One of the guest lecturers at MAPP 13/14 onsite No. 8 was Jane Dutton, who is best-known for her research on what she calls High-Quality Connections (in the workplace).
As part of her lecture, she showed us this video by the Cleveland Clinic. I´ll let it speak for itself…
To laugh often and much: To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded.
Sorry, Positive Psychologists. It´s all been said and done before… 😉
Found on the Facebook page of the Global Shapers organization, an initiative of the World Economic Forum
Any suggestions from your side? I´m not a Christian (any more) – so I could very well live with 17 or 333 commandments…
–> Research on the benefits of positive emotions.
–> Research on the benefits of experiencing flow.
–> Research on the benefits of positive relationships.
–> Research on the benefits of finding meaning and purpose in life.
–> Research on the benefits of grit and achievement.
–> Research on the benefits of physical exercise.
–> Research on the benefits of spending time in nature.
–> Research on the benefits of post-traumatic growth.
–> Research on the benefits of meditation and mindfulness.
–> Research on the benefits of altruism.
* I just couldn´t resist putting one of favorite metal bands in this list. Kiitos, Stratovarius!
** The last song is also a hint at what to do with this post… 🙂
unsplash.com/@element5digital
First thing to say: Because she deserves it, obviously! Second: the headline includes “almost”. Let´s be honest here. I travel a lot, but on a lot of Saturdays, she gets ´em.
Now, there is reason and a story behind this. I buy flowers for my wife because of my grandpa. He served in World War II, got wounded several times, and was a prisoner of war for about a year towards the end of the story. When I was a boy, he used to tell me stories of that time over and over again: Mostly horrible stories of him seeing his comrades being torn to pieces by grenades – but there was one story that I particularly liked. He used to recount:
You know, I am not a very religious guy. But when I was a prisoner, I prayed to God. And I told him: Please God, if you let me return home to my wife, I promise you I will buy her roses every weekend until the end of my life.
And as far as I know, he kept his promise. Later, when I was a young man and my grandpa could hardly walk any more due to long-term sequelae of his battlefield injuries, I used to do the grocery shopping for my grandparents on Saturday mornings. Grandpa would always give me an extra 20 Deutsche Mark so I could buy roses for grandma at his favorite flower shop. And I would bring home the roses – and he would give them to her. We did this right to the end.
So that´s why I buy roses for my wife (almost) every week. I´ve learned from the best. Here´s to you, Opa…
If you read my blog regularly, you´ll know by now that I blog about my son once in a while. I just love to watch him while he explores this world – and he is very good teacher. In (Zen) Buddhism, they put a lot of emphasis on cultivation a “beginner´s mind”, meaning one should let go of all preconceptions, rigid thinking, and dualistic distinctions. The goal is to see things as they really are – nothing more, and nothing less. For grown-ups, this is an almost impossible thing to do. Once a concept has entered our mind, it is incredibly hard to shake off. You can experience this effect via looking at pictures like this. Once you know what you´re looking at, it´s practically impossible to not see it any more.
All the more, it is an incredible thing to watch a beautiful child experience something for the very first time – as in this video. Enjoy!
Kayden + Rain from Nicole Byon on Vimeo.
Today, I´d like to share with you the Hostee Manifesto, a clear proof for the fact that you do not have to be a positive psychologist to have a deep knowledge of positive psychology. It has been created by a group of young people, e.g., Fabian Pfortmüller, who happens to be co-founder of Sandbox, a truly exceptional group of young global change-makers that I had the pleasure to spend an incredible weekend with in Lisbon in 2012.
I´ll let the words speak for themselves.
Once again, no time to write a “real” post today – but hey, there´s so much good stuff out there already. So I´d like to point you to a fabulous scene from a great movie: The Boat that rocked. It´s a movie by Richard Curtis (e.g., Four Weddings and a Funeral; Love…Actually) about a an illegal pirate radio station in the UK during the Sixties. Unfortunately, unlike most of Curtis´ other films, this one wasn´t a big success at the box office and therefore isn´t that well-known. If you like good music and funny plots with slightly exaggerated characters – go for it. It´s lovely. As with “Love…Actually”, some of the best and funniest scenes did not make it into the movie at all.
So here´s a 4:40 deleted scene on the meaning of life from “The Boat that rocked”. I promise you: whatever the mood you´re in right now – it´s going to be (even) better afterwards. Enjoy!
First, I´d like to make something clear: this is still a blog about Positive Psychology – even though I´m writing about Heavy Metal for the third time in eight days. But then, Heavy Metal and Positive Psychology are synonyms – at least in my wicked neural network.
Tonight, I´ve been to a concert of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, a “metal vs. classical music crossover project” that was founded by members of the mighty Savatage. Even though TSO is most famous for their Christmas albums, they played a lot of old Savatage songs tonight – since the Christmas season is obviously over.
And I cried. Three times. Now I may be a little prone to tears anyway – but then again, there´s something to the sound of a distorted guitar that makes my heart vibrate at an inapprehensible, pre-verbal level. With a rare exception here and there, this can´t be done by any other kind of music. Why could that be the case?
Lord bring on the night, wrap it all around me
Let it hold me tight, soak up all that I bleed
Here´s a video of the full song from the same tour in a higher quality…
One of my favorite movies of all times is Pretty Woman*. There is this scene where the male main protagonist, successful businessman Edward Lewis (Richard Gere), invites the female mail protagonist, prostitute Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts), to the San Francisco Opera to see a premier of La Traviata. When Vivian is very moved by the music, Edward says:
People’s reactions to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic; they either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don’t, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul.
Now, I totally agree with Eddie. It´s just that in my case, metal came first. And I am not sure if my soul can truly madly deeply “hold” more than one style of music.
So if you haven´t found out yet which music is cherished deeply by your soul – do it. Now! Music may be the Gods greatest gift to mankind. That´s why I always want to slap people across the face that answer the question “What do you listen to?” by something like “Oh…you know…whatever´s on the radio”.
That´s not how it´s supposed to be. Now I don´t care if you really really love Country, or Reggae, or Jazz, or…Celine Dion… ah…wait…the last one doesn´t count…well…whatever…as long as you really really love something.
´Cause when you´ve found it, you´re never going to be alone for a single moment for your entire life!
* Yes! It´s absolutely possible to love heavy metal and romantic comedies starring Richard Gere and/or Hugh Grant at the same time. I´m the living proof…
Mappalicious 