Centre for Confidence and Well-being, Blogs and Forum

Carol Craig is the Centre's Chief Executive. She is author of The Scots' Crisis of Confidence, Creating Confidence: A Handbook for Professionals Working with Young People and The Tears that Made the Clyde: Well-being in Glasgow. Carol blogs on confidence, well-being, inequality, every day life and some of the great challenges of our time. The views she expresses are her own unless she specifically states that they reflect the Centre's thinking.

You can view Carol's tweets on Twitter and sign up to follow by using this link:
https://twitter.com/#!/craig_carol

Why do people not value their health?

02/05/2013

I had an interesting, if sad, meeting recently. more

'Scotland's Local Food Revolution'

18/04/2013

I’m currently helping to prepare the next book in our Postcards from Scotland series. more

Valuing low skilled workers

27/02/2013

Workmen are redoing our road this week. more

Glasgow's destructive love affair with designer dummy tits

15/02/2013

THIS BLOG WAS PICKED UP BY THE SCOTTISH MAIL ON SUNDAY. more

The value of community and relationships

05/02/2013

My views have evolved considerably over the years. more

Wy meandering in life might beat setting goals

22/01/2013

Many years ago I attended a course run by a Scottish personal development guru. more

The benefits of respect and appreciation

08/01/2013

I have been consistently impressed by the work of Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit. more

My new dog's cramping my style and I'm loving it

04/12/2012

I've been thinking a lot recently about Barry Schwartz's work on choice. more

Capacitar

20/11/2012

I went along to a taster workshop on Sunday afternoon for a training programme called Capacitar. more

The Great Takeover

03/11/2012

The official launch for Postcards from Scotland isn't for another couple of weeks but books for two of the three new titles are now in the bookshops. more

Personal reflections on working for the BBC

25/10/2012

The controversy over the BBC and Jimmy Savile have made me reflect on my own experience of BBC culture. more

Update

15/08/2012

I've just realised that I haven't written a blog for almost two months. more

Ed Miliband, Labour and Morality

24/06/2012

Last week the Labour Leader Ed Miliband said in response to the revelation about Jimmy Carr's tax avoidance: ' I'm not in favour of tax avoidance obviously, but I don't think it is for politicians to lecture people about morality. more

Margaret Wheatley on Postcards from Scotland

08/06/2012

I had the great privilege to be the warm up act for Margaret Wheatley in Glasgow on Tuesday at an event organised by the CLD Standards Council. more

Background to Postcards from Scotland from Argyll Publishing

24/05/2012

When I finished working on the new edition of The Scots' Crisis of Confidence last year I felt a certain sadness that I had come to the end of my working relationship with Derek Rodger from Argyll Publishing who I found a joy to work with. more

Let's sort out our thinking on the environment

16/05/2012

On Sunday night I watched a poignant documentary on BBC 2 as part of' series on the Indian Ocean with Simon Reeve. more

A Scots engineer's reflections on Scotland

09/05/2012

I recently received such an interesting and insightful comment from a Scottish engineer who had read The Scots Crisis of Confidence that I've decided to give over my blog this week to him:

I've just read 'The Scots Crisis of Confidence' updated version, having read the first issue around five or six years ago, and thought I would share a few thoughts with you. more

The other side ...

30/04/2012

On 15th of April I posted a blog calling for the SNP to address the issue of cybernats. more

'What does it profit a man…?' Why the SNP leadership need to do something about the Cybernats

15/04/2012 | 10 Comments

In the wake of the controversy over the puerile Economist cover showing a map of Scotland as 'Skintland' the internet was ablaze with comments from 'cybernats'. more

Our indebtedness to Wilkinson, Pickett, Dorling and Murphy

11/04/2012

Shortly after the publication of The Spirit Level on how inequality leads to worse health and social outcomes, one of the co-authors – Professor Richard Wilkinson - spoke at a conference in Edinburgh. more

A welcome sprinkling of fairy dust

07/04/2012

In the last 24 hours I have been feeling that I have a fairy godmother. more

Twittering - getting to grips with the pros and cons

06/04/2012 | 1 Comment

I set up a twitter account for myself a few weeks ago but up till now haven't said a dickie bird. more

Trumped or duped?

30/03/2012 | 1 Comment

If you have ever wondered what the unfettered pursuit of economic growth looks like, and the damage it can create, go and see an independent film doing the rounds at the moment 'You've been trumped'. more

'Hauling ' and the decline and fall ...

