Tag Archive: positive psychology
by Kim Childs, CPPC It seems the changes that began with the pandemic keep coming as we move into spring during a year filled with its own changes and challenges. No matter what is happening around us, we can work to cultivate internal states that optimize our chances for achieving greater peace, resilience, happiness and success in life. Positive psychology, the so-called “science of happiness” that was established in the late 90s by Martin Seligman, Sonja Lyubormirski, Barbara Frederickson and…
by Kim Childs, CPPC Three and a half years ago, life as we knew it changed as a global pandemic began to shut things down and create new behaviors and circumstances, some still with us. Weather patterns have also been changing and, whether we accept these alterations or not, there’s no going back to “normal” (whatever that was). From my perspective, this gives each of us radical permission to be new and different, too. Adapting to pandemic-related and climate changes…
by Kim Childs, CPPC In the field of Positive Psychology, there’s a famous happiness-boosting exercise called the gratitude letter. Designed by Dr. Martin Seligman, it involves writing, delivering, and reading a letter of gratitude to someone whose life enriched yours. When I heard about this exercise from Tal Ben-Shahar, my teacher in the Kripalu Center’s Certificate in Positive Psychology (CIPP) program, I immediately thought of an ideal recipient: my high-school English teacher. I met Alice when I was a 15-year-old…
by Kim Childs, CPPC Heard the one about the Chinese farmer? According to the Taoists, he had a horse that ran away. A neighbor said, "Oh, that's bad news,” and the farmer replied, "Good news, bad news, who can say?" The horse soon returned with another horse, which many labeled good news. The farmer again withheld judgment and gave the second horse to his son, who broke his leg when the animal threw him off. "That’s bad news," clucked a…