We do this thing at work called a Sage Session where someone picks a tech talk, we watch it, and then discuss it. Today was my turn, and I didn’t really want to talk about tech, because it’s not the thing that slows people down. I wanted to talk about positive psychology, so… we did! I liked the notes I came up with enough that I’m going to repurpose them here!
Talks we watched
- The Secret to Happy Work by Shawn Achor: One of my all-time favorite TED Talks and worth watching, because it’s very funny, and a great introduction to the value of positive psychology.
- There’s More to Life Than Being Happy by Emily Esfahani Smith: This one was new to me, but I wanted to find a counterpoint to all that happy talk. This is a good one.
Talks I wanted to show, but didn’t
- The Habits of Happiness by Matthieu Ricard: One of my all-time favorite talks and how I got introduced to mindfulness.
- How to Make Stress Your Friend by Kelly McGonigal: A really interesting talk on stress, the fear of stress and how they’re different.
- Want to Help Someone? Shut up and Listen! by Ernesto Sirolli: In your search for meaning, it pays to join help already in progress. Don’t plant tomatoes where they don’t belong.
Things to try
3 Good Things: Watch this and then do this.
Book
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl – One of the best books I’ve ever read on finding meaning in life and relationships
- Gratitude by Oliver Sacks – Nice and short, written by Oliver Sacks near the end of his life. It’s really good.
- The Abundant Community by John McKnight and Peter Block – great overview of how to do community building based on abundance.
Podcasts
- The Happiness Lab episode with the guy who invented positive psychology
