Resilience

Every fiber in my being felt raw and agitated, and I could barely concentrate. That’s when I pulled out the big guns. … I don’t remember how I discovered this most powerful tool, but once I experienced its potency I used it as frequently as I could. My secret weapon was walking (fast) on my …

Sometimes I feel like I have this life-thing all figured out. The roof leaks: no problem. The dog pees on the Christmas presents: primo-fodder for our holiday letter! But then there are other days … I catch a glimpse of cockroaches scurrying away as I crack open the cabinet doors, and it DOES bother me. …

Well-being: A Dirty Word? As an ex-financial controller, I can imagine the furious activity that must be taking place in the finance departments of businesses around the globe as they try to put together realistic budgets for the coming year, after a month of unprecedented stock market falls, and talk of bail-out and bankruptcies hitting …

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 …

I live in New York City. Perhaps because it is the financial capital of the world, anxiety about the economy is everywhere. In Starbucks people sit grimly reading the Wall Street Journal and the patois overheard is about Lehman Brothers, AIG and bailouts. With every lurching move of the Dow, you can feel the collective …

I have been privileged this week to speak to the Affordable Housing Conference of the Neighborhood Preservation Coalition of New York State. They invited me to lead a workshop on managing energy, helping people avoid burnout for themselves and for their staffs.

AFGO – Another Freaking Growth Opportunity (polite version) – is a term used by my friends who are 12-step group members (like Alcoholics Anonymous). It is said with a wry smile, usually after hearing about a challenge someone is going through, such as divorce. The unstated message is, “Yep. We’ve all been there. It sucks, …

Maybe it’s because I live in Nashville (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!), but I keep finding great expressions of positive psychology principles in country music. One recent example is Dierks Bentley’s What Was I Thinking?.

Parental involvement is widely recognized as important to the creation of great schools. This past week I was working with a group of school superintendents and one shared this story about ABC’s and parental involvement. “ABC” stands for “Adversity-Belief-Consequences.” It is a key construct of cognitive behavioral therapy and, from a positive psychology stance, of …

I am amongst other things the Secretary of the Howard League in Scotland. John Howard was the 18th century founder of the penal reform movement: between 1775 and 1790 he toured Europe seeking humane forms of penal provision and promoting these in Britain. In 1921, under the guidance of Margery Fry, the Howard Association and …

Social contagion is a term for moods spreading from person to person. We are physically constructed to make this possible. Daniel Goleman in Social Intelligence (2007) writes about mirror neurons that fire in response to observing behavior or emotions in others. “For instance, when volunteers lay in an fMRI watching a video showing someone smile …

Rabbits are ancient symbols of fertility and so symbolize the return of spring. In thinking of them, of Easter, and of Sherri Fisher’s excellent article, Positive Psychology is more than happiness, I spoke with a friend who had just returned from working near the equator. “What did you miss most?” I asked. Quickly came the …

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, and I know I was a bit terse with my staff a time or two during  the day.  When I got home this evening, I was still …

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.

Last summer, the journal Insulin published What people with diabetes want their caregivers to know: Development of the TCOYD patient concensus statement” based on the results of a workshop I ran at the 2004 Raleigh Taking Control of Your Diabetes conference. I’m going to look at three items from the patient consensus statement and show …

I have always been drawn to the quote by Friedrich Nietzsche that “Freedom is to struggle with no hope for reward.” There a great deal of courage in that line. There is comfort in the notion that something can us keep us going, even when the circumstances seem insurmountable. As I have maneuvered the various …

Our brains are attics – they have to be, storing all our past stuff. But we live when we can in the dizzy day-room delights of children’s laughter, family chaos, and even work. Spring seems to arrive earlier each year. So we are tempted to spring-clean our brains: let’s not. Let’s leave the attic to …

“Raindrops on roses and Whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles and Warm woolen mittens” Julie Andrews sang about them. Oprah has them. And so I now want to do a fun column about “My Favorite Things,” too, to pay homage to some of the things that bring happiness and contentment to my life in the …

In the spirit of the Oscars, I nominate Sonja Lyubomirsky’s book, The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want for best single book about positive psychology to have on the shelf. There are many great books around these days, including books that go into specific topics in more detail. But …