Let’s face it, most of us hate our jobs, and if you ask us what we hate about them, we’d be happy to tell you the stories of lazy coworkers, miserable conditions and asshole bosses. Gallup researchers suggest that “presenteeism” (the act of showing up to work but not truly contributing to the productivity of the company) costs American companies hundreds of billions of dollars. Gallup polls show that only [...]
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The Evidence for Spa
The Global Spa Summit has just launched a new website, http://www.spaevidence.com, which serves as a portal into databases of medical research on spa and wellness therapies. From my years in the spa industry, I can tell you that the people behind this industry passionately believe in the services they offer and their potential impact on human wellbeing. I can also tell you, that the spa industry has not been taken [...]
The Opposite of Terrorism: Elevationism
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 the world, imagine how much good we could all do together.” It’s a beautiful sentiment [...]
Report from the International Positive Psychology Association
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 is an overview of what I took away as some of the highlights of the [...]
Help, I can’t Meditate! (25 Tips for New Meditators)
“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 as a means of relieving stress, finding peace, and maintaining physical and mental health. Although [...]
You Don’t Stop Playing Because You Get Old
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 . . . “Age is nothing but a number.” Then my friend, Mark “The Spa [...]
The Positive Psychology of Zombies Part 2: Hive Psychology
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 prey, it is their persistence and relentlessness towards their victim that is so terrifying. But [...]
The Positive Psychology of Zombies: The Power of Perseverance
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 want to do is eat your brains; we’re not unreasonable, I mean, no one’s going [...]
Dissecting the Spirit in Body, Mind, Spirit
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 health care scientifically, but we have very few entities in our society that look at [...]
Meet the Army’s Positive Psychology Dream Team
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 women who are fighting for our country. Ultimately, this is the largest workplace wellness intervention [...]
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