The message of an Aesop’s fable, “A man is known by the company he keeps,” is often repeated as a cautionary tale. Stay away from the idle and the gluttonous, or you too may rejected by finer folk. But what if we took a Positive Psychology on that fable? What if being known by the company you keep is an opportunity for well-being?
Sherri Fisher
Sherri Fisher
Sherri Fisher, MAPP ’06, M.Ed., Director of Learn & Flourish LLC, is a leader in the field of positive education. An education management consultant and coach, workshop facilitator and author, Sherri uses the POS-EDGE Model to incorporate research-based findings from strengths psychology and behavioral economics into positive, personalized, best-practice strategies for learning, parenting, and work.
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AllAppreciation of Beauty and ExcellenceAweSavoring / In-the-MomentStrengths_1 Positive Experiences
Fringe Benefits of Appreciating Beauty and Excellence
Some people might be scared by a thunderstorm while others might be awed. In those moments, the person with the strength of Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence is able to transcend ego and instead be moved to an awareness of the vastness and amazement that the world has to offer. Time slows down. In such moments a person may feel drawn to future opportunities for using this strength.
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With this book, you will learn how kidding yourself is a power that your brain uses for good. Even if we are kidding ourselves, explains Hallinan, self-delusion serves a valuable role in our lives.
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AllGoalsGritHabitsMotivationParenting & SchoolsTaking Action_2 Positive Traits
What a College Dropout Has to Say about Success
“What can we as a country do to significantly improve the life chances of millions of poor children?” This is the question that reporter Paul Tough asks us to tackle with him in How Children Succeed. This book is passionately written and soundly researched. If Paul Tough is right, and I hope that he is, medical professionals, social workers, educators, and parents can join one another to build communities that help all of our children succeed.
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AllSelf regulationStrengths_1 Positive Experiences_2 Positive Traits
Going to the Extreme with Strengths and Happiness
If some happiness is good, is more even better? Now positive psychology researchers have conducted a meta-study to explore the costs of extremes. Researchers Barry Schwartz and Adam Grant have explored whether there really is such a thing as too much happiness or an extreme level of a given strength, to the point that happiness and strength become counterproductive for well-being.
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You may (mistakenly) believe that doing well in school is all about having outstanding academic skills. While skills are important, they may not be the most important abilities that separate…
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AllGoalsParenting & SchoolsSelf regulationTaking Action_2 Positive Traits
Developing Your Willpower by Shoveling Greenland
The need for seemingly endless snow removal has gotten me interested in self-regulation and willpower. It turns out that people who believe that they can’t take it anymore may be right! There’s new research that ties our self-control to our beliefs about it, questioning the model of self-control as a limited resource.
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AllForgivenessTaking Action
Facilitating Forgiveness: Effective Apologies for Positive Relationships
University of Maryland psychologists Ryan Fehr and Michele Gelfand have identified three components that impact the victim’s perception of an apology and therefore facilitate the process of forgiveness. According to their model, it is not enough for a transgressor to make what feels like a sincere and humble apology. In addition, the victim’s beliefs about relationship interactions need to be considered as well.
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AllHappiness ExercisesPositive Feelings_1 Positive Experiences
Meditation: The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Even if you are presently satisfied with your life, and most people say they are, you probably would like to be more than just satisfied. One of the challenges of both staying happy and becoming happier, though, is the hedonic treadmill. Michael Cohn, Barbara Fredrickson, and colleagues found that loving kindness meditation can undo hedonic adaptation and that the effects accumulate and persist.
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AllHome and FamilyRelationshipsSelf regulation
Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: The Health Benefits of Social Connections
Would you knowingly engage in behaviors that you know would lead to a cascade of negative health events? After her husband died, Shirley regularly declined invitations to go places with…
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“I have to work” can sound like “I have a requirement to work,” but it also indicates the opportunity to work. Lucky you! You get to work! If you are unemployed and looking for a new job, the search process may set up pessimistic thinking patterns that can lead to future unhappiness. The good news is that Positive Psychology research can help you practice more optimistic thought patterns that help you deal resiliently with current reality.
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AllHappiness ExercisesParenting & SchoolsRelationshipsTaking Action
Positive Parenting: So What’s Good About Teenagers?
Recently I’ve had several meetings with parents of high schoolers. Like most parents of kids this age, they are consumed with concerns about their child’s achievement: How does my kid…
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We often think of forgiveness as something that we do on behalf of others. That’s called interpersonal forgiveness. Unlike gratitude, however, which makes the giver and receiver feel good, forgiveness…
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What highly competent and incompetent students share is this: both miscalibrate the perception of their own and of others’ performance. The difference is that competent students believe their peers have done only slightly better than they have, and so they work to apply success strategies. Incompetent students believe they have done significantly better than their peers and therefore do not work harder. How’s that for a counter-intuitive finding?
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AllAppreciative InquiryAweCreativityGratitudePathway 3 "Meaning"RelationshipsResilienceSavoring / In-the-Moment
Healing Loss through Positive Psychology
Kathryn Britton recently wrote about using positive psychology to deal with a sudden loss as she mourned her dear friend Linda. Grieving is an individual process, but while no two people have an identical experience of losing a loved one, there are several patterns that emerge. I’d like to offer some observations about how Positive Psychology is at work while people heal after a loss, even in the long term.
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Would you send your child to a school whose schedule encouraged them to become socially inept, inattentive, overweight, depressed underachievers? Probably not. But these may be unintended side effects of…
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AllCreativityGoalsMotivationParenting & SchoolsPathway 2 "Engagement / Flow"Taking Action
Nurturing Your Creative Mindset
Do you ever wish you were more creative? New research has shown that adults can be primed to become more creative simply by being asked to think like children. There…
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AllCoachingGoalsHabitsHome and FamilyMotivationParenting & SchoolsStrengthsTaking Action
From Pestering to Perspective: Applying Positive Psychology
This academic year, I met a student who I will call James. He is one of several high school and college student clients that were referred to me with new…
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AllDecision-MakingMindfulnessParenting & SchoolsPositive FeelingsTaking Action
What Do You Fail to Notice?
We like to think that we are in charge of our choices. But what if making a choice or decision is based on things that we don’t notice? A new article from Song and Schwarz at the University of Michigan looks at the consequences.
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If you have wanted to teach an introductory course in Positive Psychology but did not know what textbooks to include on your syllabus, here is a brand new one to…