Positive psychology is a field concerned with the scientific study of strengths, virtues, and characteristics that facilitate optimal well-being. A basic assumption inherent within positive psychology is the belief that all people desire rich and meaningful lives, personal growth, and enhanced experiences within relational, vocational, and recreational realms. Positive psychology research focuses on understanding the qualities that enable individuals to thrive in the face of adversity and successfully reach meaningful goals, as opposed to investigating pathology or maladaptive symptoms. This scientific inquiry into human virtues and strengths includes qualities such as the capacity for compassion, self-control, happiness, resilience, gratitude, courage, self-knowledge, forgiveness, wisdom, and many more.

By understanding these essential human capacities for growth and focusing on where strengths lie, researchers in the field of positive psychology hope to lend scientific credence to educational and vocational environments that allow humans to flourish and foster high levels of productivity and engagement. Positive psychology research provides useful and accessible tools for increased self-knowledge and identification of strengths. Through greater awareness of where your strengths lie, you can begin to cultivate and develop those strengths by choosing to engage in behaviors that will move you closer to your value-based lifelong goals and aspirations.

5 Tips for Making Healthy Lifestyle Changes

“Everyone who got where he is has had to begin where he was.” – Robert Louis Stevenson The beginning of a new calendar year stirs up a variety of optimistic and pessimistic thoughts and emotions about making meaningful lifestyle changes for many people. Nostalgic reflections about your identity, goals, and ambitions from years passed may…

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Gratitude Begets Happiness

“Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.” – Kahlil Gibran Sometimes it is easier to notice what’s going “wrong” in your life, rather than what’s going “right.” Events in life sometimes come in waves of ups and downs, hopefully with a great deal of calmness and stability in…

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Choosing to Forgive: Therapeutic Stages of Forgiveness

“The weak can never forgive.  Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” – Mahatma Gandhi We have all experienced events in our lives when we have held onto painful emotions such anger, sadness, guilt, and shame. Sometimes painful emotions are directly outwardly towards others, accompanied by experiences such as blame, resentment, doubt, or anger. These…

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8 Ways to Lead an Authentic Life

“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” – Carl Jung How do you know when you are truly leading an authentic life? Many people experience a subjective sense of authenticity in life when their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all in harmony. There is often a sense of internal distress…

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How to Write a Gratitude Journal

“Reflect on your present blessings, on which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens As humans, we are wired to hold onto and remember things that are negative rather than things that are positive. The ability to remember unpleasant information positively impacts our ability…

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3 Paths to Happiness

“The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven.” – John Milton How do we know when we are happy? We spend an enormous amount of time and energy trying to surround ourselves with people, material goods, and activities that we believe will make us feel…

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8 Step Recipe for Happiness

“My crown is called content, a crown that seldom kings enjoy.” – William Shakespeare Everyone wants to experience true happiness.  People go about their personal quests for happiness in very different ways. Some people chase after happiness by attempting to acquire as many luxurious possessions as possible, hoping that one day they obtain the ultimate…

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Why it Matters to Express Gratitude

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward What is the meaning of gratitude to you?  How do you know when you are experiencing a sense of gratitude and what are the benefits of expressing it openly?  Almost all of us have felt a…

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