This past week I attended the first Coaching and Positive Psychology conference at Harvard, born through an initiative co-founded by the CEO of Wellcoaches®, Margaret Moore, of the same name (http://www.harvardcppi.org/). Here is a picture of the Wellcoaches® faculty that was in attendance. It was a sell-out conference and one that will have lasting impact for those who attended.

From l-r: Erika Jackson, Kate Larsen, Margaret Moore, Gabe Highstein, Me, Jessica Wolfson, Bob Tschannen-Moran

I have been involved with Wellcoaches® since 2002, and am so proud of the evolution we have taken, to gather scientific data about what we know works through this initiative! My pilot study with cancer survivors this last year was just the beginning of gathering important information about the outcomes and benefits of wellness coaching.

One of the most compelling presentations at the conference was by Ben and Rosamund Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and co-authors of The Art of Possibility.

They had an incredibly gifted quartet helping them with their presentation, demonstrating the art of possibility. One significant piece of the presentation was the idea that there were always two people playing the violin. The second person is the critical voice in our heads that can drown out the music. The voice in our head is always there. We have stories we tell ourselves that impact our performance and our interactions with all of those we touch. What we can do is change the voice and create a new story that breaks the old one.


An inspirational exercise in starting this journey , is to write a letter about this person (new story) you are wanting to live into. Instead of the letter being a goal-setting type of letter, it’s a letter describing and falling in love with the person you are becoming (the one you want to be).

What’s your new story? Fall in love with the person you describe in your letter!

I plan to write more about my take-aways from the conference, so stay tuned!

Since starting my “active” blog recently (before then, it was active every 18 months :-) ), I found that people coming to my web site go to read my blog page, 10 to 1. Amazing. The other interesting fact, was that it also appears, the majority seem to be interested in the title, “Appreciation of Beauty/Excellence” as far as subjects. It is one of the Authentic Happiness Character Strengths (see Happiness and Positive Emotion), that I have listed as a major category to write about. Unfortunately, I have only one post there, so far, and it is only a picture with a title.

It is a picture of one of our longhorn cows and her newborn baby. It was a beautiful morning back in June, when this miracle occurred, and I’m certain the full extent of the beauty was lost in translation. There have been many more moments of beauty between then and now, but I have included them in other blog postings (LIVESTRONG, Utlizing Multiple Strengths).

In honor and memory of a special trip my family took last year at this time, I want to share the appreciation I have for the beauty of not only Hawaii, but the beauty of family. I am grateful my father chose to bring us all together in Hawaii and share this picture perfect place. We will always treasure it.

What memories bring thoughts of gratitude, appreciation of beauty, and happiness to your life? They don’t have to be big events. Most are in the little moments we find along life’s journey!

Ideas for action:

Take a moment to pull out a photo album or two and enjoy the memories.
Print out or take out some of the pictures and put them where you can enjoy them for a few days.
Call or write (sharing the photo?) some of the people involved in the pictures that spark the good memory and express your gratitude for them.
Go to www.AuthenticHappiness.com to find what your VIA Signature/Character Strengths are, and start using them in a new way every day!

One of our new babies...