Strength and Conditioning for the Mind: Leveraging Character Strengths in Mental Skills Training

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Strength and Conditioning for the Mind: Leveraging Character Strengths in Mental Skills Training

Mental performance remains a critical differentiator at the highest levels of competition for elite athletes. Traditionally viewed through the lens of psychological skills such as attentional focus, confidence, or emotion regulation, mental performance is also shaped by deeper, stable psychological traits, such as character strengths, which influence how athletes focus, sustain confidence, and manage emotions under pressure. Despite this, the intentional, deliberate, and specific identification, assessment, and development of character strengths has generally been ignored in athlete development processes at all levels.

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Finding Well-Being on the Way to Success: A Conversation with Dan Lerner

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Finding Well-Being on the Way to Success: A Conversation with Dan Lerner

Why are some people successful but not happy? Why are others happy and successful? When does passion add to our lives and success, and when does it detract from our overall well-being? If you’ve ever wondered about the connection between success, well-being, and happiness, this conversation with Dan Lerner is for you.

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What Makes Us Great: A Conversation with Gloria Park, PhD

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What Makes Us Great: A Conversation with Gloria Park, PhD

In this, the final interview in our special issue on mindset and performance, Gloria Park, PhD (C’05) and I met for one of the best conversations I’ve had in a long time. Dr. Park is Director of Performance Psychology with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, a Certified Mental Performance Coach, and fun fact, the first Assistant Instructor in the University of Pennsylvania Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program. In this rich and inspiring exchange, she shares her take on the nuances of the “A” in PERMA, Martin Seligman’s model of well-being, as well as strategies to leverage the best within us. Whatever the details, depth, and dimension of the challenges we face, she contends, we’re not only equipped but optimized to face them.

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Changing the Story of Sexuality: A Conversation with Brianna Booth, PhD

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Changing the Story of Sexuality: A Conversation with Brianna Booth, PhD

In this issue of MAPP Magazine—which explores thriving sexuality, shifting narratives around reproductive health, as well as new work in developing a comprehensive model of sexual well-being—you can delve into the still-emerging sub-sect of positive psychology, positive sexuality. And in this article, you’ll read excerpts from our moving conversation with Stanford University Director of Positive Sexuality, Brianna Booth, PhD (C’11), who shared with us about her work and the power of storytelling and attunement to help not only to change narratives around sexuality but also to foster intimacy and connection.

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Let’s Throw A Period Party! How Positive Interventions around Reproductive Health Can Shift Narratives and Experiences

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Let’s Throw A Period Party! How Positive Interventions around Reproductive Health Can Shift Narratives and Experiences

Every month, nearly 1.8 billion people worldwide menstruate (Rohatgi & Dash, 2023). Menstruation is a normal, healthy bodily function, and it is core to our existence. And yet, it continues to be highly stigmatized and woefully under-addressed in terms of education and support. As such, menstruation is an ongoing source of emotional and physical distress for individuals. The oft-associated shame, embarrassment, confusion, and unmitigated discomfort have powerful downstream effects on health, body image, sexuality, education and opportunities, and overall well-being. How we approach menstruation is indicative of a broader issue around female health disempowerment and requires stigma-defying positive interventions to truly change the tides.

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The Good (Sex) Life: Toward a Fulfilling Sexual Well-Being Model

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The Good (Sex) Life: Toward a Fulfilling Sexual Well-Being Model

What are the ingredients for emotional connection during sexual activity (e.g., Blumenstock et al., 2020; Štulhover et al., 2014)? Can we move away from the black-and-white, good-or-bad perspectives and investigate the nuances of how casual sex impacts partners’ mental health (e.g., Kaestle & Evans, 2018)? How can partners in monogamous marriages and long-term relationships not only keep their sexual spark for one another burning (e.g., Mark & Lasslo, 2018), but thriving (e.g., Ménard et al., 2015)?

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A New Frontier in Positive Sexuality: A Conversation with Vera Ludwig, PhD

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A New Frontier in Positive Sexuality: A Conversation with Vera Ludwig, PhD

This fall, we’re at the brink of a new frontier in positive sexuality. So, to wrap this issue and a wonderful year of work alongside positive psychology experts, practitioners, and contributors across disciplines and from around the globe, we’re pleased to share excerpts from our conversation with another trailblazer. Vera Ludwig, PhD. is the new Director of the Human Sexuality and Well-Being Project at the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center. In this interview, she shared her own perspective about positive sexuality and offered an early glimpse into a project that promises to continue to move the field forward.

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Cultivating Community Connection

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Cultivating Community Connection

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to be a part of a global change summit organized by World Merit. Our team of change makers from around the world was tasked to create an action plan for one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set forth by the United Nations. The culmination of the nearly three-week experience was presenting these action plans at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. I chose to focus on goal #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. I can still remember the excitement and nerves the first day of this experience as I met the teammates I would be working with for the next few weeks. We went around the circle and shared why we chose goal #11 and what the idea of community meant to us. A new friend, Wandile, from South Africa, shared with the group the Zulu word ubuntu which roughly translates to, “I am because you are.” This word and sentiment has stayed with me ever since and captures the reverence and the wisdom of community better than I could ever articulate myself.

