Positive Psychology Articles

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. ~Winston Churchill We live in a give-and-take society. When we give, we usually expect to get something in return. But sometimes we give for the sheer joy of giving. We don’t expect anything in return. It just makes us feel good to know that our giving has made a positive impact; it has helped in some way or it has made someone happy.

We now know a lot more about procrastination and willpower than we ever did before. Where procrastination was a weakness and willpower was something akin to the force, we now understand it’s a little bit more complicated than that.r

“The fact is,” said Rabbit, “we’ve missed our way somehow.” They were having a rest in a small sand-pit on the top of the Forest. Pooh was getting rather tired of that sand-pit, and suspected it of following them about because, whichever direction they started in, they always ended up at it, and each time, as it came through the mist at them, Rabbit said triumphantly, “Now I know where we are!” (The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff)

We are all doing our best, trying to meet our needs, shlepping along the road of life without a map. Much of the time, we do what we do and after we’ve done it, we wish we hadn’t. Much of the time, what we do doesn’t get our needs met and actually gets us the opposite result, but it’s all that we know how to do. Anybody ever do something that you wish you hadn’t and it didn’t even get you what you wanted? “Man, why did I yell at my children for yelling at each other? I wish I could rewind to before my self-prescribed therapy of four large hand-fulls of chocolate chips!

Is a therapeutic method so unique that only the therapist in a therapist – client relationship, can use it? When asked this question some therapists will tell you that it is their education and training that make the method of therapy successful. Others may respond with “an untrained person won’t understand it”, “a therapist is required for therapy to take place”, or “a person needing therapy is at risk”. This article will offer a different perspective of therapy and ask you this when experiencing difficulties in life is having a therapist always necessary?

A lot of people who don't have experience with religion or spirituality or existential questioning (like wondering what your life means) can hold the idea that spirituality is something mysterious, unattainable, or even meaningless especially in this day and age of making ends meet, managing busy lives, endless distractions, and just keeping up.

When we ask ourselves, our friends, family, colleagues and so on, every individual will answer differently to what it means to be happy. Some want wealth, others want love, knowledge, health, peace, challenge and so on. Everyone will say what they think they lack the most at that moment; in other situations they may desire something else, more of what they already have or they might even get stuck trying to answer, not sure at what they wish for. It is almost like we always w

No one gets married thinking they will get divorced some day. Most people have goals and dreams of being together forever, raising a family, and sharing life for better or for worse. They plan on being a team, growing together, and supporting one another. But somewhere along the line, they hit bumps in the road. They come up against walls, floods, and storms. Their marriage is put to the test. They are challenged to work together on successfully making it through problems and restoring their relationship. But this doesn’t always happen.

Thoughts, Words, and FEELINGS Emotions for me are a necessary evil. I absolutely hate the way emotions can completely blind a mind from logic. This is one of the main reasons that it takes me a long, long time to become emotionally attached to anybody. It seems that whenever I become attached to anybody, as soon as it’s over I look back and can’t believe how many things I overlooked because of my blinding emotions.

Hello, I am Dr. Grant Kruhly, Chiropractor, Nutritionist, Life Guide and Sensei of Japanese Sword and Meditation. I’d like to briefly explain the comprehensive system of Health and Wellness care I offer to my patients. With these highly advanced healing systems, I have been very successful ...

I recently rejoined the Pacific Tai Chi Society. I realized after much prompting from my body (and my mind!) that I needed to get more physical exercise as part of my stress release and relaxation program. When I was an active member several years ago, I had just come out of a messy relationship so my mind was fraught with noisy self accusations and useless innuendos. I had not learned how to manage my mind very well back then, not that I am perfect at it now, so the noise was alost unbearable.

Everyone has ways that the next person doesn't like. We all have an angel and devil on our shoulder at times, but we have to figure out how to ignore the devil. Sometimes we go with the devil instead of the angel because we are not in a good mood, we don't think, and vice versa. I will begin to tell you three things to help you become a better person. These three things are a great start at living a better life. Religion, Supporting others, and letting go of anger are the big

I am beginning another new venture. It's something I did, a very long time ago, but I enjoyed it and I think I will enjoy it again. It involved working with people of all ages so that makes it a good thing. It involves my faith, so that also makes it even better. It's not like I needed something to fill my time, because my time really is full with all the activities I have taken on over the past five or six months, but I needed a little something to bring in some money and this will do that very nicely. Another thing that I love added to the 'pot.' Life is really good!

