Positivity Matters

Guest: Cormac Russell, Co-Author of The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighborhoods

Recorded: May 23, 2024

Guest: Kimberly Rath, Chairman and Co-Founder of Talent Plus and Co-Author of Near, Now, Next

VIA Strengths:

Fairness | Honesty | Kindness | Teamwork | Forgiveness

Core Values:

Integrity | Kindness | Positivity | Love | Belonging

Vision:

“My goal is to inspire and empower individuals and unlock their potentiality and achieve personal and professional collective joy to create a better world.” 

Recorded: May 1, 2024

Guest: Dr. Eri Mountbatten-O'Malley, Senior Lecturer in Education at Bath Spa University. 

Eri's strengths: Humor | Creativity | Fairness | Curiosity | Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence

Recorded: 4/24/2024

Forthcoming Book - Human Flourishing: A Conceptual Analysis

Guest: Ryan Wieber, Director, Lincoln City Libraries

Ryan’s strengths: Arranger | Futuristic | Learner | Responsibility | Strategic

Recorded: 3/29/2024

Guest: Dr. Gustavo Carlo, Professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. 

Gus and I explore the idea that there may exist at least three kinds of kindness. The following are the kinds of kindness discussed and an example of each:

Playful:  host a block party.

Compassionate: become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). 

Generative: become a mentor.

Gus’s Strengths: Curiosity | Teamwork | Love | Judgment | Perspective

Discover your strengths and use them for kindness: ⁠www.viacharacter.org

Recorded: 1/22/2024

Guest: Stephen G. Post, Director, Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics

Recorded: 07/07/2014

https://stephengpost.com/the-hidden-gifts-of-helping/

Guest: Corey Keyes, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Emory University

Recorded: 1/12/2024

Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down

By Dr. Corey Keyes 

Publication date: February 20, 2024

www.languishingbook.com

Adam Grant’s article from the NY Times discussed in this episode:

There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing
https://tiny.cc/languishing

Richard DienstbierProfessor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Nebraska-LincolnRecorded: 1/1/2024

Building Resistance to Stress and Aging: The Toughness Model

by Richard A, Dienstbier

"As we engage in toughening activities, physiological toughness develops in response to various genes being turned on or off—sometimes temporarily, but sometimes for a lifetime. Those physiological events lead to modifications of our neurochemistry and the development of various neurons and structures within our brains. As we become physiologically tougher, those modifications lead, in turn, to positive psychological and mental outcomes that include emotional stability, enhanced energy, more efficient cognitive functions, fluid intelligence, and even self-control... Once toughness begins to develop, the experience of enhanced mental and physical energy, and of sustained mental abilities, allows us to optimistically approach life’s various challenges. Confronting those challenges toughens us even more. Thus once we begin to toughen we experience an upward spiral where toughness leads to choices that in turn continue to toughen us."