Positive Psychology Articles

Often we underestimate the effect of stress on our lives. Stress affects us on a spiritual, mental, emotional and physical level. It creates dis-ease in our bodies. When you are on overload, preoccupied with responsibilities and completely overwhelmed, it’s common to turn to fast acting solutions. After all we do live in a ‘quick-fix’ society. So what do you do? Do you over-indulge in comfort foods, drink in excess to escape, go shopping on credit, use illicit drugs or

The human body has about 100 trillion cells (plus another ten quadrillion microscopic critters hitching a ride, most of them beneficial or harmless). Each one of your cells has aims - goals, in a sense - controlled by its DNA: cells conduct processes aimed at particular functions, like building bones or gobbling up harmful invaders. Cells also work together in larger and larger assemblies in pursuit of broader goals, such as the 100 billion neurons in your brain that run the nervous system, which as a whole is itself the master regulator of the body.

I'm in my late twenties, and that feels strange to write. For so long, I was the youngest everywhere I went. The youngest in my classes, the youngest in my workplace, the youngest of all my friends. I've always been told that I'm mature for my age. That I'm "wise beyond my years." That I was an adult born into a child's body. I suppose it doesn't help that I'm also very short. Never even made it past five feet and two inches. Fun-sized, right? That's the euphemism people li

I had a lightbulb moment recently: I was feeling stressed about all the stuff I had to do (you probably know the feeling). After this went on for a while, I stepped back and kind of watched my mind, and could see that I was thinking of these various tasks as things, like big rocks that were rolling down a hill toward me and which needed to be handled, lifted, moved, fended off, or broken into pebbles.

For many of you it is about to be Easter, for those who are Jewish, as I am, Passover is just around the corner! I thought it would be interesting to share with you some thoughts about Passover that are so universal in nature that we can all learn from them! n Passover gives us the chance to ...

Are regrets, bad memories, or losses keeping you from enjoying each new day? Is the past keeping you from moving into the future with hope and anticipation? I recently heard a man say that it was not until he made peace with his past that he truly began to live. It changed his life so ...

[Note: This JOT is adapted from Mother Nurture - a book written for mothers - focusing on typical situations that are experienced by many, though not all, mothers during the years before their children enter grade school. These are most commonly the years when mothers (biological and adoptive) experience the greatest demands of parenting.]

Life gives to each one of us in so many ways. For starters, there’s the bounty of the senses – including chocolate chip cookies, jasmine, sunsets, wind singing through pine trees, and just getting your back scratched. What does life give you? Consider the kindness of friends and family, made more tangible during a holiday season, but of course continuing throughout the year.

Not So Smart After All When I was twenty-seven, I thought I knew almost everything. At thirty-seven, it was becoming apparent that I wasn’t nearly as smart as I had originally thought. Now, at forty-seven, I realise I don’t know much at all. In fact, if I stay on my current trajectory, by fifty-seven I will be a total ignoramus and by sixty-seven I may well be a plant in the foyer of some fancy hotel. I hope someone remembers to water me. Life Lessons If nothing else, the

When people first get married they usually expect their love and commitment to last for a lifetime. Unfortunately, for at least half of all couples it doesn’t. What happens? Soon after marriage couples discover that the bliss of falling in love quickly fades. They no longer see each other ...

Have you ever woke up in the morning, staggered over to the bathroom mirror, looked up and thought, “Who are you?” Then just as quickly, you put yourself in the normal distracted state. Teeth must be brushed, hair combed, shower, clothes, and then off to the daily grind. This pattern continues throughout your day and on through the night until the next morning when you are caught off guard once again in your semi-conscious state by the person in the mirror. The question i

Lately, I've been wondering what would be on my personal list of top five practices (all tied for first place). You might ask yourself the same question, knowing that you can cluster related practices under a single umbrella, your list may differ from mine, and your practices may change over time. In these JOTs, so far I've written about two of my top practices: - Meditate - Mindfulness, training attention, contemplation, concentration, absorption, non-ordinary consciousness, liberating insight

How do we obtain a life worth living? How do we overcome adversity? How can we experience positive emotions? How do we stay in good mental health? These are serious questions and to briefly answer them would be unfair to the reader. But I can say as a positive psychologist, working in the ...

Mental health consist of our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is usually used as a substitute for mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, or schizophrenia, but according to the World Health Organization, mental health is: “a state of well-being in which every individual realises his/her own potential, can cope

Sometimes things are difficult. Your legs are tired and you still have to stay on your feet another hour at work. You love a child who's finding her independence through emotional distance from you. A long-term relationship could be losing its spark. It's finals week in college. You're trying to start a business and it's struggling. You've got a chronic health problem or a disability. Sometimes people don't appreciate your work. You're being discriminated against or otherwise treated unjustly. The body ages, sags, and grows weary.

Most people, me included, are holding onto at least one thing way past its expiration date.

