Oct 5
2008

Is Career Happiness Up to You?

By Sherri Fisher Sherri Fisher's website Sherri Fisher's email

How much of your happiness is up to you? Three-and-a-half slices worth. You are probably familiar with Ken Sheldon, David Schkade and Sonja Lyubomirsky’s pie chart depicting where our happiness comes from. If the pie has eight slices, it’s four slices of heredity, half a slice of life circumstances and three-and-a-half slices of intentional choices that you make. So the answer to the question in the title of this piece is that to a very great extent, your happiness, or well-being (a more chronic level of happiness) is in your hands […]

Topics: All, Exercises, Goals, Habits, Optimism and Positive Thinking, Positive Emotions (Positive Affect) 4 comments 4

May 13
2007

The Meaning in Mother’s Day

By Giselle Nicholson Giselle Nicholson's website Giselle Nicholson's email

Humans gravitate towards creating and celebrating rituals in all sizes and forms - from a morning shower routine to the composition of a elaborate Thanksgiving dinner. Rituals are a way for us to recognize our values and connect to what creates meaning in our lives. Many believe that rituals are psychologically necessary to our daily life and that they give us a rhythm to connect to within our stressful and chaotic lives. So the idea is that by consciously or unconsciously engaging in ritualistic behavior we are able to more fully ground ourselves and reconnect to our values or with others. […]

Topics: All, Mindfulness, Pathway 3 "Meaning", Savoring / In-the-Moment, _1 Positive Experiences 5 comments 5

Feb 13
2007

Measuring the Value of a Dollar

By Giselle Nicholson Giselle Nicholson's website Giselle Nicholson's email

To expand on my first entry’s musings about income and happiness, I’d like to introduce how the simple principles developed by Mohammad Yunus, last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, warrant the interest of positive psychology. If you’ve ever met Professor Yunus, you can immediately see how his kind spirit and strong convictions have helped Grameen […]

Topics: All, Global Policies, Money, Pathway 3 "Meaning", _1 Positive Experiences, _3 Positive Organizations 10 comments 10

Apr 13
2007

What Good is Business? Positive Psychology & Social Entrepreneurship

By Giselle Nicholson Giselle Nicholson's website Giselle Nicholson's email

The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship was perhaps the most thrilling conference I’ve ever attended. This global conference brings passionate people together from all corners of the globe, such as Mohammad Yunus, Al Gore and Robert Redford, for the sole purpose of discussing business’s responsibility regarding positive social change. I’d like to introduce this […]

Topics: All, Business, Global Policies, Pathway 3 "Meaning", _3 Positive Organizations 6 comments 6

Jan 13
2007

For Our Non-Readers…

By Giselle Nicholson Giselle Nicholson's website Giselle Nicholson's email

I’m ecstatic! I look around and feel like positive psychology is everywhere! I’m thrilled that The Economist is exploring what role the market has for our personal happiness and how the New York Times explains the practical application of positive psychology. But then something causes me to wonder, what’s missing?
Essentially, it is the more than […]

Topics: All, Global Policies, Money, Schools, _3 Positive Organizations 8 comments 8