Authentic Happiness is the first book to examine the mechanisms by which mentally healthy people become happy, and how happy people become very happy. Martin E. Seligman is the international leader of the Positive Psychology Movement. His first trade book, the international bestseller Learned Optimism greatly influenced the way people thought about mental health by bringing the concepts of cognitive psychology to a mass audience. Read full article
Step into Anna Kearney’s third grade classroom, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, California, and you will see amongst the usual colourful art projects, a row of plastic cups stapled to the wall. There are ten numbered cups in all and they are part of Self Science, a social and emotional education curriculum developed by 6 Seconds ... Time spent on Self Science has not detracted from other academic learning, says Kearney, but instead has enhanced learning across the board. Read full article
“…if I could ask any child what they would like in the world I would definitely ask it. I think it would be interesting to find out what everyone’s ideas are. What they want…” (14-year old girl). When we are asked what we want most for our children, most of us will answer “happiness”. Asking children about what contributes to their feelings of wellbeing reveals some insightful answers to how we can provide that happy life. A study, conducted by the NSW Commission for Children and Young People and published in 2007, highlighted the importance of adults using parenting and educational practices that promote children’s emotional and social well-being. Read full article
The past couple of weeks have been very stressful for me. A close family member has been ill, and the whole family has been thrown into disarray. When things are hard it’s easy to become irritable due to sleep deprivation, anxiety and sadness. It can be hard to maintain good judgement and even-temperedness. I felt angry at the unfairness in the world and felt my hackles rising when I heard any-one whinge about having been stuck in traffic or unable to find a parking spot. Thankfully I was able to keep my cool with my children and actually enjoyed doing simple things with them such as reading stories as a kind of stress-release. Being with them also reminded me of the good fortune in my life. Read full article
"Mummy, I’m sad,’" my three-year-old said to me. "What’s making you feel sad?’" I sat down next to her and asked. ‘Ummm,’ she said, and I could see the confusion in her eyes as she tried to find the words to answer. Despite her knowledge of hundreds of words, and her almost constant state of conversation, you realise how limited a child’s speech is in moments like these ... Happiness is the current obsession with my daughter ... Read full article
Tal Ben Shahar, expert on positive psychology and best selling author of Happier and Being Happy shares 5 simple but powerful ideas in this quick video about ways to be happier right now. These ideas can be shared with your children and also included in your everyday parenting approaches. Inspiring. Read full article
We post so much here about social skills and also about social networking sites like Facebook, this video just had to be shared. Watch it with your teenagers who will LOL and ROFL with you - it's actually a viral ad. campaign for an opera but trust us, it's worth a watch. Extremely funny if you have every used Facebook and Twitter. Read full article
There are many examples of individual schools in the United States, the UK and even in Australia, that deliver emotional intelligence curriculum to students simply because they have been fortunate enough to have the human and financial resources (and sometimes support from a University). This video example (is a) reminder of how and why a school uses emotional literacy to improve educational outcomes and the school environment. Read full article
Like you, there are certain topics I often wonder about - one of them is why yawning is contagious. I remember reading a theory somewhere suggesting that yawning allows more oxygen into our lungs and the contagious response is because our brain automatically assumes that if someone else is yawing, there's a shortage of oxygen and we need to respond accordingly! Could that be true? It was the best explanation I'd read ... until today. Read full article
Yvette Vignando is interviewed on ABC 702 Radio Sydney by Sarah MacDonald about why Australia needs Emotional Intelligence in the national school curriculum. What is Emotional Intelligence? How can Emotional Intelligence be taught in school? What is the academic benefit of social and emotional learning? Read full article
