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Video From Todd Kashdan: Tapping Into Your Brain

Michael Durkheimer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:26:54 +0000

In this video, happier.com expert Dr. Todd Kashdan talks about “Tapping Into Your Brain” and his new research on positive psychology. Very interesting. Enjoy.

happier.com is a personal trainer for your happiness. With more than a dozen tools and tests to help you measure, track and improve your happiness, you can trust the happier.com experts to help you reach your goals. Exclusive videos and a popular blog mean there’s something new to learn every day. Download the free iPhone application or find what you’re looking for with the Positive Psychology Practitioner Directory. happier.com is on Facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter and has meetup groups in Washington, Philadelphia, and Portland, with more planned. Click here for a social media press release from our launch.

The Most Exciting Areas That are Still to Be Discoved in Positive Psychology (Video from Todd Kashdan)

Michael Durkheimer — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:16:54 +0000

This is one of my favorite videos by Professor Todd Kashdan about “Uncharted Territory” in Positive Psychology research today. Professor Kashdan goes on to talk about our dynamic world and the unstudied spillover effects of positive experiences into other domains. He even poses the question: Could having a meaningful and fulfilling sexual experience help someone be more productive at work the next day? Pretty interesting stuff. Enjoy.

Optimism Can Be the Difference Between Life and Death

Andrew Rosenthal — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:03:49 +0000

Dr. Michael Evans of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto writes in The Globe and Mail that Optimism May Help Ward Off Disease. He cites a recent study from Dr. Hilary Tindle et al in Circulation (the journal of the American Hearth Association) that followed 97,000 women and found that optimism is predictive of less heart disease.

Evans tells the story of a patient:

Marie was 64 when she contracted a rare form of cancer in the bile duct. Her prognosis was poor. We tried many interventions and had some success but, alas, only in the short term.

Marie was a teacher and had researched a new therapy based in, of course, California. It seemed to be a hybrid of unproven but promising new medical treatments with some alternative treatments added to the mix.

She had the money and an incredible, even refreshing, faith in this therapeutic cocktail, and wanted to try it while she was still relatively healthy. Tickets were bought and I wished her bonne chance .

She received a call the day before she was to leave to say there’d been a mistake, and she didn’t qualify for their program. Marie died the following week.

While the news about the health impact of optimism isn’t new, it’s a good reminder about the importance of becoming more optimistic.

We recently asked happier.con consultant Dr. Acacia Parks-Sheiner to define optimism from a scientific perspective: “The reason that we often talk in the research about optimism being more important is that… if you’re optimistic, you’re actually going to try, and you make it more likely that what you want to happen will [occur].”

We also asked Martin Seligman, the author of “Learned Optimism” to give an overview of the findings on optimism and physical health. The research shows that those who are optimistic have “much better” cardiovascular health than pessimists, with 1/4 the rate of cardiac deaths as the rest of the population.

Want to see optimism in practice? Then check out this great video from the people at The Foundation for a Better Life.

This video spot is from The Foundation For a Better Life.

Video from Martin Seligman: Positive Psychology is What Every Human Being Can Say Yes To

Martin Seligman — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:07:56 +0000

More videos from happier.com expert Dr. Martin Seligman can be viewed in our video section.

Over 100 Videos from the Happiness Experts – Free on happier.com

happier.com — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:27:32 +0000

happier.com now offers more than 100 videos from the happiness experts. Videos are available for free — just complete the 2-step registration process.

The videos feature Martin Seligman, Todd Kashdan, Acacia Parks, Barbara Fredrickson and other happier.com experts and contributors.

Videos are grouped into categories including education, exercises, gratitude, happienss, happier.com, optimism, positive psychology, relationships, resilience, strengths and tests.

Zappos Features happier.com in Video Interview

happier.com — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:13:24 +0000

Yesterday, Andrew sat down with the team at Zappos.com to talk about using happier.com as a personal trainer for your happiness.

Melissa, who blogs for Zappos, chatted with us about the site and our team. You can watch the full video below. Please leave comments on the Zappos blog if you’re a fan! Thanks!

Expert Wednesday: A new video from Barbara Fredrickson – What Are the Benefits of Positive Emotions?

Andrew Rosenthal — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:58:09 +0000

Check out this exclusive video from Professor Barbara Fredrickson, as she answers questions from happier.com users about her area of expertise: positive emotions.

A full library of videos is available to users of happier.com. Most require a free registration but some are available directly on this page.

happier.com: ask an expet: Barbara Fredrickson describes positive emotions from happier.com on Vimeo.

happier.com featured on AM Arizona with Positive Psychology Practitioner Andrea Goeglein

happier.com — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:11:19 +0000

Andrea Goeglein, Ph.D. aka Dr. Success, a happier.com positive psychology practitioner was featued on AZTV7’s AM Arizona show disucssing positive psychology and happier.com. Dr. Goeglein’s firm Serving Success, is a distribution hub for inspirational content and tools.

In the clip below, Dr. Goeglein urges watchers to visit happier.com, describing it as “The coolest thing.. it’s extensive and it just got upgraded yesterday.”

“Yes we can make ourselves happier, we just need to do something about it.”

(Start around time 1:45.)

More of Dr. Goeglein’s videos are available on youtube.

Please visit happier.com for more information and contacts for media inquiries.

For Relationship Health: Celebrating Good News More Important Than Supporting During Bad Times, According to New Research

happier.com — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:17:24 +0000

According to new research being presented this week at the World Congress on Positive Psychology, the way couples celebrate good news is more important for relationship health than how they support each other in bad times. Halfway through this post, see an exclusive video from Martin Seligman explaining how to put this research into practice.

Shelly Gable, a psychologist at the University of California Santa Barbara, has come out with new research supporting her findings that relationship health is better predicted by the way you celebrate victories than it is by how you support each other during hard times. Gable’s reearch is important because traditional couples therapy is based on helping people better support each other during difficult times, and, essentialy, to better argue with each other. An article in today’s USA Today quotes other psychologists who say that this research will change the way couples therapy is practiced.

“The data are that when you respond actively and constructively … It increases loyalty, commitment, and love. It’s something you can do every day,” says Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD, exclusive consultant to happier.com and the founder of positive psychology. Martin Seligman is the Fox Leadership Professor of Psychology and director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. More from Martin Seligman is available on this video:

How can we put this research into practice?

Since March, happier.com has offered the an online tool to assess, and improve, how well we communicate about good times, based on Gable’s research. The online Active and Constructive Responding exercise helps users:

Work through different scenarios and determine how you’re inclined to respond to them
Consider different methods of responding and why this is important
Create new ways of responding actively and constructively
Keep a journal of your responses to different situations – analyze your history over time and track your progress

Over 25,000 users have found Active and Constructive Responding, and the other tests and exercises offered, to be useful ways to improve happiness and reduce negative emotions.

“In today’s world, which seems to be built on negative dynamics, this site provides a welcomed oasis.” according to happier.com user Sylvia, from North Carolina.

Don’t forget that you can use happier.com to measure your optimism, positivity, strengths and happiness for free. Perfect for use by individuals or practitioners with their own sets of clients. happier.com has over 25,000 users measuring, tracking and improving their happiness, online, based on leading research from positive psychologists.

What makes us happy? 30-minute panel discussion from Ontario TV

happier.com — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:05:27 +0000

On Wednesday, June 3, panelists addressed the question “What makes us happy?” on Toronto TV’s top-rated show “The Agenda.” The 37-minute video clip, viewable below, includes a discussion with the Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of What Makes Us Happy?, an essay published in June’s The Atlantic Monthly.