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Sign up to hear an interview of Tal Ben-Shahar, the man who taught that popular happiness course at Harvard

Sign up here to hear a free interview of Tal Ben-Shahar. More about his Harvard happiness course (Boston Globe). From the Web page:

See Tal Ben Shahar on The Daily Show here.

Tal Ben-Shahar is an author and on the faculty of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel. In the past he was a lecturer at Harvard University where he taught the largest course at Harvard on "Positive Psychology" and the third largest on "The Psychology of Leadership"--with a total of over 1,400 students.

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Tal consults and lectures around the world to executives in multi-national corporation, the general public, and at-risk populations. Topics include happiness, self-esteem, resilience, goal setting, mindfulness, and leadership.

Psychology of possibility: Interview of Ellen Langer about a book my dad just ordered at my recommendation

Because of my enthusiasm about this book, many of my friends and colleagues have read Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility. I think it makes an excellent argument for readjusting your sense of what is possible, without being of the nonsensical New Age or saccharine self-help genres.

Behavioral Health Central has just posted a review of the book and an interview of its author Dr. Ellen Langer. From the review "Harvard Psychologist Ellen Langer to be Portrayed by Jennifer Aniston in the Film 'Counterclockwise'":

In her book Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility, Langer says that focusing on what’s possible, instead of relinquishing hope based on what’s thought not to be possible, can promote better health — no matter how old you are. Langer titled her book after a groundbreaking 1974 “Counterclockwise” study in which she virtually recreated the year 1959 in an area monastery. From the furnishings to the television programs, music, newspapers and daily discussion, everything was retrofitted to a time some 20 years earlier. Langer sought to discover whether returning the mind to an earlier, healthier era could also return the body to a healthier state.

When the study participants — elderly men who at first appeared to be frail and dependent — lived in this environment for a week, the results were nothing short of amazing. Their height, weight, gait, posture, hearing, memory, appetite, dexterity, arthritis, blood pressure and general well being improved in those mere seven days. “We even took photographs of them at the beginning, and at the end of the week,” Langer says. “People who knew nothing about the study evaluated the photos. And according to these unbiased witnesses, they [the elderly men] even looked younger. The ‘magic’ lies in being aware of the ways we mindlessly react to social and cultural cues.”

Many studies of this nature led Langer to the psychology of possibility — putting the mind in a healthy place and then measuring changes in the body. ...

I think my dad is going to like this book. Have you read it yet?

Is positive thinking dangerous? Did it cause the financial crisis?

A new book is getting a lot of media attention. For example, just today Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America was reviewed by the Boston Globe and Times (UK). Friday it was reviewed by the New York Times. The publicity seems to be working; the book is at #154 on Amazon even though not being released until Tuesday.

The articles today both had "danger" in the titles. Is positive thinking dangerous? From "Accentuating the positive can be dangerous— what really helps is being lucky" (Times):

An attack on the cult of positivity is much overdue, given that it now pervades life not only in the US but across the globe. It is detectable in everything from political discourse, for example Obama’s campaign of “hope” and the consistent reluctance of British political parties to give the public bad news, to television and radio (Oprah probably being its most famous proponent), sport (it’s impossible to read an interview with any player or manager without the phrase “you’ve got to be positive” being used at some point), medicine (“you’ve got to be positive” has become the default thing to say to anyone diagnosed with cancer), self-help literature (Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret argues you can obtain everything from a lover to a parking space by just imagining it) and business (according to Ehrenreich, who had the idea

Are you thriving? If not, you may want to take a look at how you see time

What's the way you see time have to do with thriving? A lot according to Philip Zimbardo. (Yes, the Philip Zimbardo of the famous Stanford Prison Experiment.) He explained at the recent First World Congress on Positive Psychology in Philadelphia. From "Psychology of thriving" (Philadelphia Inquirer):

Facts. Emotions. Logic. If you ask most people what they base their decisions on, this is the type of answer you're likely to get. But Zimbardo thinks it's not the whole story - or even most of it.

"The main thing that determines your decisions," he said, "is something you're unaware of - your perspective on time."

Imagine going out to lunch with co-workers and deciding whether to have that second martini. You could approach the decision by considering what happened last time you drank too much at lunch, or by envisioning how it would affect your work performance later in the day. You could focus on how much fun it would be right now. Or you might figure that you never get much done in the afternoon anyway, so why not?

These four responses are typical of distinct time perspectives: past, future, present-hedonistic, and present-fatalistic.

Zimbardo and his colleagues created a time-perspective survey and gave it to thousands

Today (May 31, 2009) is the 8th annual What You Think upon Grows Day

This holiday was declared to remind people to pay attention to what they are paying attention to. More about the power of attention.

Image credit: Image*After.

