‘Hope’ Archive

My Story: Why I Do What I Do July 12, 2010 12 Comments

Picture it: 1978, Pascack Valley Hospital, Westwood, NJ - I was born an unexpected twin, breech, the youngest of four children. “Doctor you have another baby in there,” the nurse said as she was cleaning up after Christine was born. “WHAT?!??! my parents screamed.”
I grew up in the suburbs of NYC (not far from the [...]

A positive message to youth+ May 12, 2010 2 Comments

I’ve been working with the Governor’s Committee on Scholastic Achievement to give talks around New York to high school and college students - giving them nuggets of positive psychology that could help change the course of their lives.
The best part of these programs is that they not only involve the young adults, many of whom [...]

Hindsight is 2010: My apology to President George W. Bush February 5, 2010 8 Comments

Ever since hearing President Obama’s state of the union address last week, I couldn’t help but thinking what I need to do: ask for President W and his supporters for forgiveness – forgiveness for my own lack of support during his presidency, for saying things like “He’s not my President, he’s yours.” For mocking him [...]

Take me to Pandora, or the Positive Psychology of Avatar January 29, 2010 No Comments

Read my most recent article published today on Positive Psychology News Daily. Click here.

Towards a Positive*ly wonderful holiday season December 15, 2009 No Comments

Last week, our meetup discussed ways to really have a banging holiday season this year.  A mighty group of us talked about how to use Positive Psychology (the science of happiness & success) to make this happen.  We started by asking, “How do we want to be feeling on January 1?” Inspired? Excited? Rested? Hopeful?
Some [...]

Positive Person: LADY GAGA (Barbara Walters thinks so too) December 11, 2009 No Comments

First on Barbara Walter’s special of the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009 is Lady Gaga.

What makes her so positive?

“I had a dream and was fearless with my ambition,” Gaga (who’s right around my age) says. “Every bit of me is devoted to love and art.” It’s all about clarifying dreams and building intrinsic [...]

A Positive Person: Stanford Addison, quadriplegic and resilient November 18, 2009 No Comments

An amazingly  positive profile of a gentler who heals horses and people from his wheelchair in Wyoming. A great story of resilience and inspiration. Click here for his story in the New York Times October 2, 2009.

Positive Place: In presence of the Dalai Lama October 14, 2009 No Comments

Last week I had the great fortune of being with the Dalai Lama three days in two cities. The second of these visits brought me to Washington DC, where the Mind Life Institute presented an annual congress on learning called “Educating World Citizens” which brought together over 2,000 international voices.
The Dalai Lama participated in all [...]

Positive Person: Amanda Harmon, 40, female, Hamilton Heights, Harlem October 4, 2009 2 Comments

She is an old soul with a young spirit who I met at a mutual friend’s cocktail party sometime last year. She and I were hanging out in the kitchen with several others talking about what we “do” – typical cocktail party banter. But when it came to Amanda’s turn to share, she had an [...]

Savoring Camp Happy Times September 22, 2009 No Comments

Hello Mother, Hello Father

Greetings from summer sleep-away camp. Really, I write this tucked away in the woods in northeastern Pennsylvania – a tiny spot of heaven called Camp Happy Times – aptly named for a place where two hundred kids who have or have had cancer come for a week’s time of fun, fun, [...]