MAPP.15 Capstone Montage

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MAPP.15 Capstone Montage

For students in the University of Pennsylvania Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program, the MAPP capstone is the project or thesis that symbolizes the peak of accomplishment within the program. The capstone also reveals the array of unique passions that compelled each student to explore and research a new nook and cranny of the field of positive psychology. For many members of the MAPP Class of 2020, the capstone experience was a positive MAPP rite of passage. For some, their capstone represented their life’s work. For a vast majority, the experience was highly valuable (most are using their research — or plan to — in an applied way that will make the father of positive psychology and MAPP Professor Marty Seligman proud), and for others the capstone journey and destination bordered on life-changing.

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Letter from the Editor: A Moment to Reflect and to Welcome Our New Editorial Team

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Letter from the Editor: A Moment to Reflect and to Welcome Our New Editorial Team

As I pass the baton of MAPP Magazine Editor into the capable hands of Dr. Irem Gunay (C’12), I am reflecting on the enormity of what has transpired in our world during my one-year tenure. We have collectively experienced events which were to me unfathomable at this time last year: a global pandemic, a breaking point reached through tragedy after tragedy in the centuries-long American story of racial and social injustice, and a political firestorm that has shaken the very foundations of our democracy. For most of us, even as we watched these unimaginable events unfold from the relative comfort of our homes, our personal lives have been dramatically altered by the pandemic, bringing fundamental changes to the way we work, parent and relate to our loved ones and community. The year has been nothing short of life-changing for us all.

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Lost and Found: Reconnecting with Your Strengths

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Lost and Found: Reconnecting with Your Strengths

My curiosity sparked multiple questions about my strengths. How do I express my unique strengths and how do others receive them? How might I nourish each of my five signature strengths? Does each strength need its own ‘nutrition’ plan? How do my strengths interact and support each other? I was also curious about others’ signature strengths. How do other people experience their top strengths? How do others express perspective, spirituality, humor, and other strengths that were not as familiar to me?

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Be Your Own Inner Ally: Harness the Power of Self-Compassion

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Be Your Own Inner Ally: Harness the Power of Self-Compassion

Which trait is more likely to increase your well-being: high self-esteem or a high level of self-compassion?

According to Kristin Neff, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and a pioneer of self-compassion research, it’s no contest. Self-compassion will serve you better in every circumstance.

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Transcending with Scott Barry Kaufman

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Transcending with Scott Barry Kaufman

I had the honor to talk with Scott Barry Kaufman about his latest book Transcend: The New Science of Self Actualization, his research, and his mission to define a common humanity of wholeness. Scott or “SBK” as he is affectionately referred to by peers, colleagues and friends, is an innovative writer and scientist. He is also well-known for his top-rated psychology podcast, which is aptly named, The Psychology Podcast. Over the past 20 years, SBK’s research has spanned a broad range of intriguing topics, including imagination and creativity, intelligence and gifted children.

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Pandemic Positive: How MAPP Alumni Stay Up when COVID has Us Down

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Pandemic Positive: How MAPP Alumni Stay Up when COVID has Us Down

In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic is something we all have in common. Yet our personal experiences vary widely, depending on our unique circumstances. It follows that our approaches to coping, adapting, and even flourishing, are different, too. As I connected personally and professionally with a few of my MAPP alumni friends in the early months, I heard stories of new routines and rituals. Many were devised as necessities to address the big lifestyle changes brought on by remote work and school. Others seemed to be joy-filled, inspired by newfound opportunities of staying close to home. By mid-summer, I became quite curious about what activities this community of extraordinary people, devoted to enhancing worldwide well-being, were putting into place in their own lives, in order to survive and to thrive in this difficult time.

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Meet Shondrea McCargo, MAPP15

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Meet Shondrea McCargo, MAPP15

I spoke with Shondrea as she was gearing up to virtually teach her 5th grade class in Baltimore. Fresh from wrapping up her capstone, she’s far from putting MAPP behind her, like the rest of us newly-minted grads are figuring out how to do. Nope! She’s joining the program as an Assistant Instructor in Marty’s 600 class, which makes the class of 2021 MAPPsters a darned lucky bunch to have Shondrea’s calming presence and wisdom to lean on (especially as they chew upon Jaynes’ The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind). I chatted with Shondrea before her evening plans of a pescatarian dinner and a personal training session

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COVID-19’s Implications for Wellbeing, Resilience, and Positive Education: A MAPP Meet-Up with Mathew White

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COVID-19’s Implications for Wellbeing, Resilience, and Positive Education: A MAPP Meet-Up with Mathew White

Mathew A. White, PhD, Associate Professor of Education and Deputy Head of the School of Education at the University of Adelaide, recently spoke to the MAPP community about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the landscape of education, highlighting the overwhelming need for an increased focus on wellbeing and resilience. COVID-19 has shifted the ground beneath us in many ways. It has demanded us to adapt to ambiguity, isolation, and if we are lucky, new routines. Its ripple effect on education has been far-reaching, and rebounding from this will present both challenges and opportunities. In addition to teaching and learning, schools are stable pillars of community connection and a necessary source of both resources and wellbeing. While we continue to do our very best through the pandemic, new perspectives can be leveraged to reimagine education for the future. Mathew White presents a hopeful and collective path forward.

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Well-Being Shimmers in a Sampling of MAPP14 Capstones

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Well-Being Shimmers in a Sampling of MAPP14 Capstones

From the beginning of the MAPP journey, the capstone is a term that all MAPPsters quickly learn. For every MAPP student, the capstone, comparable in many ways to a master’s thesis, is the culminating project of an intense year. For some, the topic is chosen before the first day of immersion week, with each paper written throughout the year bringing them another step closer to its completion. For others, each new subject matter within the study of positive psychology presents an additional opportunity for capstone consideration, and a topic is not chosen until the last minute (or even beyond)! Each capstone reflects its writer’s individual interest, viewpoint, and assertion about the world of positive psychology, and the topics chosen are varied and diverse.