There is so much more to be said for the topic of mindfulness. One image that continues to come back to me each time I start to write about it, is that of shadow boxing. When we are in a situation in which we are not able to see or understand whatever it is we have to undertake, there is no way we can be very effective with it. The more we understand the task we are faced with, the better we can accomplish it. That seems like it would be such an indisputable fact that it boggles my mind when it comes to issues like anxiety, depression or emotional struggles we may have.

Self-confidence is basically the opinion we have about ourselves. Sometimes we struggle with this, which can create problems in our lives. People usually have doubts about themselves. Having low self-esteem can make you weak internally. To survive in this society, you must build up your self-confidence. They are multiple things you can do to improve and increase the level of your self-confidence. Ways to boost your self-confidence Think positive The main way to build you

Moment to moment, the flows of thoughts and feelings, sensations and desires, and conscious and unconscious processes sculpt your nervous system like water gradually carving furrows and eventually gullies on a hillside. Your brain is continually changing its structure. The only question is: Is it for better or worse?

Work is not just about technical skills. Knowing the technicalities of work are of course a necessity, because one has to know what is required to do. However, there are a number of other skills that go hand in hand with the technical skills that are highly important. A major portion of these skills are constituted by what are known as social skills. Actions that facilitate interaction and communication with others are termed as social skills. Having appropriate social skills

One Christmas I hiked down into the Grand Canyon, whose bottom lay a vertical mile below the rim. Its walls were layered like a cake, and a foot-high stripe of red or gray rock indicated a million-plus years of erosion by the Colorado river. Think of water - so soft and gentle - gradually carving through the hardest stone to reveal great beauty. Sometimes what seems weakest is actually most powerful.

Liking feels good, plus it encourages us to approach and engage the world rather than withdraw from it. Your brain continually tracks whether something is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. In essence, is it a carrot, a stick, or safely ignored? Naturally, we like - we enjoy - what's pleasant, dislike what's unpleasant, and wish what's neutral would get pleasant pronto.

I am remembering and have a desire to share with you, a beautiful story told to me by a young lady. This story fills me with positive emotions. It was the end of the World War II and her dad was returning home. He came from a very close network of Italian families that lived near each other in ...

House moves are among the top five most-stressful life-changing events a person can experience, alongside the divorce, sudden unemployment, loss of a family member and long-term illnesses. There are many reasons behind the need for home relocation, some good, some not so much but once started the moving process is inevitable. For parents, these times are especially hard. Children are considered to be much stronger and adaptable than adults, but even they buckle under the pres

Self-esteem can be said to be the view one has of the self. Self-confidence and self-esteem are interrelated and interdependent. Low self-esteem is a common occurrence in today’s society. With increasing competition, pressure and tension and anxiety about performance in every sphere of life, almost everyone faces low self-esteem at point or other. This could not only affect one’s career, but influences relationships and personal goals, leading finally to an unhappy life. Acco

There’s a profound and miraculous mystery right under our noses: this instant of now has no duration at all, yet somehow it contains all the causes from the past that are creating the future. Everything arising to become this moment vanishes beneath our feet as the next moment wells up. Since it’s always now, now is ete al.

Mental health consist of our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is usually used as a substitute for mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, or schizophrenia, but according to the World Health Organization, mental health is: “a state of well-being in which every individual realises his/her own potential, can cope

It makes sense to think that the average person believes things they hear and see on television. I’m not referring to the shows that are clearly fictional, but rather commentary-type information whether it is in the form of news, documentary, or even on commercials. And they do.

Friendliness is a down-to-earth approach to others that is welcoming and positive. Think about a time when someone was friendly to you - maybe drawing you into a gathering, saying hello on the sidewalk, or smiling from across the room. How did that make you feel? Probably more included, comfortable, and at ease; safer; more open and warm-hearted.

Hailing an Uber cab is a quick solution to reach any place, no matter you are going for a business meet or have a fun party to attend. The cheap and convenient service aids you reach any destination quickly. 70% of the Americans rely on Uber cab to reach important places. With popularity, the service surely has invited a few cases of accidents as well. Sadly, not many people know what to when involved in a case of Uber accident.rn rnThere are many things that one would think

WHO IS I.M. HEART I.M. Heart is a symbol for all of us – me, you, family, friends and every person we meet on the street. Why? Because I.M. Heart is a heart- shaped character with feelings – just like all the rest of us. These include loving, gentle, happy feelings as well as fearful, angry and sad feelings. Feelings flow through us constantly, like a river flows to the sea. They move and change with each moment of the day. Sometimes we are aware of how we feel and at times

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but if you’ve been experiencing some of the techniques I’ve already shared for the last few days then right now you’re probably feeling better?rnYou may not be sure right now why you’re feeling better, but you just are…rnYou may have already had a little glimpse of just how powerful you really are… And depending on what tools you’ve used, you may have even dared to dream just a little…rnHow do you like this feeling?rnHow do yo

Benevolence is a fancy word that means something simple: good intentions toward living beings, including oneself.

Hustling through an airport, I stopped to buy some water. At the shop's refrigerator, a man was bent over, loading bottles into it. I reached past him and pulled out one he'd put in. He looked up, stopped working, got a bottle from another shelf, and held it out to me, saying "This one is cold." I said thanks and took the one he offered.

