I just wanted to point out that Monday, February 15th is Family Day in Canada.  This is a National Holiday in Canada and frankly I am suprised America has not followed Canada’s lead in making a special day to celebrate the FAMILY!

But do we really need the Federal Government to tell us to take a day to devote to acknowledging our family and making a day of it?  Of course we can pick a day out of the year and call it Family Day and even make it an annual family tradition.  Though it would be nice if everyone had the day off work and schools were closed for the day.  I believe that honoring the family is equally, if not even more important that devoting only one day to focus on Gratitude.  Every day should be a day to be grateful, and every day should be a day to honor our family.

In our family we celebrate Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Brother’s Day (we have two sons) and of course all the other National Holiday’s, but Canada has given me the inspiration to create Family day too.

Character Education begins at home so to focus on family for a day is a character building tool every family can take advantage of.

5 Tips to get your kids to do what you want them to without manipulation, bribery or threats.  It’s a lot easier and more fun than you might think.

By: Patrick McMillan continue to read »

If you take a moment to think about the successful people you know, they are generally self-aware, know how to manage themselves and how to understand and work well with others. Social skills are required to succeed in friendships, school life, community life and eventually working life, so it follows that to be successful in life personally and professionally requires social skills. continue to read »

I can’t wait till January 28^th, 2010 because that is the date Rhonda Ryder, founder of KidsAwakening.com airs her radio show Inspired Parenting where she interviews me about An Exercise in Happiness.  Follow this link to the radio show.

Rhonda’s questions delve deep into what motivated me to create an Exercise in Happiness and of course how and why the program actually works. continue to read »

“Many struggle with situations at work or home that cannot be altered or avoided. You may find yourself talking with friends and family about increasing levels of stress. It can feel like happiness is more illusive than ever before.

Happiness is different things to different people. To some, it is a life without doubt, anger or sadness. To others, it is the ability to receive pleasant things or to focus on what is good rather than fixing what is wrong. In finding the route to happiness, I am defining happiness as an internal state, usually positive, based on your feelings, traits and strengths. According to Martin Seligman, founder of Positive Psychology and author of Authentic Happiness (2002), there are three levels of happiness: continue to read »

“When you’re in the universe, you’re going to encounter a number of people and situations. However, it’s how you react to these situations that will determine the course of your life and the length of the path to your dreams.” continue to read »

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“If you need to be manifesting more happiness in your life, simply decide to be happy and do it today! The secret to finding happiness is to infuse happiness into all of your activities throughout the day.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Every person has the right to live a life of joy, abundance and happiness though so many people don’t realize that they can choose happiness instead of falling victim to the circumstances of life.  It’s really not as complicated as we tend to make it out to be either.  Its about choosing happiness and doing what it takes to find it within yourself, right here, right now. continue to read »

Tal Ben-Shahar, New York Times best selling author and Positive Psychology Professor at Harvard writes six tips that when implemented into our daily life will boost levels of happiness and overall satisfaction with life.  Tal’s first tip is about accepting and acknowledging our emotion.

“Give yourself permission to be human. When we accept emotions — such as fear, sadness, or anxiety — as natural, we are more likely to overcome them” continue to read »

A recent article by Emily Sohn in Science News for Kids captured my attention.  She speaks of  current research in Positive Psychology  Here is an excerpt:

“If you ask people what they want for their children, most say, ‘I want them to be happy,’” says psychologist and happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California, Riverside.

“Not that long ago, however, joy wasn’t considered serious enough for psychologists to study. These scientists traditionally helped people with depression or other mental illnesses.” continue to read »