Our Complex Love Affair With Designer Consciousness
From Medical News Today
The spectacular increase in the use of psychiatric drugs over the past 50 years involved what a University at Buffalo historian calls “a massive break with what we consider ‘normal’ mental health,” one linked to myriad social and cultural changes in America.
“Happy Pills in America: From [...]
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 go [...]
Excerpted from article Positive Psychology Includes Negative Emotions, By Dave Shearon, Positive Psychology News.
“Recently, I was teaching ‘Detecting Icebergs’, one of the resilience skills described in The Resilience Factor.
“I mentioned the importance of using personal examples whenever possible and gave a quick example of a personal iceberg I had uncovered. I mentioned that my anger [...]
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 is an intriguing [...]
Dacher Keltner (PhD in Social Psychology, Stanford University) has worked with Paul Ekman, and is now a professor in U.C. Berkeley’s Psychology Department.
Here are the Youtube notes from the following video :
In Born to Be Good, Dacher Keltner demonstrates that humans are not hardwired to lead lives that are “nasty, brutish, and short” – we [...]
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 fitting in is [...]
Gretchen Rubin (author of the upcoming 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 [...]
Laura Berman Fortgang comments in The Little Book on Meaning: Why We Crave It, How We Create It :
“I remember once suggesting to a client that his life could be fun. It was such an insult to his intelligence that he walked out of my office never to return. I was fired. It struck me [...]
From her article: Emotion Regulation: The 25th Character Strength
Mindfulness can help end emotional suffering. Mindfulness applied to emotions means “the nonjudgmental observation and description of one’s current emotional responses” (Linehan, 1993). Some other ways to be mindful of your emotions are to:
* Observe your emotion. Note its presence. Step back. Get unstuck from the emotion.
* [...]
“We’re taught to be ashamed of confusion, anger, fear and sadness, and to me they’re of equal value as happiness, excitement and inspiration.” Alanis Morissette
To live a full life, we need to deal with extreme and self-limiting levels of feelings like anger, anxiety and depression. But too often, people run away from or try to [...]
Brian Vaszily is creator of The Nine Intense Experiences program, which Bill Harris, Director of Centerpointe Research Institute acclaims: “These are the true ’secrets’ that the super-successful know..”
In his article The 9 Essential Secrets of Being Happy, Vaszily includes this suggestion:
Be Who You Are.
“Recognize and clear through what others expect of you, including society’s expectations, [...]
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.
positive psychology books, mindfulness books, positive psychology news, calmness
In her article Mindfulness: A Call to Clarification, Kirsten Cronlund (Positive Psychology News Daily) notes a metaphor that can serve for resilience, equanimity and Wu-wei, the experience of “knowing when to act and when not to act.”
She writes, “A widely used metaphor in Eastern philosophy likens a [...]
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 disparaged light-hearted [...]
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 actor and [...]
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 Nuys, PhD, aka [...]
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 Jones, beat [...]
Gifted and disobedient
One of the qualities of many high ability people is divergent thinking (see Giftedness characteristics.) But that also can mean divergent values and behavior. Einstein was expelled from school (in 1894) for “undermining the authority of his teachers and being a disruptive influence.” [From post: Does school encourage or limit high ability people?]
The [...]
Sylvia Boorstein, Ph.D. is author of Happiness Is an Inside Job: Practicing for a Joyful Life. Here is an excerpt from her ShrinkRapRadio.com podcast interview:
Happiness has quite a specific meaning. It doesn’t necessarily mean “pleased.” We often, I think, equate “pleased” with “happy.” Things are going my way. I feel pleased, [...]
Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., an experimental social psychologist, notes each of us is born with a particular “happiness set point” – “a baseline or potential for happiness.” She has conducted “the first controlled experimental intervention studies to increase and maintain a person’s happiness level over and above” this set point.
In her book The How of Happiness: [...]
“I believe the ultimate aim of all human beings is
to obtain happiness and a sense of fulfillment.”
The Dalai Lama – in the book: Mindscience – an East West Dialogue [more quotes on the page Positive psychology 2]. Baby photo by gadgetgirl.
Seemingly endowed with endless effervescent glee, Drew Barrymore has been quoted, “You have to [...]
The lyrics of Bobby McFerrin’s song include:
Don’t worry. It will soon pass, whatever it is
In your life expect some trouble
But when you worry
You make it double
Don’t worry, be happy
Being happy and positive in general is a preferable stance toward life, better for our health, creativity and longevity, according to many experts.
A recent ABC 20/20 program [...]
