"Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans - that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too ... Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic and power in it. Begin it now! "


Posts tagged with 'life satisfaction'

The Ben Lui group (first post): the challenge of balancing planning & savouring

15th June 2009

Tomorrow I hope to head North and West up past Stirling, Lochearnhead and Crianlarich to Strath Fillan. I should be able to park at a little village called Dalrigh just before Tyndrum. From there I can walk in by the River Cononish for about 7 km to get to Ben …

Recent research: six papers on helping children & adolescents

21st May 2009

Here are half a dozen papers on helping kids and adolescents. The Fuligni et al paper found that adolescents experiencing frequent interpersonal stresses tended to have increased levels of C-reactive protein, " ... an inflammatory marker that is a key indicator of cardiovascular risk ... ". Jackson et al showed …

New Year’s resolution – would you like to be happier?

28th December 2008

So here's a blast from the past ... that could be fun and useful for a New Year's resolution. I first came across Michael Fordyce's research year's ago (Fordyce 1977; Fordyce 1983). It was probably the first serious scientific exploration of how to help people become happier that I'd ever …

Barbara Fredrickson’s recent research study on loving-kindness meditation (first post)

7th December 2008

I've just been reading the recent paper by Barbara Fredrickson and colleagues "Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources" (Fredrickson, Cohn et al. 2008). It's quite a long read - 16 closely printed A4 pages - and it's fascinating in a whole …

Handouts & questionnaires for wellbeing and calming skills

13th October 2008

I continue to slowly add handouts & questionnaires to the relevant area in the website's "Good Knowledge" section. Here are a some that I use largely in the territory of wellbeing, mindfulness and relaxation. Some are assessment and monitoring questionnaires. Some provide orientating information. Some describe specific exercises to do. …

Goal setting and wellbeing

7th September 2008

It has seemed likely for some time that skilful goal setting boosts wellbeing. A couple of small recent research studies from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London reinforce this understanding (MacLeod, Coates et al. 2008). Wellbeing was assessed by an often used conglomerate measure which adds …

Ways to happiness and life satisfaction

11th April 2008

On April 9 I wrote "On the fine Authentic Happiness website, Seligman and colleagues discuss three entwining roads to happiness and what they call "the full life". One of these three roads is maximising and appreciating positive emotions - very much the territory of savouring." Do visit the Authentic Happiness …