In an interview, Keira Knightley declared she was never interested in playing “girl” roles. “This is a ridiculous thing to say,” she admits, “but I never liked being a teenager. I never felt comfortable being in a group of giggly girls. I always felt embarrassed and frightened by it. “I couldn’t quite handle the high [...]
Gretchen Rubin (author of the book The Happiness Project) describes in her post How To Be Happier – in Four Easy Lessons the series of truths she came up with from a study of Buddhism. Her First Splendid Truth: “To be happier, you have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in [...]
Does happiness always enhance creativity? A study by June Gruber of Yale University and others (“A Dark Side of Happiness? How, When, and Why Happiness Is Not Always Good”), notes “Emotional states exert significant effects on memory, judgment, decision-making, and creativity.” Her study also reports that “moderate levels of positive emotions engender more creativity, but [...]
A study reported in the journal Psychological Science concluded that watching funny videos on the internet at work isn’t necessarily wasting time. “People may be taking advantage of the latest psychological science — putting themselves in a good mood so they can think more creatively. “Generally, positive mood has been found to enhance creative problem [...]
“You’re happy if you think you’re happy.” Gretchen Rubin How much of our happiness and satisfaction in life is due to circumstance or other people, and how much is it a matter of conscious choice? In the new movie The Adjustment Bureau (written and directed by George Nolfi, based on a short story by Philip [...]
From Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, via ScienceDaily: People who watch funny videos on the internet at work aren’t necessarily wasting time. They may be taking advantage of the latest psychological science — putting themselves in a good mood so they can think more creatively. “Generally, positive mood has been [...]
“Acting is what I love to do. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I don’t think of it as work. It’s really fun for me.” Dakota Fanning has also said, “It’s fun to know what I want to do – you know, when I grow up. I have friends who say, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll [...]
As introverts, we may not have the same values or interests in “fun” activities as those who are more extroverted. That may be another reason highly sensitive people and introverts are less acknowledged, supported and even valued in our outgoing, sociable-oriented culture. Not that introversion and high sensitivity are the same trait, but they often [...]
Mood disorders like anxiety and depression generally interfere with thinking and creativity. A variety of writers including Eric Maisel, Kay Redfield Jamison and Tom Wootton express different perspectives on my site Depression and Creativity. There is even a post on Irritable Male Syndrome, about the work of Jed Diamond. But what about being grumpy? Here [...]
Tama J. Kieves, an honors graduate of Harvard Law School, left her law practice with a large corporate law firm to write and lead workshops as a life/work and creativity coach. She writes: Yes, it’s easier to assume doom. We fit in. We’d probably even be seen as thoughtful, prophetic, and on the money. But [...]
Video about the positive psychology iPhone app developed with Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky from the Live Happy site. See another video interview with Dr. Lyubomirsky below.
Video: Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discusses her new book, “Positivity” Many of us live with more anxiety and depression than cheerfulness As a melancholic and anxious type most of my life, more like the driving instructor Scott, I have distrusted and even [...]
Jamie Lee Curtis on self esteem, building self confidence, self-acceptance, authentic happiness elf acceptance and realistic esteem are crucial to how well we relate to others and express our talents. Being comfortable in our own skins is part of being happy, authentic and free to be creative. The current Success magazine includes a profile of [...]
happiness research, mindfulness, depression relief products, positive psychology Learning to be happy “It’s almost as if this happiness stuff has anticipated the hard times to come. As we’re going into this recession, perhaps depression, it’s interesting to note there’s been this big upsurge of work on happiness just prior to that.” That is David Van [...]
The darkness before the dawn “Being happy is something you have to learn.” Harrison Ford Ford certainly has known plenty of unhappiness. He was shy as a child, bullied at school for not “fitting in.” According to Laura Silva Quesada, in her article A reminder from Indiana Jones, “Every day, they’d tease the future Indiana [...]
George Vaillant, MD, author of a number of books including Spiritual Evolution, notes in his Positive Psychology News Daily article, “If we are to find meaning in life, we must pay as much mind to our limbic ‘hearts’ as to our neocortical cognitions. “Our positive emotions evoke thought-action tendencies in humans that broaden human attachment [...]
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Site author: Douglas Eby, M.A./Psychology, is a writer and researcher on the psychology of creative expression and personal growth, especially for high ability adults. He is publisher of the Talent Development Resources series of sites.
