Happy at work in Philly
The whole company (all 4 of us) were in Philadelphia for the ippa conference on Positive Psychology and we had a blast.
This was the world’s leading conference on the topic with tons of speakers and 1500 attendees and we got to see all the big-wigs in the field, including Seligman, Zimbardo, Cooperrider, Csikszentmihalyi and Diener. Both Dieners in fact :o)
My personal favorite of all the sessions was Ed Diener, who had the most new findings to offer AND was also an excellent speaker – something of a rarity at this very academic event.
Here are some of the best quotes from the event, taken from my twitter stream:
“Awe is what moves us forward.”
– David Cooperrider quoting Joseph Conrad.
“Business must be a force for good in the world.”
– David Cooperrider.
“Homeless people in India and USA missed the Maslow memo.” (Meaning they can be happy even in a bad situation.)
– Robert Biswas-Diener
“Being healthy makes you happy and vice versa, but the link from happiness to health is twice as strong.”
– Ruut veenhoven
“Puritanism is the dreaded suspicion that someone somewhere is happy.”
– Sir Richard Layard quoting H.L. Mencken
“To flourish in life, aim for at least 3 positive emotions for every negative one.”
– Barbara Frederickson
“The top 2 motives for murder are… 1) love, 2) work.”
– Michael Frese
“Being too happy is bad for you. 8 on 1 10-scale is just right. Eg. cancer patients are more likely to survive if they’re at an 8 instead of 9 or 10.”
– Ed Diener
“It’s a myth that lottery winners are no happier after they win the money or that quadriplegics are no unhappier after their accident – your circumstances do matter!”
– Ed Diener
“You look a little down – go do something nice for someone else.”
– Martin Seligman
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