Before we set out to accomplish anything at all, we must begin with a clear picture in our minds of already having achieved our goal. We wouldn’t even imagine trying to glue broken pieces of pottery back together without any idea of what it’s supposed to look like. So, why should we go through life without a clear purpose? Once we begin to visualize something, we can begin to figure out how to make it happen. Following are steps to consider in setting goals: A Clear Purpose

Sometimes it looks like things cannot get much worse. We may not be able to see how anything could possibly turn around. The world feels like it is crashing in on us from every side. A man I know, I will call him Brad, hit rock bottom a little while ago. He lost his job of over ten years and with it his means to provide financially for his family. People all around his neighborhood were losing their employment and many lost their homes. Times were tough. Businesses were shutting down. Jobs were scarce and no one was hiring.

Especially in the western world millions of people of average intelligence and education started with nothing and were able to create successful lives. In terms of success, background and education are not deciding factors. Your ability to continuously focus your mind on positive thoughts, ...

Anyone who has ever met me might think I've always been confident and assertive, but that is simply not the case. I was so self-conscious and afraid of not being liked that I fainted in speech class at the very idea of expressing my own opinion to people I hardly knew. But as the years passed, I have learned how to identify my fears and compassionately address them so that I can go after what I really want instead of settling for less. Last week's Bizarre Bazaar and High Tea is a perfect example of how powerful the spoken word can be.

Oprah is helping the distraught 50 year old Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York (known as Fergie), get out of a very tough and embarrassing situation. Oprah has even featured Fergie in her own show called Finding Sarah Ferguson. You may or may not know that Fergie, after building a lucrative business selling her children's books, ended up in big trouble when she agreed to take 500,000 pounds or close to three quarters of a million dollars for arranging access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, The Duke of York. The whole thing was a media set-up.

People will forget what you did; people will forget what you said; but they won’t forget the way you made them feel. ~unknown We all love to be around people who make us feel good. They may make us laugh and not take life too seriously. Their attitude and perspective may encourage us. They make us feel at ease and free to be ourselves. And, we may feel appreciated and loved when we are around them. When we think about the people we like to be around, what is it about them that makes us feel good?

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts."Eleanor Roosevelt Very few people might know that how we spend our day depends on how we start it. Have you ever noticed that your entire day becomes a mess if something goes wrong in the morning like, you could not find your shirt you wanted to wear or you missed your daily bus or train or you had a fight with your spouse. We can make every day best days of our life if we start it in a positive way. We just need to give a positive momentum and everything else will be taken care of.

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy ~Leo Buscaglia What is worry? Worry is negative meditation. To meditate is to be occupied in thought, to ponder and reflect. So when we worry, our thoughts are occupied with things that cause us distress, fear, or dread. Worry puts stress on our minds and bodies. It can literally make us sick. Studies have found links between stress and illness. Stress weakens our immune system, making us more vulnerable to viruses and other illnesses. Worry clouds our perception. Decision-making is impaired.

We are either the masters or the victims of our attitudes. It is a matter of personal choice. Who we are today is the result of choices we made yesterday. Tomorrow, we will become what we choose today. To change means to choose to change. ~John Maxwell What kind of thoughts come to your mind when you think about your life? How about your family, your work, your future? Suppose your thoughts could change your destiny. Would you want to change or improve any of them?

People are happiness seekers. We want to be happy and yet happiness eludes many of us. We say to ourselves, “I’ll be happy if I get that new car” or “I’ll be happy when I re-do the kitchen.” While these new things will increase our happiness for a time, their novelty wears off and we go back to our baseline. However, there are concrete practices we can incorporate in to our lives, here and now, that will help make us happier in both the short-term and long-term. H

Everything has a Belief System; "everything," in this writing refers to all sciences, all religions, all cultures, (including their languages), and all professions. It also includes all fields of study, referred to as the "soft sciences," such as psychology, biology, sociology, geography, anthropology, and political science, as well as all theories of human behavior.

Do you suffer from a lack of conversation confidence? When you make conversation with other people, is your mind constantly saying a lot of very harsh things to you about your conversation ability? Does your mind criticize every thing you say? Do you put yourself down for being shy or awkward? If you really want to improve your shyness and overcome your difficulty in making conversation with other people, the first step is that you have to start noticing exactly what you are

Conversation is probably the most important part of your dating experience. Sure, looking your best and having a good attitude matter, but most of your time together will in some way be spend in conversation. Following are a few tips to make your conversations more interesting, comfortable, and enjoyable. ⥠Have a good balance of talking and listening. If you tend to be talkative, remember to ask more questions and take time to listen to your date. If you tend to be on the quieter side, elaborating more on things can help you get in the flow of conversation.