The fifth of my personal Top 5 practices (all tied for first place) is open out, by which I mean relaxing into a growing sense of connection, even oneness, with all things. (The other four are be mindful, love, take in the good, and go green.)

Compassion is essentially the wish that beings not suffer - from subtle physical and emotional discomfort to agony and anguish - combined with feelings of sympathetic concern. You could have compassion for an individual (a friend in the hospital, a co-worker passed over for a promotion), groups of people (victims of crime, those displaced by a hurricane, refugee children), animals (your pet, livestock heading for the slaughterhouse), and yourself.

Did you ever make up your mind that you were going to buy a new car? One of the most amazing things happens when that occurs. After painstaking contemplation and consideration, you finally decide on the make and model you are going to get, maybe even the color.

Cleaning out the cobwebs, dust-balls, and poorly fitting beliefs is not always easy. But it is a liberating process and the work of a lifetime. As we lighten our load we feel enlivened and amazingly fresh and free, leaving us wondering why we didn’t do this a long time ago. Imagine this undertaking like spring-cleaning.

Subconscious mind power techniques help the user achieve beyond the ordinary and reach the highest levels of accomplishment. The mind power and the subconscious have great potential and you can tap this power or harness it to change your life and live the life you want. The subconscious mind is very powerful.It controls the non-voluntary actions like breathing, heart-beat etc. whether awake or asleep without thinking about it. It is the source of creativity and inspiration an

In my early 20's, I went through Rolfing, a form of deep-tissue bodywork, and I nervously anticipated the 5th session, the one that goes deep into the belly. But instead of gobs of repressed emotional pain, what poured out was love - waves and waves of love that I'd pushed down due to embarrassment, fears of closeness, and my struggles with my mother.

By "war" I mean here a mindset, not combat between nations with tanks and bombs. The "war" I'm referring to is an attitude of conflict and animosity toward a person, object, or condition. Parents can feel at war with a misbehaving teenager, and certainly vice versa. Neighbors quarreling over a fence. Spouses edging toward divorce; divorced parents continuing to battle over holidays. Someone stuck in traffic, at war with other drivers. Ideologues reviling the other side. Kicking the chair after stubbing a toe against it.

THE ENCHANTED SELF is a positive psychology technique that helps you utilize your positive memories, your talents, and your capacities for joy and happiness. You may not realize that one of your most precious gifts in terms of accessing joy is your capacity to utilize your memory in positive ...

If we wish to learn a new habit, there is much documentation to support that we need to spend approximately a month repeating the new behavior in order to get it to become routine in any way. We learn better slowly, giving our brains time to process and absorb and finally retain important pieces of information and behaviors that we wish to repeat and incorporate as part of our regular activities.

Have you heard this saying? The most important thing is to remember the most important thing. What are the most important things to you? In your life as a whole? During a particular interaction with someone? Right this minute?

PERMANENCE OUR STORY OF WHO WE ARE THE ILLUSION Yesterday opportunities came to visit- opportunities to embrace the ways in which I was introduced to my own assumptions of what would always be? Intellectually, should I be asked-does anything last forever, I would have said no. Quoting those ubiquitous sayings such as " change is all there is", "you can count on change" and many more. I was surprised at the way hearing about the change- of things I had taken for granted found

By "sobriety," I mean healthy self-control, a centered enjoyment of life, and an inner freedom from drivenness. We typically apply this sense of balance and self-care to things like food, drugs and alcohol, sexuality, money, and risky behaviors. And if you like, you could bring sobriety to other things as well, such as to righteousness, contentiousness, over-working, or controlling others. At bottom, sobriety is the opposite of craving, broadly defined: you're not going to war with what's unpleasant, chasing after what's pleasant, or clinging to what's heartfelt.

Comparing ourselves with others is unfortunately part of the human condition, although some do so more than others. Living on this planet amongst billions of other people naturally results in their being people who are living completely different lives from you. It is, to a certain extent, natural to notice the differences between them. However, feeling inferior to a person because they appear to have “more” than you or their life looks “better”, is an extremely unhea

Over my lifetime I have never tired of watching Lucille Ball in action. Oh, what ecstasy in my childhood to finish a dreary Monday by watching Lucy come to grips with her life in hysterical ways! She gave me courage to believe as a little girl that one could overcome adversity,have a life ...

Everyone who hires me has a problem. Sometimes that problem is big, sometimes it’s small and sometimes, it’s gnarly, or frightening. Needless to say, over 30 years of coaching, I’ve learned a great deal about how to help people solve problems. I want to share with you some of the skills that will help you address the tough situations in your life with greater ease and efficiency. Because if there’s one thing that differentiates happy people from unhappy people, it’s how the

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony." - Thomas Merton. Blessings to you! Life has been pretty busy for me these past few months; writing, traveling, filming and recording. In many ways it’s been a rollercoaster ride; very exciting and with dramatic ups and downs. I hope things have been not so dramatic, but just as awesome and transformative for you too!