Correct Date: Sunday, Sept. 13th!

Did Yo Know? Positive Psychology Seminar in Pleasantville, NY

Get excited about the first mobile app of a full positive psychology program. Live Happy (tm) was developed with Signal Patterns Labs in Pleasantville and Sonja Lyubimirsky, author of The How of Happiness.

Ran Zilca, researcher and CEO of Signal Patterns Labs, will be discussing Sonja's research, as well as the work of Barbara Frederickson, and other Positive Psychology scientists. It should be a very enjoyable evening. Registration is $10, and includes a buffet dinner. The date is Sunday. Sept. 15, from 4-6 pm.

If you're in the area, Pleasantville is very pleasant, ... as are the people who have already reserved a spot. And, you can see, the registration fee is so Recession Sensitive! Come if you can, (DV).

The rest of the details can be found below:

A Positive Psychology Seminar
State-of-the-Art Research-based Interventions and Tools
Guest Speaker: Ran Zilca, PhD, Researcher and CEO of Signal Patterns Labs*
Sunday, September 13th, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Signal Patterns’ Labs, 42 Memorial Plaza, Suite 210, Pleasantville, NY
Hosted by Change for Good Coaching, LLC and Signal Patterns
In this networking dinner meeting for the interested, for therapists and life coaches:

Take part
...in the debut of Live Happy™ the first professional grade mobile application implementing a full positive psychology program

Learn
What Makes People Happy - what happiness is and how can it be measured

Consider
The Benefits of the Pursuit of Happiness - for work, love, and health, and why it is important

Discuss
How Practitioners Can Help Clients – to boost mood, increase happiness, and improve overall psychological well-being

Take Away
Measures and assessments, activities, interventions, mobile and web-based tools designed to assist clients in achieving goals, improving mood, level of happiness and overall psychological well-being.

Registration for this networking dinner event is now open for mental health professionals and coaches. Cost of $ 10 includes a Buffet Dinner (French Cuisine). Space is limited, so registration will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. To register and/or for more information, Email: DrJillReed@aol.com or call Change for Good Coaching, LLC at 914-762-3980

 
*Signal Patterns develops psychology-based web and mobile applications that help individuals improve their well-being and relationships with others. Signal Patterns developed LIVE HAPPY™, a mobile happiness-boosting application based on cutting edge positive psychology research. Developed by a team of over 20 PhDs worldwide, Signal Patterns” online professional-grade solutions include self and relationship assessments, positive psychology activities and social tools for connecting with like-minded individuals.

Shirley, Goodness and Mercy...and Aunt Stasia

With all the best intentions, my first week of preparation for the 5K revealed the need for refurbishment. My partially-met goal was a week of seafood and 50% raw plant-based food, for 2 meals a day. Coach Gayle and I had a conversation about this, creating a positive re-frame for the coming week. This led me to understand something about using different strengths to find success. In searching for inspiration, I found some wonderful support.

And so it happened, then, that I got up and went to the kitchen this morning to make seafood-based lunch. That’s exactly where I found the inspirational quartet of chefs, Shirley, Goodness, Mercy, and Aunt Stasia. We worked happily, preparing tuna salad, chopping crunchy raw veggies to mix in. We seasoned with vinegar. And so, we prepared the core of lunches for several days. No waiting until lunchtime when I’m too tired and too hungry to fix tuna salad. Because I had such lovely company, it was done, not with pain, but joy.

What different strengths did I use? I considered the VIA Signature Strengths found under the category of “Temperance: strengths that protect against excess.” I was surprised to find “Forgiveness and mercy” as the first on the list! Next came, of all things, “Humility,” then “Prudence” and “Self regulation.” But those two I expected.

Here’s what I learned. I’m angry and have some gaps in forgiveness that give me an appetite to get even!! I’m never full, as vengeance creates a hole in me. So, positively speaking, I can write the offender’s name in the center of a page, write some words describing the hurt right under the name, and enclose them all in a big circle. Next, I can draw 15 (!) circles around the center one, and fill them with the “Goodness” things about that person. Mercy plugs the hole, appetite-wise!

Humility comes next. I found that I have to be humble enough to bless me along with the food, not seeking lime-light, but rather being modest in receiving kind feelings about myself. This fills me up and makes portion control a non-issue. My real hunger is for “succor.” And that is exactly where Aunt Stasia re-enters the inspiration. She is my model of humility, but more so, the very one I think of first when I think of blessing me.
Surely (aka “Shirley”) goodness and mercy (...and Aunt Stasia) will follow me all the days of my life.

"Live Happy" iPod Application

Say, friends of Positive Psychology AND tech stuff, here's something really new on the scene. Let me share this invitation with you. You may find it of some interest.


CLIENTS NEED A HAPPINESS BOOST?
THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT!
An Invitation to a Seminar on the LIVE HAPPY™ Application for the iPhone:
A Happiness-Boosting Positive Psychology Program

LIVE HAPPY is a comprehensive, first of its kind, mobile happiness-boosting application developed by Signal Patterns’ SP Labs research team together with Dr. Sonja Lyubormirsky, author of the book The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want and professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside.

Who should come?
• Mental health professionals/Psychotherapists
• Life Coaches

Be among the first clinicians in the world to learn how to optimize the benefits of this cutting edge research-based positive psychology application for your clients!

With the Live Happy App your clients can:
• Measure their moods and happiness level
• Take a personality test and identify their character strengths
• Learn which activities are best for them
• Engage in easy-to-do activities proven to increase happiness

This seminar is co-sponsored by Change for Good Coaching, LLC and Signal Patterns’ Labs.

