through my head over and over before I actually acquired a copy of the book …

NOTE:  In Senia Maymin’s New Year’s Day article, she writes, “Positive Psychology is the study of positive subjective experiences, positive traits, and positive institutions.”  This article is about the later.  I will share some highlights from a recent panel discussion and conclude with some additional thoughts.      I had the pleasure of returning to the University …

Last weekend, I was at a gathering of college friends when one of them mentioned that her daughter had attended an Orthodox Jewish day camp one summer where she’d learned a prayer that had changed her life.  Although I don’t know the exact wording, the mom told me that the gist of the daily prayer …

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Not everything works in every environment. This we know. All of us have committed a faux pas at one time or another: told the wrong joke in the wrong place, congratulated someone on a promotion they didn’t actually get, shared with a friend how much we …

Alex Sternick is an expert and internationally recognized practitioner of the Art of Nonsense and Laughter Therapy.