I had read Dr. Seligman’s book, Learned Optimism at the recommendation of Dr. David P. Campbell in the early 1990s when we both were working for the Center for Creative Leadership.  I was at the Greensboro headquarters and David was based at the Colorado Springs campus, but traveling all over the globe speaking and training based on his illustrious career as a psychological instrument developer and world class leadership expert.  David, in my mind someone you always listened to for good ideas, had said that he thought it was some revolutionary new thinking in psychology focusing on positive emotions instead of negative ones.  He thought I would be particularly interested in some of the things Seligman was talking about related to children and parenting.  My boys were just toddlers at the time, but already showing their unique and almost opposite approaches to life – one more pessimistic, the other more optimistic.  David was increasingly fascinated with Seligman’s work and that was enough to get me interested too.

The website for the Authentic Happiness work includes a treasure trove of free resources.  There are four main areas on the site:

• Test Center – includes 5 Emotion Questionnaires; 8 Engagement Questionnaires; 3 Meaning Questionnaires and 2 Life Satisfaction Questionnaires.

• Questionnaires – this is the same list as the Test Center, but in the Test Center the items are in a grid overview format and in this section there is slightly more information about the origin of the questionnaire and what it measures.

• Resources – this section provides a list of other websites that are related to positive psychology. Opportunities to participate in research studies are also offered in this section.

• Newsletters – this is the archive of articles about positive psychology topics including The Authentic Happiness Coaching Newsletters that provide important insights into character strengths and virtues.

I thought that the following paragraph from the site captured the essence of Seligman’s work at this Center:

Understanding positive emotions entails the study of contentment with the past, happiness in the present, and hope for the future. Understanding positive individual traits consists of the study of strengths and virtues: the capacity for love and work, courage, compassion, resilience, creativity, curiosity, integrity, self-knowledge, moderation, self-control, and wisdom. Understanding positive institutions entails the study of the strengths that foster better communities, such as justice, responsibility, civility, parenting, nurturance, work ethic, leadership, teamwork, purpose, and tolerance.

So thanks Lynne for pointing this out to us.  I’m enjoying all the very interesting information on this site and I appreciate the chance to luxuriate in the positive psychology space whose goal is to make the world a happier place.

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Yes! You can use this article in your ezine, blog or website as long as you add the following bio box:

Barbara Demarest (www.barbarademarest.com) received her MBA from the Babcock School of Management at Wake Forest University and her BA from Duke University. After 20 years at the Center for Creative Leadership, Barbara launched a coaching practice to help executives and entrepreneurs position themselves, their products, and their organizations.  You can find Barbara’s profile on www.thecoachingassociation.com.

I had the chance to experience a training program called Choice Points: The Paper Room System that offered a remarkable methodology for clients and for us as coaches to “unlearn what we know that just ain’t so.”  Using it has allowed me to accomplish with clients in 4-8 hours what may have sometimes taken 6 months or longer in the past. Also there have been some very sweet and unexpected ripple effects in my relationships with colleagues, spouse, friends and family.

If you are hungry for something new, to unlearn something old, or simply to treat yourself to some professional/personal “candy,” I’d recommend Choice Points: The Paper Room System

When I went through the Qualifying Program to pursue certification in Choice Points: The Paper Room System , it was at the invitation of highly respected colleague, Dr. Roger Pearman.  Roger is a world-renown author, leader, consultant, coach, trainer, entrepreneur, and innovator extraordinaire.  He operates on the cusp of new thought and systems and I have become smarter and more efficient over the years because of Roger.  When he  speaks, I listen.  While listening to Roget has proven to be a very wise course of action repeatedly in the past, in this instance it was “wisdom on steroids.”  Thank you, Roger.

I thought the process looked interesting and I was ready for a fix for my insatiable learning appetite, so the time was right.  I had a particular client in mind that was at a significant “choice point” in her career in an organization that was also at its own critical “choice point.”  So, when invited, I just said yes! Initially, I thought that my purpose for being there was to add a new tool to the tool box, satisfy my need for a learning hit, and obtain a new process for this client who is a self-proclaimed strategic pioneer who requires the highest standards of innovation in her strategic partners.

Had these alone been the ROI on my time and tuition, it would have been a great return.  Yet, the gifts were so much greater. I don’t know how to convey to you how much potential I believe that this process offers the fields of coaching, creativity, innovation, leadership, ethics and its capacity for organizational impact in all sectors. We could look to the transformative effect that digital technology has had on photography, communication, telecommunication and it might offer us a glimpse of what is available here.

I experienced just such a glimpse during the two-day qualifying program.  This tasty morsel whet my appetite for more.  I contracted with Marilyn Taylor for the full-course meal–going through the complete Choice Points Paper Room System as a coachee with the interactive benefit of a master coach. For those of us who are coaches, we know the invaluable benefits to our clients when they experience our full attention, presence, giftedness, and rich listening.  Magic happens.  Marilyn is such a coach.

If I tried to pick apart all of the ingredients that make this recipe work, we would lose the gestalt of the whole. It is a kaleidoscope of images, constructs, thoughts, feelings.  It includes storytelling and the story that is depicted is one of immense interest to most of us—ourselves!  The story is recorded visually on panels that reflect one’s origins, history, values, and eye toward the future. It invites one to check in on all life and work domains. This check-in might be likened to the preventive maintenance servicing we arrange for our automobiles that ensures quality of life for the length of the vehicle.  Yet it is so much more than this…more like ensuring you’re driving the vehicle of your dreams than simply maintaining the existing vehicle.

Have you ever played with the toys the kids call transformers?  When you start out with the thing, it has one shape and form and by the time you’re done, all the component parts remain, yet it has assumed a whole new shape and identity.  Well, the Paper Room reminds me of those transformers. These panels depicting one’s life start out appearing in one form, yet more layers and new meanings and shape appear before your very eyes.

I am told that the ancient Hebrew word manna, the substance which fell in the desert to sustain the Israelites for forty years, was the literal translation of what they exclaimed when they experienced manna for the first time – “What is it?” That describes what I can say about the Paper Room.  It is manna that fell in the desert to feed me.  It’s not like anything else I ever tasted.  And who can adequately describe something so confounding yet life giving?  I can say this: The Paper Room promises to provide direction, energize, challenge, refresh, and make new if you let it.

At a retirement reception for gifted colleagues Bill Sternberg and Kerry Bunker of the Center for Creative Leadership, I heard two quotes that seem to apply. In his forty-year tenure at the Center, Bill led an estimated 20,000+ people through leadership development programs. He condensed forty years and his life’s work into these few words: “Leadership is making the world more like the place you want it to be.” The Paper Room System is about that kind of leadership.

A second pearl offered that day was “Trust the process and get out of the way!”  Marilyn has a softer manner of expression. She invited me to “trust the process and reap a harvest of gifts.”

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Guest blogger: Joyce White is an executive and organizational coach with twenty years of diversified experience from the Executive Suite to the factory floor; from healthcare to government; and from church to military.  In addition to her own business (www.newcoachingsolutions.com), she is an adjunct faculty member with the highly respected Center for Creative Leadership, a global provider of leadership systems. You can reach Joyce at joycewhite@newcoachingsolutions.com.