Hosts and Seminar Leaders:
Come meet Ran Zilca, CEO and Founder of Signal Patterns’ SP Labs, developer of the Live Happy™ App
Jill Reed, Psy.D., CEO and Founder, Change for Good Coaching, LLC, Clinical Psychologist and Positive Psychology Life Coach
Virginia Hurley, Ed.D., ACC, Change for Good Coaching, LLC, Positive Psychology Life Coach

PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE SEMINAR, DINNER AND AN OPPORTUNITY TO NETWORK!

Where: Signal Patterns’ Labs, 42 Memorial Plaza, Suite 210, 2nd Floor, Pleasantville (Across from the Train Station, between Starbucks and Post Office)

When: Sunday, August 9, 2009 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Cost: $ 10

RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED AS SEATING IS LIMITED
Email: DrJillReed@aol or call Change for Good Coaching, LLC at 914-762-3980

(It is not necessary to own an iPhone or iPod Touch to attend this event!)

When Aunt Stasia Ran the Kitchen

Tidewriting
...written in the sand; carried by the sea


Once, before there was buying in bulk, and living with bulk, Aunt Stasia ran the kitchen. She knew all about "re-use, reduce, and recycle," but didn't call them that. That's just the way things were. It was not a time of excess; it was a time of enough. And that's what made for enjoyment, and contentment for all of us within the range of her nurture.

We really didn't seem to have numerous containers for left-overs, if I remember correctly. A meal was considered well-planned and well-prepared if the clean-up did not include putting away lots of food. There was enough, for everybody. And, there were many, many everybodies.

One really important lesson was entitled, "Don't spoil your appetite!" To spoil your appetite did not bless the hands that prepared the meal. The meal was your nutrition, as well as an object of gratitude. We were mindful, back then, of the One who provided and the one who prepared, and were truly grateful because we did not go in want.

So, the term "snack food" would have been greeted with, "What?" I remember every so often having a strange sensation upon arriving home from my swim in the ocean. Now, in my 60th decade, I recognize it as hunger, but didn't then. "Hunger" came but three times a day, and 3:00 pm wasn't one of them. Yet every so often, food started looking incredibly good to me. This included corn flakes, any summer fruit, and an amazing Nabisco cookie called, "Melody Wafers." I would start sniffing around the kitchen after my shower. It apparently set off a sensor somewhere, and Aunt Stasia would appear. "Don't spoil your appetite!" (At 5 pm, supper was on the table.) So, ON OCCASION, I would be allowed a plum, a nectarine, a small cereal-size bowl of corn flakes with milk, or a Melody wafer with a very small glass of milk--too small to dunk. Oh, so tasty! And, if all went well, by the time supper was over, I had very nicely cleaned my plate.

There was big a protocol about eating the last piece, last slice, or last mouthful. Someone with stature at the table got the last piece. No one ever wanted to presume on that status. Indeed, the last piece always had to be pressed upon one, and never grabbed for. This came down through the generations as an object lesson. In fact, it was the men-folk who repeated cautionary tales involving mythical guests at the table who once stuck their own forks into the last piece of whatever was on the platter. Two no-nos were represented: sticking your own fork, and taking the last piece. So, this well-learned protocol may well have assisted us in starting up the brain-based "stop eating" hormones a little in advance of being filled to the gills. In truth, there was perfectly enough, down to the last thin slice of marinated flank steak.

When Aunt Stasia ran the kitchen, we ate well, felt well, savored the freshness of what we ate, and the company in which we ate it. We were active, healthy, helpful, considerate of the wants of others, and laughed a great deal as we did the dishes together. When Aunt Stasia ran the kitchen, we could not spoil our appetites ever for the love and kindness she served up in abundance.

What rings true for you here? If you could have it now, what would you want more of?

Models of Savoring

This is
Tidewriting
...written in the sand; carried by the sea.




Who are the models of savoring?


Once there was a rabbi teaching the crowds.
And the little children ran up to him and clung to him while he taught.
His followers tried to shoo the little children away, but the rabbi said,
“Allow the little children to come to me, and don’t forbid them, for of such is the
kingdom of heaven.”


The kingdom of heaven? All savoring all the time. No counterpoints of suffering,
no more, “time to go.” No more, “put that down now.” No more, “you’ve had enough,” and,
no more “say goodbye.”

And, most little children? Gifted with wonderment, delight, and zest.
Pleased by positive recollection. Immersed in the present. Elevated by
anticipation.

All savoring, all the time.

“All the way to heaven IS heaven.”
Therese de Lisieux

"WWJE" not original to Nemo

Alas, there is a book out by Dr. Colbert, of similar title, back in 2003. It was a bit controversial in some sectors. Not meant to be a set of dietary rules, by some it was practiced as such. Not our purpose here at Nemo.

Here's a nice blog that may appeal to you. I like this resource very much.
http://sabbathmeals.typepad.com/sabbath_meals/2006/01/but_thats_ancie.html

...and here's a book title that looks really interesting for my gardener buddies:
Skyhorse Publishing > Cooking > Foods Jesus Ate and How to Grow Them
by Allen A. Swenson, May, 2008

Basically, authors I searched describe a Mediterranean-style diet that included lots of fish, whole-grains, fruits, vegetables, and olive oil. Also mentioned specifically in relation to Jesus were
broiled fish & honeycomb Luke 24:42
barley bread, John 6:9 or a form of sourdough
pomegranates
figs
wine (grapes)
olives
saffron (rose of Sharon)
celery
mint
lamb

Challenge: What's a "Sabbath Walk," and could you do one by Dec. 24th?
Enjoy!
V