Cultivating Hope with Dan Tomasulo

If you’re in need of a healthy dose of hope, this episode is for you. Even if you don’t feel hopeful, we’re going to introduce you to an expert who can help you grow the character strength of hope that lies within all of us.  

“What emerged was a new science of hope. And that really got me excited, because instead of it being something that you either had, or didn't have, or it came to you, there were clearly ways that you could manifest it (if you use that language) or cultivate it.” – Dr. Dan Tomasulo  

Hope isn’t just a feeling. According to the VIA Institute on Character, hope is a character strength, and Dr. Dan Tomasulo says it’s a strength we can grow if we’re mindful. Dan has studied positive psychology for many years and was inspired to research hope when a colleague, Dr. Martin Seligman (one of the founders of the field of positive psychology) wrote a book called Learned Helplessness. It got Dan thinking – if people can learn to feel helpless, maybe they could also learn how to exercise hope. He’s written his own book, Learned Hopefulness, and joined host Jackie Congedo to help us understand more about the topic. He explained to Jackie that feeling like you’re in a negative spot can actually be the trigger that you can use to lean into hope, “Hope is the only positive emotion that requires negativity or uncertainty to be activated, that's what makes it so powerful and unique.” 

Download this episode and find out the small, simple ways you can start to activate more hope today. 

This episode is part of the Cynthia & Harold Guttman Center for Storytelling. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to make sure you don’t miss an episode. https://www.youtube.com/@holocaustandhumanity

Our thanks to the Mayerson Family Foundation and the VIA Institute on Character for their support of this series. 

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EPISODE RESOURCES: 

Learn more about the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/  

Find out more about character strengths from the VIA Institute on Character https://www.viacharacter.org/  

Our thanks to the Mayerson Foundation for their support of this series https://www.mayersonfoundation.org/  

Find out more about Dr. Dan Tomasulo https://www.dantomasulo.com/  

Read more from some of the authors Dan mentioned: 

Dr. Martin Seligman https://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/people/martin-ep-seligman 
Dr. Barbara Frederickson https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/faculty-profile/barbara-l-fredrickson-phd 
Viktor Frankl https://viktorfranklamerica.com/viktor-frankl-bio/  

 

 

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