Pathway 3 “Meaning”

I highly recommend this book as a source of ideas for enhancing your leadership skills, whether you lead yourself or thousands of people. The many stories of positive outcomes will help you see that you can make a difference by making small changes. Want ideas for your small change? There are more than 70 strategies …

Last week my husband, our friend and I walked for three days on the Great Ocean Walk track in Victoria, Australia. Long walks make for great conversations. One of our discussions was about what makes a good life. How do we turn work, love, play, and service into good work, good love, good play, and …

Can practicing gibberish exercises, over and over again help us accept real life as it is by helping us play with nonsensical events instead of being victimized by them? Can it help us be better prepared for future surprises that can shock us? Can practicing nonsense help us to find our own meaning and purpose …

New research on perceiving work as a calling suggests that callings are dynamic, changing over time. This post discusses what a calling is, how it develops, and why we shouldn’t worry too much about finding it.

We put together the Happiness Habits program and tested it with groups as diverse as refugee parents in an inner-city school, charity volunteers, and professionals working in health and education. After several iterations we settled on 8 habits of happiness delivered in 8 weekly sessions: habits because it takes practice to make these actions automatic …

I frequently write songs as gifts for others. The best example is a lullaby I wrote for my baby niece. It makes me feel more connected and that I matter. This construct of mattering seems very similar to the feeling that we are a part of something greater than ourselves. Taken together, the research described …

With the boom of nanotechnology, brain implants, and increasingly sophisticated computing and intelligence technologies, we might be seeing a fundamental change in the “human” part of human flourishing. My purpose here is to explore how Positive Psychology might guide the efforts of emerging technologies in a transition to human life beyond biology

With intrinsic motivation, people behave freely of their own will out of interest in the activity for its own sake. Purpose in life is about having a sense of directedness toward goals. How do intrinsic motivation and purpose relate to each other and to well-being in general?

During the Martin Luther King Day of Service, thousands of people across the United States volunteered to make a difference in their communities in a variety of projects such as feeding homeless veterans, cleaning parks, and collecting clothes and toys for local children. Volunteering not only strengthens communities and those being helped, but as anyone …

According to several news reports, what Inamori did to re-engage employees and lead Japanese Airlines back into the black was to insist on compulsory philosophy sessions for all staff, washed down with free beer. I was so intrigued by this story that I wanted to delve a bit deeper. I hoped Kazuo Inamori’s business philosophy …

P is for Positive Emotion, E is for Engagement, R is for Relationships, M is for Meaning, and A is for Accomplishment. Using Martin Seligman’s alphabet of well-being, we bring you a set of ideas from our authors for flourishing during the holidays and beyond.

Even though Ken Keir focused on Honda’s R&D philosophy, explaining that in recessionary times, the company goes against the tide and invests more in R&D rather than less, by the time we reached slide 5 of the presentation on the Honda strategy, vision, values, and behavior, it was pretty clear to me that here was …

Dr. Paul Wong opened the second day of the 7th Biennial Meaning Conference with the statement that he had worked for 10 years to bring positive psychologists to work together with existential and humanistic psychologists in order to deepen our understanding of meaning in life.

When you think of the meaning of your life, do you think of making it, searching for it, finding it, or noticing it? Do you associate meaning with times of well-being or do you believe meaning becomes apparent primarily in times of suffering?

In my experience, people high in spirituality are imbued with a strong, contagious, positive glow that others can feel. They seem to navigate life calmly and serenely with the winds of spiritual awareness and faith billowing their sails. But is this how it really works? Todd Kashdan and John Nezlek have studied questions about spirituality. …

Something unusual and significant is happening in Toronto, quietly and under the radar. Every other Sunday afternoon, people from all walks of life gather at my home for our regular Meaningful Living Meetup. On average, more than 30 people cram into my living room. Participants learn that the human capacity for meaning-seeking and meaning-making not …

I am disappointed that I won’t be able to attend the International Meaning Conference coming up in Toronto at the end of July. They are putting together an all-star line up of researchers in positive psychology with an emphasis on “healing and flourishing through meaning.” They are also honoring 3 major contributors to our understanding …

This is the 1,000th article published on Positive Psychology News Daily. Here we express our thanks to authors, researchers, twitterers, commenters, practitioners — all who have made PPND a vibrant exchange for more than 5 years. We celebrate this occasion with 2 drawings for books by PPND authors.

Planning your summer calendar? There are four conferences occurring in June and July that dovetail with Positive Psychology. From a focus on meaning in Toronto to workplace well-being in Chicago to fitness and wellness in San Diego.

Curtains up! Light the lights! July 20-21 and the Canadian Positive Psychology Conference will soon be upon us! The conference will feature highlights of current research in the field, but we will also be hearing from practitioners who have successfully applied positive psychology in their practices. We are anticipating a rich dialogue between research and …