t-615… Behind the Scenes

Just this afternoon (yesterday by now), I finished listening to a mind-opening, world changing audio book by author and positive psychology researcher Shawn Achor entitled “The Happiness Advantage“. In a nutshell, Shawn writes about the impact that mindset, and specifically a positive mindset, has on how we perceive and navigate our world, interact with our friends and neighbors, and ultimately achieve great things. Turns out, mindset is huge!! Not such a surprising fact but a remarkably difficult one to apply. I consider myself a fairly cheerful person and much of what Shawn discusses in his book feels like common sense, but as Shawn points out, common sense doesn’t always equal common practice. It took a few listening sessions for this idea to really take root in me. Positive person or not, there’s still so much more I could be doing! Hearing his thoughts and theories clearly outlined over the course of the past couple weeks helped me understand not just the concept but the practice of a positive mindset in a much more concrete way. Scanning our world for opportunity rather than irritation, choosing to highlight strengths rather than weaknesses, and finding growth and potential in even the most difficult (...)