ππππ‘ππ«π’π§π π. πππ§πππ«π¬π¨π§ is a Professor of Psychology at Amherst College who speaks regularly for public & corporate audiences on topics such as the science of happiness, the power of emotional intelligence, the art of aging well, & the psychology of courage & inaction. Sheβs an author of several books including: ππ¨π¬π’ππ’π―π ππ‘π’ππ: πππ¬πππ«π’π§π ππ’π§ππ¬ππ ππ¨ ππ¦π©π«π¨π―π πππ©π©π’π§ππ¬π¬, ππππ₯ππ‘, & ππ¨π§π ππ―π’ππ². Her goal in the Positive Shift book is to provide science-based strategies people can use to improve the quality & longevity of their lives.
On ππ‘π ππ¨ππ’π―πππ’π¨π§ ππ‘π¨π° podcast, we discuss:
-How positive, optimistic thoughts donβt come easily to many people, including her, and why even she has to work for her happiness.
-How she rates her your own happiness most of the time, on a scale of 1 to 10
-What researchers in the field of Positive Psychology tell us
-What happens when we spend time on Facebook
-Why expensive brand-name medicines provide better pain relief than the generic stuff, even if they share the same ingredients.
-Why placing a cell phone on a table reduces the quality of a conversation.
-Why patients in a hospital room with a view of nature recover faster from surgery than those without.
Why people with positive expectations about aging live on average seven and a half years longer than those without
-How Mindset matters and how to get in the proper frame of mind
How our happiness in daily life, the state of our physical health, & even how long we live is largely determined not by external events but rather by the way we think about ourselves & the world around us.
-How do we find some good in terribly difficult circumstances
-THE POWER OF MENTAL SHORTCUTS and how this process of taking shortcuts to make sense of the world is based on stereotypes weβve formed from our experiences
-How, according to one study, midlife adults who hold negative beliefs about aging report having less interest in and less enjoyment of sexual behavior.
-How we can learn to use mental tricks to influence our behavior in positive ways.
-How our Expectations Create Reality
-How the anxiety about potentially making a mistake will increase the chances that you do so.
-Why you should take more chances and risks