A person can live forty days without food, seven days without water, and a few minutes without air; but he cannot live one second without hope. ~unknown Sometimes life can be so difficult, frustrating, and painful. There are times when we need someone to talk to who will listen, understand and care. There are times when we feel stuck and just don't know what to do. It can be something that has been going on for a very long time, or it might have come on suddenly and unexpectedly. Either way, these are times when we need help. We need hope that things can change and get better.

Recently, I watched a short video presentation by Dan Dennett, a modern Western Philosopher, who considers himself a Philosopher of Consciousness. He indicated that other modern Philosophers look down on him with scorn, because they believe there is no such thing as, "human consciousness." In his presentation he quoted an idea of another modern Philosopher, to the effect that, "All philosophy is based on rational arguments." Professor Dennett then went on to explain that, in actuality, what people consider to be their consciousness is a, "bag of tricks."

Just before Halloween, Great healthy Pumpkin Stews: 1. with chicken, 2. Vegetarianr Two great healthy pumpkin stews, One with chicken, Second with chickpeas for vegetarian. Very healthy, very tasty and very easy to cook. Prepare for the great pumpkin taste. Pumpkin Chicken Stew The Ingredients: 2 chopped onions 2 tablespoons of olive oil 2 ¼ cups of water 4 potatoes cut into halves 2.2 pounds (1 kilo) of peeled diced pumpkin 1 tablespoon of sweet paprika 2 tablespoons of tomato paste 3-4 pieces of chicken (for those in diet you can remove the skin) 1 teaspoon of saltr

We live in a world where value is captured in thoughts or it goes unnoticed. Imagine really desiring something without being able to express it in words. Desires have power when they are put into words. Because our focus is on thinking most of the time , we would seldom strive for what we wanted if thoughts didn’t capture it. Thinking is the vehicle our consciousness travels in when our ego does the driving. That is how we get what we want…but that is actually a very small pa

We can all live with purpose because there is so much to live for. There are things we can pursue, discover, or accomplish that fill our lives with meaning and purpose. We can have vision for our lives, dream dreams, and fulfill our callings. There is always something for us to do. Pursuing interests, developing skills, setting goals, and prioritizing our time all help us to grow and give us something to anticipate. We can make each day count and live with purpose.

“Time for a change of scenery,” we told ourselves before arranging for a trip to Maui.

Our Intellect, regardless of how developed it is, seldom taps our powerful inner resources as we face challenges. The power of a confident self image is not an idea. The empowerment of simple self trust does not come from intellectual understanding. The ability to focus accurately does not come from reading a book. Our most useful life skills are developed as our past conditioning meets our challenges and we trust our deepest wisdom. Learning how to develop conscious habits g

Have you ever tucked a hotel towel in your suitcase? Tut, tut! It’s not an uncommon act. Regularly, we hear reports of millions of dollars worth of company property stolen by employees. Little violations happen very day like disappearing packages of paper, boxes of paper clips, file folders, and the occasional stapler and hole punch. Then there are the major breaches of public trust. Sherron Watkins was applauded on the cover of Time for whistle-blowing Enron’s big scam.

I recall as a teen my sister was an exchange student in France and since then I have always wanted to visit the historical country. I have plans to attend the upcoming Lille Metropole GospelFest. And I am now studying the city, country and language for the tour. Facts: The French are known to be vibrant and experts in the field of art. It is the foremost tourist destination of the world. Paris is called a place for lovers. France is known as the French Republic located in western Europe. Notre Dame Cathedral is in Paris which is the capital.r

"The first thing to do, when you find yourself in a hole, is to stop digging," quipped one of our most beloved figures from the past, Will Rogers. Our current nearest, less humorous, equivalent is to, "Think outside of the box." Just as people have a hard time understanding how they can, "think outside of the box," (because they don't understand that their Belief Systems are, "the box"), when in a hole, they can't figure out how to "stop digging," (because it is their habitual ways of functioning in the world, based on various Beliefs, that causes them to, "keep digging.").

