Comments on: “The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness” - A talk by Edward Hallowell, MD

By: Anubel

Anubel — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:20:39 +0000

this was a great article.We can avoid a lot of crimes and problems in life by following the steps dr hallowell suggested..

By: Life Happiness

Life Happiness — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 02:58:21 +0000

I agree with Dr, Hallowell steps, however one does not need to have strong childhood foundations to grow up to become a happy adult. Also a happy childhood does not mean a happy adulthood. A study related to positive psychology, by Med Yones, from International Institute of Management claims that adults and children can be programmed or reprogrammed to lead happy lives. “Positive thinking is the effect not the cause. Positive thinking or affirmations may or may not lead to change and if they do they, are limited to temporary mood improvement. Only a change in the lifestyle will lead to a lasting change in your emotional health. The solution he recommends is to adopt the following transformation system:

1. Re-examine your negative conditioning and programming (outlook, attitudes, values, associations, conclusions and belief system)

2. Drop limiting values and associations and learn new positive ones

3. Build a sustainable personal development system (mental, physical and social)

4. Lead a new lifestyle to enforce your learning and the transformation of your personality and your life

The key, I think is continuous practice in childhood and adulthood.”

By: Iris Marie Bloom

Iris Marie Bloom — Tue, 29 May 2007 18:07:30 +0000

Aren, I enjoyed this article thoroughly. I am a fan of both your insightful thinking and of Ned Hallowell. His Ferrarri/Chevy analogy specific to ADHD is spot on, but his principles for raising healthy young people are generalizable. I agree that we can use these principles for adults also — it’s never too late. I would only add that the “recognition” could be as simple as a verbal affirmation acknowledging that someone did the right thing or did something well; benefitted others, avoided disaster, whatever the appropriate range of recognition might be. The recognition may even be nonverbal, as simple as a nod when (an example close to my heart) the novice sailor has kept us on course or trimmed the headsail just right! All these are indications of being part of a team, part of something larger than the self… yet without disorienting or unnecessary, exaggerated hoopla. Again, thanks Aren!

By: Greg Gilbert

Greg Gilbert — Fri, 18 May 2007 17:01:48 +0000

Great article. I am thrilled to see that the AD/HD community and strengths community are connecting. I am an adult with AD/HD and am greatly encouraged by what Ed Hallowell has written (Delivered from Distraction) and applied it to my own life.

One helpful tool for kids is the Gallup StrengthsExplorer assessment. It is an on-line tool that designed for 10-14 year-olds. It reports their top 3 talent themes and action items for the kids and the adults. My daughter took this in 2006 and we are intentionally using it to find the right activities for her; the ones that are a natural fit and she enjoys.

Thanks for listening.

By: Senia Maymin

Senia Maymin — Mon, 14 May 2007 06:59:35 +0000

Aren, what an interesting discussion about bringing up healthy-minded kids. The first thing I thought was, “Why shouldn’t the same five steps be applied to adults?” No seriously, even the PLAY step because I am such a big proponent of games in business (see here and here).

And a question for you Aren … I’m reading this book by Edward Deci: Why We Do What We Do. He somewhat takes to task the last point about recognition. Deci’s argument is that reward and punishment do work, but they affect a person’s external motivation as opposed to internal motivation, and a person won’t become the best she can be unless her internal motivation can overrule the external motivation.

Finally, both CONNECT and RECOGNITION seem designed to bring meaning into the children’s lives. There’s an interesting discussion of meaning at work on Penelope Trunk’s site today.

Caroline, that seems so reasonable to me - to model bouncing back from failure. Nice idea. Again, it seems it would be useful for children as well as adults - adults often seek out someone who’s gone through what they are going through.

By: Caroline Miller

Caroline Miller — Sun, 13 May 2007 01:04:57 +0000

Thank you for reporting on this talk! I love Ned Hallowell’s work, and I love your synopsis of his talk. I found myself thinking about your question about hope and optimism, and I think one missing link in his talk was about role modeling. Kids have to have appropriate role models so that they can develop goals, have grit, create mastery experiences, and learn how to disengage from unworkable goals. In fact, your point about not being great at everything reminds me of something that Barbara Kerr said at the Positive Psych conference in the fall about the traits of happy families. She said that in flourishing families, there appear to be lots of stories about how people had bad things happen, but that someone else’s kindness or generosity helped them to right the ship and survive a failure or setback. So resilient children can’t just experience failure and learn from it, they also have to hear stories about how people they know have failed and gotten back on their feet to live another day. Nothing but success is a bad habit to have!

Great post — thanks!
Caroline