Awaken Your Own Force: 9 Ways Happiness and The Force are One

Today is the day. No movie in filmmaking history has pre-sold as many tickets as have been purchased already for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Millions of people committed to experience a movie about which they know practically nothing: the plot is a mystery, most of the actors are unknowns, and it all … Read more

Employee Engagement is Not Enough!

For the past 15 years much of our workplace discussion on Leadership has gotten sucked into the conversation about Employee Engagement**, focusing on the critical role that managers and leaders play in leveraging the heart and soul of the people on their team.  We speak of leveraging the Engaged group, striving to better connect with … Read more

19 Reasons Why You are Already Failing at Your Resolutions

Are you already failing on your resolutions?  Here’s why: The world often places obstacles on our path to happiness in life and work. But you know what? We often do a lot more to mess up our own happiness. I see this in my coaching clients all the time, and you are probably doing some … Read more

Happiness is Hard Work

This video animation offers a great primer on the difference between traditional psychology and Positive Psych.  In many ways, it’s taken directly from many of my talks — of course the reality is that I studied with Martin Seligman and Mihaly Czikszentmihaly and apparently learned this explanation directly from the source.  The core message:  Creating … Read more

What's In Your Dusty Corners?

My ambition for this post is to share highlights from a year of Learning. So I sat down to review a year of writing and journaling, seeking the Big Wisdom of 2012. Yet that’s not how wisdom emerges. It’s not a lightning strike. It’s more like the accumulation of dust. Tiny particles of learning and … Read more

Play Like a Kid

I was recruited to deliver the keynote presentation at a regional Human Resources conference in Tampa. My dear wife suggested that I take an extra day to enjoy the sunshine. What?! No way! I’m too busy. I have backlog. I… I’m burned out. So after the conference ended I drove to Orlando, had dinner with … Read more

Are You Serious About Play?

When I ask any audience about the value of Happiness, they quickly create a long list of positive outcomes. Among these are better relationships and health, lower stress, and higher productivity and creativity. What if I told you there was something that could give you all the above PLUS make you more flexible and adaptable? … Read more

Act Happy Week, Day 5: Say Thank You

Today is the final day of Act Happy week: a week-long series on using your body to invoke Happiness. Today: Say Thank You — expressing Gratitude changes your body chemistry AND changes the environment around you (a 60-second lesson — read more at the blog)