To start taking responsibility for ourselves requires getting to know who we are. We take much for granted in our lives; the part we take most for granted is ourselves--who we are as individuals, and what we stand for, (believe in). The vast majority of what we believe, we have bee Indoctrinated/Programmed to believe. We literally live and die according to those beliefs. Therefore, in order to begin to take responsibly for our own lives, and discover, "who we are," we must discover what we believe.

My father called Mom and me, “The stupid females.” My grandma Effie, called Mom and me, “My darlings.” My husband calls me “Ma dear.” Some people think I am naïve and too nice. Others think I am delightful and kind. Some people think I am scattered and disorganized. Others think I am a creative genius. Yes, I have spent my fair share of time worrying about what people think of me. What’s the fear? The fear of: • being rejected or not accepted • having a poor reputation • feeing less than • being perceived as a failure or stupid • being unworthy

Hard work has a future payoff. Procrastination pays off NOW! The idea of using humor to enhance business, to increase creativity, to improve relationships, to minimize stress and to develop client attract-ability is not a new one. It’s been around for over twenty-five years. A 1985 survey by the staffing firm, Robert Haft International, concluded that only 15% of employees are fired because of incompetence. The remaining 85% are let go because of lack of people or social skills. They just plain do not get along with others.

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is ‘thank you,’ it will be enough.” Meister Eckhardt When was the last time you made note of your good fortune? It is the most economical and easily accessible way to avoid depression, especially in touch economic conditions. I feel grateful when I think of living in Canada, my supportive and long term marriage, the work I do, the welcoming places I have visited, my friends and the qualities I have had the privilege to develop.

Don’t some thoughts really bug you? They show up when you least need them and often won’t go away without some sort of force. So let’s look at these thoughts wandering around in our heads. Where do they come from?

Many of my students and clients admit that they are tired of working on themselves, because “self-improvement” causes them to feel like they should continuously be aspiring to be better, rather than affording opportunities to rest in who and where they are. I couldn’t agree more. Learning how to accept yourself as a work in progress, to cultivate compassion in place of criticism, and nurturing and nourishing instead of neglecting yourself, is what I consider living your life as “a path of enlightenment.”

Once upon a time there was a young man who was well known and very much respected throughout his community, as he was active in civic affairs and had done many good deeds. He went to church regularly and lived a good clean life. One night, at the early age of 42, he was stricken with a fatal heart attack and within minutes he passed into eternity. The town folk were shocked at the sudden death, and they all agreed that he had been such a good man – he surely would be missed

Self-care is the essential practice of engaging in regular activities or practices to reduce stress, maintain and enhance our physical, emotional, mental well-being and health. It’s learning to take care of yourself, knowing your limits, and not sacrificing your health for others. More people are learning about the importance of making sure they fill their own tank first. This can also be manifest in giving more importance to your own needs than to societal stigmas that you

Time has been called, "The 4th Dimension" by some thinkers, but, at minimum, it seems to shrink or expand, not obeying any kind of "Natural Law." Individually, few of us feel like we have enough of it to do all we want to do, let alone making space and time for ourselves.

Have you tried positive thinking, self talk, affirmations, read books on the power of suggestion, autosuggestion, watched "the secret" or taken courses on how to materialize your goals and are still waiting for results? If so, you may be positively surprised by what you're about to learn. ...

The benefits of meditation are many and varied from reducing stress, blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes to increasing one’s cognition and creativity. As well meditation decreases our need for sleep by heightening our concentration, allowing us to be more productive. Ray Kroc, who took over McDonald’s in its early days and built it into a business of outstanding success, once reported that he’d spontaneously fall into states of meditative reverie during the day and thus didn’t need a lot of sleep.

I often see patients in my psychotherapy practice who are unable to make changes in their life and do not understand why they keep sabotaging their efforts. Usually this is due to a hidden resistance or unwholesome belief associated with the desired change. There are five hindrances that I’ve found to be particularly common in the experience of resisting needed or inevitable change: the hindrances of wanting, illusory thinking, sleeping mind, restlessness, and doubt.

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” Norman Vincent Peale Many times in life we face situations when everything is uncertain. We feel like we are lost in the dark and there is no hope to get out of it. We desperately need help from other people to take us out of dark, but we forget that we have light with us, within us. That light is nothing but belief in yourself. Belief that I can handle this and everything will be fine.

How do we overcome adversity? How do we create a life worth living? How do we manage to have more positive than negative emotions? How do we get happy and how do we stay happy, most of the time? See the answer below! Discovered: The Secret Ingredient to Happiness is Ourselves! As many of you ...