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Body Full of Joy: Move Your Body, Love Your Mind

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Body Full of Joy: Move Your Body, Love Your Mind

Our bodies are important to how we think, feel and behave. Research demonstrates physical activity not only helps prevent disease, but it helps improve the quality of our life and health. In fact, physical activity, active leisure, and play are essential for our physical, intellectual and emotional development at all ages, and stages of life.

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From Nightmare Negotiations to More Pie for All

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From Nightmare Negotiations to More Pie for All

Why does hearing the word "negotiation" make our pulse quicken? If you close your eyes and picture a negotiation, what do you see? Many people envision a conference room with people in business attire sitting across the table from one another. More than likely, nobody is smiling, there is tension in the air, and the mood feels adversarial. What if I told you that negotiations don't have to be that way?

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Dan Tomasulo (C’12) Steps Up to Lead the Spirituality Mind Body Institute (SMBI) at Columbia University

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Dan Tomasulo (C’12) Steps Up to Lead the Spirituality Mind Body Institute (SMBI) at Columbia University

You might say that at midnight of May 31, 2020, the stars aligned for Dr. Dan Tomasulo (C’12). Earlier that day, he had received an invitation to become the Academic Director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute (SMBI) at Columbia University. And on the following day his book Learned Hopefulness was released, soon to become Amazon’s #1 new release for the month of June.

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What’s EVOLution Got to Do With It?

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What’s EVOLution Got to Do With It?

A few years back, I was fortunate to share a cab during a downpour of Biblical proportions with MAPP lecturer and well-being expert, Dr. Isaac Prilleltensky, in which we talked about Positive Psychology’s impact on business. One of us was going to the airport and one of us to the train station – I can’t remember who was doing which. What I do remember is our brief conversation, the question I asked him, and the answer he gave me. It’s a question I’d been seeking a definitive answer to across my own decades-long careers both inside the corporate system as a manager and outside as a corporate coach. Here it is: “Is there any real evidence that if a company invests in the well-being of their people, it will impact that company’s financial performance?”

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Continuing Our MAPP of the World: A View of MAPP Across the Pond

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Continuing Our MAPP of the World: A View of MAPP Across the Pond

In our April 2020 post, MAPP Magazine caught up with Therese Sheedy, President of University of Melbourne’s MAPP Alumni Association to talk about MAPP “down under” and connections between MAPPsters from around the globe that were sparked at the 6th World Congress of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) in July 2019. Now we turn to Rosie Hancock (C ‘13) to hear about her experience as a lecturer at the University of East London’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology (MAPPCP) programme.

I taught at UPenn MAPP as an Assistant Instructor on three MAPP modules the year after I finished MAPP. I have also been a lecturer at the University of East London in their Master of Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology (MAPPCP) programme from 2017 to 2019, where I was jointly responsible for the content and teaching of the main positive psychology module: Perspectives on Wellbeing.

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Letter from the Editor - Cultivating Hope, Influencing Our Future

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Letter from the Editor - Cultivating Hope, Influencing Our Future

Almost six months ago, as we hurriedly sequestered ourselves in response to the spread of COVID-19, finally succumbing to the fact that we were indeed in the midst of a pandemic, I would never have guessed that we would still be under its shadow as we now roll into August. What started as an enthusiastic effort to muster my courage and make the best of the lockdown has spiraled into a deflated resignation to ride out this strange time for the long haul, tabling plans and becoming used to a global and diffuse ambiguity about the future. And in the midst of the pandemic,

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Reframing the Stigma Around Uncontrolled Clutter: A Strength-based Approach

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Reframing the Stigma Around Uncontrolled Clutter: A Strength-based Approach

Danny Torrance wants to clear up some misconceptions you may have about people who suffer from hoarding disorder.

Despite the impressions promoted by reality TV shows and urban legends, Danny finds that the majority of those with hoarding disorder are neither lazy nor dirty. He finds that people who hoard are, well, people -- people with strengths, just like you and me.

“There are so many good things about people who hoard,” observes Danny with sincere appreciation.

Danny came to his interest in hoarding disorder around the time that he earned his MAPP degree in 2015,

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Letter from the President - Exploring our biases: Race, justice and the MAPP Alumni Association

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Letter from the President - Exploring our biases: Race, justice and the MAPP Alumni Association

At the end of May, as Black Lives Matter protests gathered momentum across the United States and around the world, many within our MAPP community were grieving. Viewed afresh after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmed Arbury, Tony McDade, and so many more, the historical and ongoing trauma of injustices against Black Americans was astounding and the emotional pain undeniable. As people were crying out for justice, many MAPPsters were asking what action we could take that might make a difference.

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Everybody Matters? Might This One Day Be Real!

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Everybody Matters? Might This One Day Be Real!

As we reflect on the extraordinary and tumultuous days of spring and summer 2020, I am struck by a few fundamental questions. How do we live in the U.S. as if everybody matters? Do organizations, neighborhoods, systems, policies, and places where we live, work, worship, and play encourage wellbeing? Who has access to wellbeing, and is it equitably actualized in the daily lives of Americans?

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What We Owe To Others

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What We Owe To Others

(Article is reposted with permission from www.highperformanceinstitute.com blog appearing February 13, 2020)

When I was 10 years old, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime. I began attending an elite, private school in Los Angeles on a full scholarship. I was one of two black students in my entire class, and one of only a few to wear second-hand uniforms and receive free lunch.

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