Think grateful thoughts during athletics to prevent yips (i.e. tiny muscle contractions due to stress)

27. May 2009 by John Schinnerer.

Gratitude produces calm energy (Robert Emmons).

Strategy: Think grateful thoughts during athletics to prevent yips (tiny muscle contractions due to stress)

Dr. John Schinnerer

Posted in Tips to help anxiety, Psychology & soccer, Gratitude, Staying calm, Emotional IQ, Swim coaches, Positive Psychology, Dr. John Schinnerer, Sports Psychology | Print | No Comments »

Controlling Home Electronics With Your Thoughts Now a Budding Reality

27. May 2009 by John Schinnerer.

Virtual Smart Home Controlled By Your Thoughts

ScienceDaily (May 26, 2009) — Light switches, TV remote controls and even house keys could become a thing of the past thanks to brain-computer interface (BCI) technology being developed in Europe that lets users perform everyday tasks with thoughts alone.

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The technology, which was demonstrated at CeBIT in Hannover in March, provides an innovative way of controlling the interconnected electronic devices that will populate the smart homes of the future, granting increased autonomy to people with physical disabilities as well as pleasing TV channel-surfing couch potatoes.

“The BCI lets people turn on lights, change channels on the TV or open doors just by thinking about it,” explains Christoph Guger, the CEO of Austrian medical engineering company g.tec that developed the application…

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090511091733.htm

Posted in The human brain, Business & psych | Print | No Comments »

ADHD Children Need to Move More When Using Higher Order Thinking Skills says UCF study

27. May 2009 by John Schinnerer.

ADHD Children Need to Fidget More When Using Higher Order Thinking Skills says UCF study http://tinyurl.com/ppqkqa

Posted in ADHD, Parenting, School psychology | Print | No Comments »

Was St. Francis of Assisi the first positive psychologist?

18. May 2009 by John Schinnerer.

Positive psychology has been defined in a number of ways, as the science of happiness, the empirical pursuit of subjective well-being, ways to reliably increase life satisfaction, and so on.

I recently came across a quote from St. Francis of Assisi that was written hundreds of years ago yet contains many tenets which I would include in any discussion of positive psychology. Here it is…

“Lord, make me a channel of Thy peace,

That where there is hatred I may bring love;

That where there is wron I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;

That where there is discord I may bring truth;

That where there is doubt I may bring faith;

That where there is despair I may bring hope;

And where there are shadows I bring Thy light;

That where there is  sadness I may bring joy;

Lord grant that I may seek rather to comfort than be comforted,

To understand than be understood,

To love than be loved;

For it is by giving that one receives,

Is it by self-forgetting that one finds,

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,

It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.”

So here we have a number of topics that might fall under the heading of positive psychology:

Peace (Character Strengths and Virtues)

Love  (Barbara Fredrickson - UNC Chapel Hill; also love is most highly associated with life satisfaction and happiness per Chris Peterson)

Forgiveness (Fred Luskin - Stanford)

Truth (character strengths and values a la Chris Peterson & Nansook Park)

Faith (spirituality seems to be a central component of a meaningful live &  a key part of resiliency - Dennis Charney)

Hope  (another positive trait which is associated 2nd most highly with life satisfaction and happiness; research in progress by Rick Snyder at KU)

Joy (self-explanatory)

Altruism (studies have shown that helping others is one of the best ways to increase happiness)

Curiosity (openness to new ideas, cognitive flexibility, approaching novel situations; Todd Kashdan)

Nonattachment to self (Buddhist concept, yet nonattachment is fundamental to contentment, relaxation and high performance)

This seemingly simple prayer by  St. Francis predates positive psychology by hundreds of years. Fortunately, we are now finding empirical evidence to back it up.

Have a wonderful week!

All the best,
John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/johnschin

Posted in Altruism, Resiliency, The human brain, Men's emotions, Mindfulness, Assertiveness, Science of love, Curiosity, Gratitude, Hope, Emotional management, Emotional mind, Life coach, Creativity, Dr. John Schinnerer, Forgiveness, Emotional IQ, Staying calm, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, Morals and values, Happiness, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

For a Little Intellectual Humor - Try Tim Lee

8. May 2009 by John Schinnerer.

And for a quick laugh, check out Tim Lee who turned his back on his Ph.D. to try his hand at humor and ended up using both.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXFi7AdhhGk

Enjoy the laughter,

Dr. John Schinnerer

Positive psychologist

Danville CA 94526

Posted in Managing Sadness, Psychology humor, Managing Anxiety, Happiness, Dr. John Schinnerer, Guide to Self, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »