2008
How can our children develop these sort of empathic bonds with others if their interactions are with a screen rather than real-life, flesh-and-blood people? At an age when my son needs to be learning how to connect with others, and how to navigate the difficult moments that do occur in human relations, technology adds still more hurdles. Photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand had an idea. While stranded in Mali in the 1980’s, Arthus-Bertrand spent an evening listening to another man’s life story. […]
Topics: All, Awe, Communication, Gratitude, Hope, Humor, Interview, Love, Media, Optimism, Pathway 3 "Meaning", Positive Feelings, _1 Positive Experiences
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The good news is that according to a new study by Inglehart, Foa, Peterson and Welzel (2008), happiness is actually increasing: in this longitudinal study between 1981 and 2007, happiness levels went up in 45 out of 52 countries. And contrary to what you might conclude from Myers’ graph, the US is one of those countries which shows an upward trend in happiness. … Happiness has risen, they suggest, due to increasing democratization over the past 25 years, which means that people increasingly feel they have free choice (e.g. freedom of speech, to travel and in politics) and control over their lives.
Have you ever been:
I am irrevocably changed by my divorce. For the better.
Have you ever noticed how food influences mood? What should you eat to be alert and persuasive for the big presentation? Or to be a divine conversationalist for the cocktail party? This resonates exactly with Martin Seligman’s advice, “Positive emotions are not only indicators but also producers of success.”
Four billion people watched the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, significantly more than watched any other recent TV program. Perhaps the Olympic Games have an inexplicable magic such that even people like my mother who do not follow sports closely are unable to take their eyes off the TV broadcast. … I would call this the “Olympic Positive Emotions” phenomenon. … Why do we so strongly appreciate the Olympic Games? I propose that there may be three sources for our appreciation of the beauty of the Olympic Games, all of which I have observed in myself….
Germs and colds aren’t the only things we spread in the workplace. Our emotions, both positive and negative, are just as contagious. Have you ever walked into a meeting and felt so much tension that you became tense, too? Conversely, have you ever walked into someone’s office and felt so much openness that you started to feel more open and welcoming as well? This spreading of emotions from one person to the next is what psychologists call Social Contagion Theory.
A comedian on a late night talk show was recently discussing how he felt about turning 50. He said his friends tried to cheer him up by telling him that “50 is the new 40.” To this attempt at positive re-framing, the comedian promptly retorted, “Yeah, and rain is the new sun!” There is no escaping the “graying of America” as a demographic fact.
One of the most impressive scenes of the Olympic Games may have been when U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps shed tears on the medal podium when his sight met his mother’s on the spectator stand after achieving his unparalleled goal of winning 8 gold medals in the Olympic Games.
By George Vaillant