The recent World Congress for the International Positive Psychology Association happened immediately following the horrific terrorist attacks that occurred in Norway, taking the lives of dozens of people and devastating many many more. As I mentioned last week, a comment was made at the congress that “if one person can do this much bad in […]
This week I attended the International Positive Psychology Association World Congress, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As you might imagine, it has been almost overwhelming with a variety of talks regarding the state of positive psychology today and workshops covering specific research that has been done or application of the science to a variety of domains. Here […]
“All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.” — Blaise Pascal No longer the exclusive domain of Buddhist monks and new age hippies, meditation is going mainstream. The newfound popularity of meditation is driven by a slew of new research in both psychology and neuroscience supporting the practice […]
I’ve been inspired recently by some news stories of people pursuing very athletic endeavors into their later years. For example, the cover of a recent Washington Post magazine featured Ernestine Shepherd (and her six pack of abs.) Ernestine is the oldest competitive bodybuilder in the world (at age 74.) The best quote from the article […]
Recently I wrote an article on the positive psychology of zombies, and I immediately realized that I was only telling half the story. I argued that the popularity and appeal of zombies was due to their perseverance. Unlike other mythical horror creatures, the zombies do not have super human powers or weapons to destroy their […]
Everybody loves zombies. Or at least it sometimes seems that way considering the strong foothold they have taken on popular American culture. Zombies have been a staple of popular films (Wikipedia offers a comprehensive list of them here.) Jonathan Coulton had a great song about corporate zombies that had some viral popularity (chorus: “all we […]
In a previous article, I wrote about “Science and Spirituality in the Spa.” I recognized the trend in the spa industry to become more scientific and evidence-based, but I cautioned that spas should perhaps move towards spirituality and not towards science. After all, we already have a massive health care industry that is looking at […]
I previously wrote about the U.S. Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program: the army’s step towards developing a fighting force that is as psychologically strong as it is physically. The program gets some heat from critics, for a variety of reasons, but I see it as a step towards taking better care of the men and […]
To be successful as the CEO of a large company, you have to have skills that few other people have. You have to simultaneously be a disciplined organizer and a creative innovator. You have to drive the economics of your business while motivating and engaging the people in your workforce. You have to drive a […]
Two weeks ago, I attended the Global Spa Summit in Bali, Indonesia, where spa and wellness leaders from around the world gathered together to discuss trends for the future of wellness. One surprising trend that came up again and again in multiple sessions during the summit was the concept of personal biological monitoring—people using technology […]
