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. Well, Easter is earlier this year than for ages, even lunar ages. […]

Today is Valentine’s Day so to me there is but one topic to write about…
 
LOVE

Capacity to Love and Be Loved is one of the twenty-four character strengths measured by the Values in Action (VIA) Signature Strengths questionnaire (available at the Penn Authentic […]

“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 hopes […]

Since my last posting, I have been busy integrating applications of positive psychology into HR consulting. I play the role of PP advocate - auditing work systems, energizing workplaces through culture change, ‘teaching’ positive communication, raising awareness of the impact of management style and habitual thinking on productivity, creativity and effectiveness. Let me share some […]

How do positive psychologists view the concept of genius? Indeed, speciality, originality, genius, creativity and talent are the important general concerns of positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Being a genius has also been linked to optimal functioning and health by numerous researchers and theoreticians. The best illustration would be the humanistic psychology movement led by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers (Cassandro & Simonton, 2003).

In the mid-1980’s, Howard Jones crooned on the radio: “What is love anyway? Does anybody love anybody anyway?” Here, two days before Valentine’s Day, I thought I would explore the idea of love a little more fully. I think it seems safe to answer Jones’ second questions with a resounding yes. […]

As the mother of a soon-to-be six year old, I’ve become increasingly interested in all aspects of child development: how to foster children’s well-being and self-efficacy in ways that enable them to develop into well-balanced adults for example, and how resilience as a life-skill can be promoted.
I look back on my own childhood with many […]

The design for the opera house was the result of a world-wide competition in 1955-56. Jørn Utzon, a Danish architect submitted the winning design, but it did not meet the criteria of the competition and had drawings described as “simple to the point of being diagrammatic.” One of the judges did a crayon sketch to use in presenting the winning design to the Permier and public. The design was so far different from the prevailing state of architecture (though not entirely without precedent), that one widely reported story about the selection process relates that Utzon’s design was discarded in the initial pass and only reconsidered when a late-arriving judge demanded to see the discarded entries, recognized its genius, and brought it back into consideration.

Morality is an essential part of human nature. Morality is also a central element […]