Blog

My blog explores a variety of topics linked to improving both our own well-being and that of those around us. Many posts are informed by positive psychology and offer ways we can proactively build positive changes in our thoughts and behaviours.

Highlighting & Building Strengths in Your Students

The 24 VIA Character Strengths are the best parts of our personality that influence how we think, feel and behave. Everyone has all 24 character strengths, some will be stronger in us than others, giving us a unique character profile. Research shows that just being aware of our character strengths can improve our well-being and…

The Psychology of Choice

The text below comes from an article written by Pr. Ilona Boniwell which originally appeared on her Positran consultancy website. Pr. Boniwell is an expert and leading figure in Positive Psychology and we regularly collaborate on wellbeing education projects. It’s a commonly held belief that choice means freedom, freedom leads to well-being and that as…

Are you ready for a hybrid world?

A special inquiry into the long-term impact the accelerated reliance on digital technology over the Covid-19 pandemic may have to our well-being suggests we need to plan for a ‘hybrid world’ (UK Parliament, 2021). This future embraces the flexibility of virtual and face-to-face work, communication and connection and the benefits both can bring – it…

Developing Forgiveness in Youth

Forgiveness is closely linked to the character strength of humility and the positive emotions of empathy and compassion. The cognitive and emotional processes involved in forgiving can bring many personal benefits as well as playing an important role in maintaining healthy relationships. Young children are still developing their cognitive skills and their ability to forgive…

Loneliness Runs “Like a Dark Thread”

Loneliness is a complex emotion – and although it’s likely that we have or will feel lonely at some point in life, our experiences of loneliness are personal to us. The post below is the second by Henny Syers, an experienced educator and positive psychology practitioner who is passionate about social change and the importance of…

Strengths Based Parenting

Building up self-awareness, confidence and resilience is a key part of positive child development. One way to do this is to make children aware of their personal strengths and how they can regularly use them. A previous post about developing children’s strengths explores how you can foster this awareness in more detail. As children become…

5 Ways To Connect With Nature

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) suggests five ways we can connect with nature to improve our well-being. As well as these simple tips, they also offer access to a free, in depth ‘Thriving With Nature’ guide which explores links between our well-being and the outdoors and suggests practical activities to engage with.

Loneliness Matters

Loneliness is a complex emotion – and although it’s likely that we have or will feel lonely at some point in life, our experiences of loneliness are personal to us. The post below was written by Henny Syers, an experienced educator and positive psychology practitioner based in Bali. Like all of us, Henny has been…

WoW! News

When I learnt about WoW! News, I was keen to share it with you. Providing young people with opportunities to access age appropriate and balanced news is so important – WoW! News offers a platform to engage children with current affairs in a more positive and solution focused manner. It’s an invaluable tool that has…

Our Brain

Developing children’s emotional intelligence and teaching them to recognise their emotions can help children to overcome stress, manage aggression and express their feelings. It has an impact on their overall well-being, behaviour and relationships with others. One way to do this is to help children understand and recognise the different parts of the brain and…

Flow

This is an excerpt from a blog post ‘Living in Flow: what is it and how to enter the flow state?’ written by Pr. Ilona Boniwell which originally appeared on her Positran consultancy website. Pr. Boniwell is an expert and leading figure in Positive Psychology. Have you ever spent half an hour searching the internet…

Quizzes

If you’re curious how you score on e.g. emotional intelligence, empathy, mindfulness, gratitude or levels of stress and anxiety, the Greater Good Science Center has free online quizzes on these topics and more. You can take them as a one off or set up an account, save your quiz scores and track your progress over…

Loading…

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.