Mud and Dreams (Now Available!)

I am excited to announce that my first full book is now available.  (You can find it here.) Mud and Dreams is a series of essays on the poetry and science of living. A work of “motivational poetics” the book speaks directly to the human concerns at the center of…

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Changing the Narrative (Part 1)

The stories we tell ourselves matter. They make a difference in how we think about who we are and the way we structure our lives. They affect the paths we blaze and those we follow. Our stories inform every sigh and every tear, keep us afloat, and connect us to…

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Resilience, Growth & Kintsukuroi

Resilience. Grit. Sisu. Post traumatic growth.  Different researchers emphasize the subtle distinctions within the larger truth that more often than not, we are better than we think we are. We are stronger, more adaptive. When things go wrong, most people, most of the time, do not dry up, crumble and…

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Strengths Of Our Children

Parenting and Strengths

Everything I have learned in life that has mattered, I learned from my children.  They are the “sacred Yes” about whom Nietzsche spoke. In positive psychology we study strengths.  This is good and valuable and has taught us so much about people at their best, and about life’s luminous moments. …

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Our Most Humble Strengths

** This post first appeared on Positive Psychology News Daily. Forgiveness. Mercy. Prudence. Modesty. The strengths of temperance don’t get as much attention as our more muscular qualities. Yet in a certain sense, maybe this cluster of strengths enables every other strength, and thus makes the good life possible.    Excitement…

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