Action Research

03 Mar

Posted at 11:58h in Action Research, Cognitive-behavioral, Employee engagement, Engagement, Inspiration, Life Coach, Life Coaching, Mindfulness, Positive Psychology by

[caption id="attachment_244" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="What do you see? What do you hear? How are you guided?"][/caption] I spent the greater part of my 20s looking for my calling. I knew there was something out there for me that would just fit naturally with my interests and curiosities in the world. But what was I interested in? What was I curious about? Especially as my friends were moving up their respective (and usually corporate) ladders, I found myself feeling scared and seemingly alone. What if I never found it? But something kept me looking, even with those dark voices telling me it...

19 Feb

Posted at 13:17h in Action Research, Happiness coach, Life Coach, Life Coaching, Meaning, Positive Psychology, social contagion factor, Thoughts-Action by

We live in a world of doing, of checklists, of go, go, go. Especially in New York city where I live, people are running all the time: the city that never sleeps. Work, gym, dinner, party, work, sleep. It’s so easy to get caught up by this energy, but is it all so good? As a detective of sorts, I’ve been keeping my eyes open to this frenetic movement and wondering how it serves me, my life. I’ve been watching my clients and friends, too, and have observed some really interesting things about how people operate. The energy that results...

11 Feb

Posted at 10:54h in Action Research, Engagement, family, Positive Psychology, Social-Emotional Leadership by

Certainly, we know more today about the benefits of social and emotional learning than ever before. Largely, many schools are taking on the task of teaching these skills in the classroom. But what happens beyond the classroom, in real life? Is the culture of our athletic fields or music rooms, our families, or our city streets set up to support the living of this learning? For my graduate work in positive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, I developed a framework we can use to fill this gap. Social-Emotional Leadership is a strengths-based system of shared responsibility which ensures groups we...

15 Dec

Posted at 20:33h in Action Research, Hope, Inspiration, Life Coach, Life Coaching, Mindfulness, positive emotion, Positive Psychology, Relationships, resiliency, savoring, Social-Emotional Leadership, Uncategorized by

Last week, our meetup discussed ways to really have a banging holiday season this year.  A mighty group of us talked about how to use Positive Psychology (the science of happiness & success) to make this happen.  We started by asking, "How do we want to be feeling on January 1?" Inspired? Excited? Rested? Hopeful? Some of our ideas for how to ensure this - about how to have a joyful season, included: * Keep a growth mindset (things change, people change) * Appreciate what's already good (what you look forward to each year - dig deep if need be) * Consider 'best' possible...

28 Nov

Posted at 23:47h in abundance, Action Research, Cognitive-behavioral, Life Coach, Life Coaching, Mindfulness, Positive Intervention, Positive Psychology, Schools, Social-Emotional Leadership by

I propose we attempt to set up learning organizations wherever possible to support a more positive evolution. According to Peter M. Senge, Director of the Systems Thinking and Organizational Learning Program at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Learning Organizations are places where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together. Essentially, anywhere there are groups of people that spend chunks of time together can form learning organizations –...

11 Nov

Posted at 10:02h in abundance, Action Research, Coaching, gratitude, Meaning, Mindfulness, Positive Intervention by

[caption id="attachment_174" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Diva Angel"][/caption] Ahemmm . . . How are you? I am so super grateful: I write this as I head to two places: (1) to my high school alma mater, where I'm meeting with students to talk about the application of Positive Psychology in the band, a group I was a part of 15 years ago, when I was "one of them." I'm co-presenting at an international band director's conference in Chicago next month, alongside my high school band director, Curt, on how bands can flourish using Positive Psychology and Social-Emontional Leadership; this is our action research and (2)...

28 Oct

Posted at 15:17h in Action Research, Coaching, Cognitive, Cognitive-behavioral, Meaning, Mindfulness, Positive Intervention, Positive Psychology, Relationships, Social-Emotional Leadership by

[caption id="attachment_166" align="alignright" width="300" caption="From hearing to seeing to speaking. Assume much?"][/caption] Aim: To become more mindful of everyday language, to create meaning. Point: What we know of positive psychology is that other people matter. <roll eyes here>. Certainly, these words have been overused so much so, they’re becoming empty. Other words we use are empty, too. For example, when someone asks, “How are you?” answers like “fine” and “good” do not have significant meaning. The argument can be made that the question has no meaning either. Challenge: To be as specific as you can be when someone asks you, “How are you?”....

04 Oct

Posted at 16:16h in Action Research, Hope, Inspiration, Life Coaching, Love, Meaning, positive emotion, Positive person, Relationships, resiliency by

She is an old soul with a young spirit who I met at a mutual friend’s cocktail party sometime last year. She and I were hanging out in the kitchen with several others talking about what we “do” – typical cocktail party banter. But when it came to Amanda’s turn to share, she had an atypical response: she told us how she was a dog-walker in Chelsea and that she loved what she did. I’ll never forget how she spoke her words with such conviction, they resonate in me still today. She was an easy pick for my newer blog...

22 Sep

Posted at 19:12h in Action Research, forgiveness, Hope, positive emotion, Positive Psychology, Relationships, resiliency, savoring, social contagion factor by

Hello Mother, Hello Father Greetings from summer sleep-away camp. Really, I write this tucked away in the woods in northeastern Pennsylvania – a tiny spot of heaven called Camp Happy Times – aptly named for a place where two hundred kids who have or have had cancer come for a week’s time of fun, fun, and more fun. They come here to celebrate the joy of life. Essentially, they come here to be kids, not just the “kids with cancer”. [caption id="attachment_132" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="This is me (center) in the middle of the table in a cake eating contest. I...

18 Sep

Posted at 13:30h in Action Research, Coaching, Cognitive-behavioral, Life Coach, Life Coaching, Positive Psychology, Thoughts-Action by

When I Let Go Of What I Am, I Become What I Might Be. ~Lao Tzu I was driving with my sister the other day and said something about the voices in my head getting in the way. “You have voices in your head?” she asked. “We all do,” I responded. * Are you a ‘should’er? * These voices are often related to belief systems which tell you what you SHOULD be doing - or even more simply, who you SHOULD be. A suggestion: Put these SHOULDs on a list and then once all there, cross out the should and replace...

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