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Politics and Positive Public Service

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Politics and Positive Public Service

It is election season in the United States of America, causing excitement for some, trepidation for others, and perhaps even apathy for a few. It also means, when it comes to government, the public’s focus tends to be on two specific people: the presidential candidates from the major political parties rather than the nearly 22 million government workers who serve our communities in a variety of important functions, from health and safety to education and transportation and more. These workers are all too often part of a bureaucracy that does not get the positive attention—or credit—it deserves. So, it is a good time to remember how public service can take a backseat to politics, overshadowing the importance of the community impact and well-being of government workers beyond those in elected office, like the ones we encounter teaching our children, processing mail at our neighborhood post offices, ready to jump into action at our local fire departments, or picking up the trash from our curbs. 

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The Third Wave and Beyond: A Conversation with Tim Lomas, PhD

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The Third Wave and Beyond: A Conversation with Tim Lomas, PhD

In this article, Dr. Lomas explores the complexities and nuances of community and collective well-being and distinguishes it from the related topic of flourishing. Read on for some of his newest insights and personal musing about the importance and urgency to not only consider the culture and context characteristic of positive psychology’s third wave, but also to move beyond it.

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The Life Well Lived Is a Life Worth Experiencing

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The Life Well Lived Is a Life Worth Experiencing

Ikigai (i-key-ga-ee) is a word that has been defined as “one’s reason for being” or “a life worth living.” This Japanese term comprises two characters – “life” (生き) and “to be worthwhile” (甲斐). The experience of ikigai is typically associated with engagement in meaningful experiences and activities to which one devotes effort, attention, and focus (Kumano, 2018). The origin of the term is traced to ikiru-kahi, itself a composite of the words “to be alive” and “worth.” Psychiatrist Mieko Kamiya (1966) is attributed as the first to popularize the term in her pioneering work Ikigai ni Tsuite (What makes our life worth living). Since then, numerous popular press books have been written about ikigai. Arguably the most popular is Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life (Garcia & Miralles, 2016), one of 2,000 books listed on Amazon about this concept of well-being. The popularity of the concept, particularly its association with longevity, has also been featured in an episode of the 2023 Netflix documentary Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones. 

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The Well-Being Paradox in Latin America: What Should Be Protected and What Can Be Learned

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The Well-Being Paradox in Latin America: What Should Be Protected and What Can Be Learned

As primals world beliefs researcher Jer Clifton once said during his Research Methods and Evaluations class, most research begins with an observation and a question. Without realizing it, my capstone project for the University of Pennsylvania Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) started with some observations that evolved into questions a few years before I officially began the program. 

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African Perspectives on Well-Being: A Conversation With Angelina Wilson Fadiji, PhD

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African Perspectives on Well-Being: A Conversation With Angelina Wilson Fadiji, PhD

One of the first things I noticed when I began to investigate positive psychology and, particularly, after I discovered the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania, was the faces of its professors, practitioners, and the program’s alumni. Most of theirs were much lighter than my own.

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A Land Called Hope: Assessing Positive Views in People Living with Cystic Fibrosis

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A Land Called Hope: Assessing Positive Views in People Living with Cystic Fibrosis

Although I didn’t yet know it, my journey with positive psychology started in 1982, when I was three years old. That year, I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic, progressive disease that primarily affects the lungs and digestive system. At that time, there was little hope for people with CF. Many did not live to adulthood. Even today, there is no cure for the disease, and only 11% of the CF population is over the age of 40 (Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, n.d). In 1982, most parents of children diagnosed with CF were given the same message: Take your child home and love them hard because you probably won’t have them for long.

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Doors and Stairs: An Experience of Accessibility

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Doors and Stairs: An Experience of Accessibility

Close your eyes for a moment. Picture yourself in the multiple spaces that you engage in daily, weekly, monthly, and annually. Consider your family, your circle of friends, your workplace, your community. In any of those places, do you feel othered? Othering is the practice of excluding a group of people due to characteristics that are different from the dominant group (Tarvainen, 2019). When you enter the world as a person with a physical disability, you are entering the world as an identifiable “other.”

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Designing Workplace Systems For All

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Designing Workplace Systems For All

At work, I am known as the “tool” queen. Need a more efficient way to run a meeting? I have an agenda outline for that. Want to create a welcoming onboarding experience? I’ll send you my template. I have no shortage of tools in my toolkit. 

Having a system or a way of doing things isn't always embraced by everyone I work with, but I swear, there’s a method behind my madness.

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Strengths and Self-Determination in Disability: A Conversation With Sheida Raley, PhD

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Strengths and Self-Determination in Disability: A Conversation With Sheida Raley, PhD

When Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program alumnae, Kirsten Calloway (C’23) and Margaret Greenberg (C’06), approached us about curating a MAPP Magazine issue focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), we couldn’t have anticipated the twists and turns this issue would take. And yet, collaborating on this effort, watching the magic of the May issue unfold, and now, being among the first to announce the MAPP Alumni Association’s newly launched DEIA+ resource library has been a great honor and joy. 

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The Unshakable Self: Building Identity on Being, Not Having

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The Unshakable Self: Building Identity on Being, Not Having

In my prior career as a trust and estates attorney, I guided countless individuals through the process of deciding how to distribute their "stuff" after their deaths. Few clients welcome the need for estate planning. Like a visit to the dentist, drafting a will is often an obligatory but joyless experience. This is understandable—in addition to its expense and complexity, estate planning is inevitably accompanied by an unwelcome acknowledgment of one’s mortality and the solemn summarization of a lifetime of earnings into a few pages of text.

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