"10 Secrets to Finding Happiness During the Recession"

Lots of old wisdom but some new research supporting it. From "10 Secrets to Finding Happiness During the Recession" (US News & World Report)

How can we truly feel happy right now, in this moment when our 401(k)'s and house values are tanking? When our jobs are threatened or already lost? U . S . News posed this question to leading happiness researchers to find out what tools we can employ to stay upbeat in gloomy days. While it's true that some lucky folks are born with sunny dispositions, others, according to the latest studies, can learn to be happy. How? "We need to move away from the concept of trying to fill our days with frequent pleasurable moments and fewer negative moments," explains Todd Kashdan, a professor of positive psychology at George Mason University and author of Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life. "What truly provides satisfaction is having a meaning and purpose in life, which is doubly important in the midst of this current economic nightmare." Ten other secrets:

Click to read the rest.

Blog Glob: "How to get happy? Thinking positive is a good start"

Excerpt from "How to get happy? Thinking positive is a good start" (SunJournal.com):

In the past few years, ..., cognitive neuroscientists have made considerable advances in unraveling the enigma of human happiness. One of their basic findings is that more than 60 percent of a person's propensity for positive emotion is due to nature - genetic makeup - but the rest is all nurture, meaning the brain's happiness is highly dependent on an individual's experiences, emotions and thought, and thus capable of being "learned."

Just looking for the bright side, it seems, can stimulate the brain and reset its circuitry to more easily find those silver linings.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of "The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want," believes positive feelings are not only capable of being learned, but are general skills that can be reinforced every time we find value in a negative event.

"Sometimes I think our country has gone nuts," Lyubomirsky wrote in a blog three weeks ago. "We 

Yeah, lawyers and happiness, again: An opportunity to look at happiness through many lenses

Lawyers and their happiness (or lack of same) is a much-considered and -discussed topic. Today a Google search on the two words "lawyer" and "happiness" yields over four and one-half million finds. And I myself have jumped into the discussion every once in a while blogging about lawyer happiness.

But just what is this thing called happiness? Next month, in the San Francisco Bay Area, is going to be held what appears a wonderful opportunity to answer that question. That opportunity is a conference Happiness & Its Causes. (I am happy to add that If you take a look at the roster of speakers, I think you will see that the woo-woo/airy-fairy factor is fairly low.)

From the Happiness & Its Causes site:

After hugely successful annual conferences internationally since 2006, we are honored to launch the first North American Happiness & Its Causes conference, in San Francisco this year.

What is happiness? Is it possible? What holds us back from it? How to find happiness in the midst of suffering and sadness? How to forgive? How to bring happiness to others?

Over four days—the two-day conference and two days of pre- and post-conference workshops—40 of the best minds in psychology, philosophy, science, education, business, the arts, medicine, and politics will provide answers to these fundamental questions and explore techniques for achieving happiness and well-being, for ourselves and others.

Are any of you going?

Jan. 24, 2009 - Applying the Science of Positive Psychology to Improve Society

Claremont Graduate University has announced a great lineup for their Positive Psychology conference being held early next year. Speakers include Martin Seligman (father of Positive Psychology), Christopher Peterson (author of A Primer in Positive Psychology), Ed Diener (author of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth), David Cooperrider (founder of Appreciative Inquiry), and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience). Click for more about Applying the Science of Positive Psychology.

Are coaching, organizational development, and appreciative inquiry like "applying leeches"?

You may find that some rich thoughts are provoked as you read "The Future of Leadership," an interview of Art Kleiner, in Shambhala Institute's Fieldnotes. Here are two excerpts I particularly appreciated.

I’m fond of Elliot Jacques’ statement that “management today is where medicine was before the discovery of circulation of the blood.” I think many s+b readers see much of what’s going on in management change as an example of “applying leeches” without really being sure that it is going to make a difference. This year it might be coaching, two years ago it was organizational design, and two years before that it was appreciative inquiry. All these different methods have varying degrees of applicability and validity, but nobody reliably can say why they’re effective, when they’re effective, and where they’re effective. There’s no unifying field theory of management.  . . .

And, of course, being a fan of the brain, I liked seeing the mention of neuroscience here:

At the same time two things have happened. One is that there are now ways of understanding people at work that are more revealing and have more depth than previously was the case. There is a greater understanding that there are significant things going on in organizations that are not necessarily easy to see at the individual level but that colour the direction of the organization. The application of neuroscience in management practice is a developing field that is leading to very interesting insights. Another emerging field is social network analysis—the work of such people as Karen Stephenson and Duncan Watts, who are mathematically analyzing patterns of communication as people share knowledge informally.

Kleiner is editor-in-chief of strategy+business in which was published "The Neuroscience of Leadership."