Translating wellbeing science into positive community experiences.

Community Celebrations:

• March 20th: the International Day of Happiness
  • 2025 Lincoln | Omaha
  • 2024 The 25th anniversary of positive psychology took place in the community where it all began, Lincoln, Nebraska—also the birthplace of strengths psychology (1949). “Very little was known about the psychology of success, the psychology of strengths, and the benefit of the positive psychology approach.”
• July 13th: the International Day of Play (2025: Lincoln)
• July 12th: the International Day of Hope (2025: Lincoln and Omaha)
• Celebrating the first Sunday in December as the International Day of Strengths (Lincoln 2025)
• International Day of Play www.postivityitymatters.org/dayofplay Saturday, June 13, 2026

Wellbeing science can be summarized with the acronym H.A.P.P.Y. L.I.F.E.

Positivity Matters Musings:

• Hope is a belief that the future can be better.
• Optimism is the belief that the future will be better.
• “[Practical] hope is a perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways.” ~C.R. (Rick) Snyder
• The pursuit of happiness can lead to kindness.
• Building habits of kindness can cause happiness to pursue you.
• You are beautiful.
• We are each a bespoke kindness card—a piece of handcrafted paper embedded with wildflower seeds (psychological strengths).
• Strengths are seeds of kindness that may bloom into friendship.
• Add a dash of joie de vivre to this world whenever possible.
• Is there an upper limit of awesomeness?
• “What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Side effects of the shared pursuit of wisdom (philosophy) may include awesomeness and friendship.

Mentoring • Kindness • Friendship
Mentoring is about providing someone unconditional positive regard and helping them to channel their strengths into self-sustaining practical hope. Mentoring overall is a form of constructive kindness. Unconditional positive regard is a form of compassionate kindness. When we play and invite others into the fun, we are practicing playful kindness. Playful kindness is radiant kindness which also includes the volunteer docent who guides and poses questions the help you understand and bring meaning to a work of art. We can build friendship with ourselves (observational self, experiential self, future self, etc) when we practice radiant, compassionate and constructive kindness to our own person. Mutual kindness is what friendship are made of. We cannot give what we do not have. The quality of friendship we have with ourselves plays a role in the quality of friendship that we are able to offer to others.

Positivity Matters Advisory Council