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. […]

With the advent of the holiday season, many of us prepare to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza—holidays that traditionally involve the giving of gifts to the ones we love.

But in the throws of this recession, many of us are strapped for cash. The contagious nature of the mistrust in the markets is making many of us perpetually anxious. With that stress – on top of the stress that comes from finding the perfect gifts – I wonder why depression is at an all time high. What if we consider alternative ways to show the ones we love that we love them this year? That’s what it’s all about, anyway, right?

“Black Friday” traditionally marks the official kickoff to the holiday shopping season. Cash-strapped and overstressed? With an estimated 128 million shoppers hitting the stores in the U.S. this weekend, University of Swarthmore professor and psychologist Barry Schwartz states, “too many choices paralyze us rather than liberate us.” Here are specific tips from Schwartz on how to make holiday shopping less stressful (and how to save money too).

Happy Thanksgiving from PPND!

And with big thanks to you: the reader and the commenter, the positive psychology researcher and practitioner, the questioner and the question-answerer. Thank you!

~ Us

(Collected GRATITUDE TIPS inside)

Gratitude is a bridge to your positive future: It is your passageway to success.

Think about a bridge crossing a river. It must have strong supporting foundations on both banks. Without the foundations securely anchored, the bridge will collapse; you cannot make the crossing.

Fear and Panic are making headlines these days, as though they were members of a godly pantheon come down to Earth, crushing economies, sowing chaos and seducing the most virtuous among our women. But fear and panic are not great external forces; they are powerful internal ones, generated deep in the brain. … George Valliant notes, “negative emotions are often crucial for survival—but only in time present. The positive emotions are more expansive and help us to broaden and build.” […]

I have been privileged this week to speak to the Affordable Housing Conference of the Neighborhood Preservation Coalition of New York State. They invited me to lead a workshop on managing energy, helping people avoid burnout for themselves and for their staffs. … The group told stories illustrating abundant spiritual energy — their work makes clear and positive differences to people and neighborhoods […]

“…but it can get you a better class of enemy” (Spike Milligan, 1918-2002).
The argument about whether or not money makes you happy rumbles on (see these PPND articles about Money and Happiness by Sherri Fisher, A Rich Man’s World by Bridget Grenville-Cleave, and  Positive Psychology and Social Entrepreneurship by Giselle Nicholson). On Monday, the […]

Here is what will happen to you when you read George Vaillant’s book Spiritual Evolution:

• During the chapter “Joy,” you may cry as you feel Joy. During the chapter “Love,” you will want to call home to say Hi.
• You will be inside a colossal head fake - a situation in which you’re learning but it seems like you’re playing.

“The praise that comes from love does not make us vain, but more humble.”
J. M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan (1860 - 1937)
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)
Today is my graduation ceremony for my Master degree, a big and significant […]