A study by my colleague Marc Brackett examined affective forecasting ability and EI. Affective forecasting is the ability to accurately predict how you will feel about some future event. For example, consider how you will feel if a political candidate you support fails to win an election. We then come back after the election and [...]
Emotional contagion is the spreading of emotions or moods from one person to another. It happens with pleasant as well as unpleasant moods. Some people are more contagious than others. Josh Freedman, for example, is a powerful agent of emotional contagion. The emotions he transmits always seem to be pleasant and high-energy. On the ‘mood [...]
Dear ones, Tomorrow the Jewish holiday of Passover begins, so I’ve been thinking about freedom and about love. Passover commemorates the time when Jews were enslaved in Egypt and then Gd, through Moses, led them to forge a path toward freedom. Moses didn’t want the job — he felt unqualified, incapable… uncertain and hopeless, but [...]
It feels like summertime here – glorious, peaceful, and relaxed. The scent of jasmine is pouring in through my office windows along with the gently cooling evening air. Yesterday I was talking with a client/friend about where he needs to put energy in his business. Hands down: “relationships.” Reaching out and connecting, mostly externally and [...]
On two recent occasions I have been confronted with the realities of the information and population explosion. Sharing a meal with a well informed professional person, we have mentioned leaders in our respective fields of work, only to be faced with completely blank looks. These are social trials …. either trying to hide our shock [...]
This week 300 Americans from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra entered North Korea to play a concert for an audience of dignitaries. This is the first and largest group of Americans to visit North Korea since the war in the early 50′s. The flags of the United States and North Korea, two countries locked in [...]
The number of UK doctors prescribing exercise for treating depression symptoms has risen by 17% in just 3 years. The survey reported by the BBC showed that the benefits of exercise included the releasing of natural endorphins, less social isolation and better body image. I wonder how long until doctors start prescribing longer break times [...]
I have had a couple of times lately that tears have welled up in my eyes. As I watch and listen to the events surrounding the presidential campaign, I am really amazed about those citizens who are attempting to become President of the United States. Diversity is such an important value of mine and I [...]
I found this article intriguing, both in the framing and the advice. The setup is that while we talk a lot about things being different in our organizations (and lives), most of us won’t actually do much about it. Is that ok with you? … the truth is we will all still be at the [...]
Emma, Max, Patty and I were coming near the end of our family vacation in Montreal and there was some, shall we say, fussy behavior. So we began to talk about beginnings, middles, and endings and I’ve been thinking more about these phases and the feelings that go with them. Awareness of beginnings, middles, and [...]