As a follow-up to my earlier posts on the psychology of well-being, I am writing today to discuss the relationship between racism and well-being. We live in a systematically and explicitly racist society that perpetuates White supremacy. The murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor (among many others) cannot be fully explained and […]

In this final email, I am sharing a resource that I hope will help you continue to use psychology in your own life over the summer – and to learn more about the science of well-being in the process. The app Happify brings together psychologists and technology experts and draws on the principles behind gaming […]

Instead of suggesting individual exercises, my posts this week will share sets of resources that you can use to identify new exercises and learn more about well-being. Today, I’m excited to share a message and set of resources from Suzann Pileggi Pawelski, M.A.P.P., a freelance writer whose work focuses on the science of well-being and positive relationships.

Today, I’m excited to share a positive exercise from a group of current Davidson students: Chloe deBeus, Christos Koumpotis and Rachel McLean are finishing their semester in the Davidson in Silicon Valley program. They created today’s exercise, “The Great Space,” as a capstone project for their work with Adjacent Academies in San Francisco.

Today’s expert, Dr. Marie Forgeard, shares her perspective on the intersection between creativity and well-being. Her positive exercise – taking a creative picture – provides an opportunity to practice creative thinking, and to reflect on your own creative process.

As Davidson students head into the final week of classes and begin their final exams, this week I am excited to share a set of exercises from experts in positive psychology.

Today’s exercise, the Values Card Sort, is shared by Dr. Ann Marie Roepke. Its theme is pursuing your core values – even, or especially, when feeling anxious or down.

Today’s exercises are taken from a study demonstrating the efficacy of a faith-based gratitude intervention specifically developed to promote well-being among Muslim university students. As the authors describe, they “adapted the gratitude intervention strategies to harmonise them with the Islamic perspective – the understanding of human nature and happiness.”

I was excited to learn about today’s study, which evaluates a positive psychology intervention built around cooking and eating together. The intervention promotes five themes: joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, and listening. I have shared the activities from this “Happy Family Kitchen” intervention. and encourage you to adapt these ideas for your household!