Keltner and Haidt (2003) characterize awe as an experience of vastness and accommodation. Vastness is not hard to understand. We feel it when we look at the stars, when we see hurricanes and their aftermath, even when we perceive charismatic leaders with human reaches far beyond what we can imagine for ourselves. […]

I am currently enjoying working with several of The Culver Academies’ humanities instructors who are teaching the nuances of John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, the coming of age story of young men at a boarding school set in mid-World War II. The main characters, Gene and Finny are good friends who look at life from […]

If you’ve never seen a wrestling match, you’ve never seen one of the grittiest athletic spectacles known to man, and one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to watch as a nervous mother (through laced fingers over my eyes, to be honest). And if you haven’t heard about Dustin Carter, you’re about to learn […]

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. […]

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).

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.

“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 […]

Have you ever said something like this to yourself? “I have a dream. I want to do what I love every day. Yet, I don’t know how to get there. I am too busy. I have too many responsibilities right now. When things slow down, I’ll figure out what […]

My Dad’s father understood the power of the subconscious. When I couldn’t figure something out when I was growing up, my grandfather used to say, “Take a walk. Clear your mind.” He believed that if you set aside your issue for a little while, you would allow your subconscious mind to bring forth new and better thoughts, not just the few you already had. As a result you would come up with a better idea.

My Dad’s father understood the power of the subconscious.

Today, I picked up Stephen R Covey’s book, The 8th Habit to read and my attention was immediately riveted. Covey said that the 8th habit was not a forgotten additional habit to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People which he published in 1989. Rather the 8th habit added a third dimension, moving from effectiveness to greatness. […]