17/03/2012 | 2 Comments

Two weeks ago the internet phenomenon TED Talks came to Glasgow in the form of a TEDX – an independently organised TED event – and the organisers asked me to give the opening talk. more

Reflections on materialism and the errors of positive psychology

27/02/2012 | 2 Comments

We've been in operation for over seven years and during that time have organised a number of really successful events – many with high numbers and a great deal of commitment from those who attended. more

'The Ecology of Mind' film coming to Glasgow

18/01/2012

One of the great delights of my job is to be invited to attend, or take part in, really interesting events. more

My own 'annus horribilis'

31/12/2011 | 5 Comments

In between cleaning the house for the bells (an old Scottish custom) and going up to our local hall for a hogmanay party I thought I would write my personal reflections on 2011 and why for me it was truly an 'annus horribiles'. more

Scotland's shame

20/12/2011 | 1 Comment

The journalist Jackie Kemp has an interesting piece in The Scottish Review today arguing that 'the agenda behind the anti-sectarian bill' is 'the feminisation of Scotland'. more

If you weren't there, you missed yourself!

13/12/2011 | 2 Comments

It is well known to those organising events that if it is free then expect at least 20 per cent 'no shows'. more

Improving Scotland's public services

26/11/2011

I had the good fortune to be invited to attend Thursday's Public Service Improvement Conference 2011 at the SECC and I really felt that things are beginning to turn in Scotland. more

Feedback from parents

21/11/2011

One of the things that buoys me up and keeps me going is getting feedback from people when I give talks. more

The sad case of Sophie's vituperative world

17/11/2011 | 2 Comments

A few years ago I met Tari Lang who has worked throughout the world, particularly in the middle east with corporations and individuals as a consultant, coach and mentor. more

The Master and His Emissary - the divided brain

25/10/2011

A few weeks ago I was having a chat with a friend who recommended a recent book -The Master and His Emissary: the Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. more

Another thing for our message list

06/10/2011

One of the things that incomers to Scotland often find baffling is that Scots don't simply deliver a message but we also 'go for the messages' (our basket of goods) when we go shopping. more

The Scots' Crisis of Confidence - new edition out next month

20/09/2011

I've been fairly quiet of late on the website as I've been working on a revision of The Scots' Crisis of Confidence as Argyll Publishing are bringing out a new edition. more

'Rabble without a cause'

19/08/2011 | 1 Comment

One of the things I have found somewhat frustrating in a lot of the coverage of the riots is that while commentators often acknowledge the complexity of the issues at stake they then still adopt a one-dimensional approach or end up polarising. more

A welcome development

27/07/2011

I'm delighted both by the publication today of the report into the probation service by the Justice Committee in the Westminster Government and the Minister Ken Clarke's response. more

Essential reading for parents from across the Atlantic

21/07/2011

My best friend Fran is in California on holiday at the moment and she has just emailed me to say: 'Saw this in a magazine at our Berkeley house and thought of you. more

Lancing the boil

08/07/2011 | 1 Comment

I'm not that long back from a brilliant walking holiday in Piedmont, Northern Italy. more

Scotland after the election

17/05/2011 | 5 Comments

It is over a week since Scotland's momentous election result and I've been deliberately keeping quiet to let the dust settle. more

Social injustice

03/05/2011 | 2 Comments

Earlier in the year I read Professor Danny Dorling's book Injustice: Why social inequality persists and I had the pleasure of speaking on the same platform as him at the Aye Write book festival a few months ago. more

Action for Happiness - the Centre's view

12/04/2011 | 2 Comments

I have just given an interview with Radio Scotland and yesterday wrote a short piece for The Scotsman on the new Action for Happiness Project and I know that I am sounding like a typical Scot. more

Enterprise, education and Room 13

05/04/2011 | 2 Comments

The last time I paid attention to Scotland's enterprise figures was in 2002 when I was writing The Scots' Crisis of Confidence. more

Longevity

19/03/2011

Emily has just added an item on Emily's News reporting on the publication of a new book called The Longevity Project which reports the findings from a longitudinal project which started in 1921 and has tracked the lives of 1,500 people from their childhood until their death. more

The need for more respect in public life

07/03/2011 | 3 Comments

I've been ill for a couple of weeks and the enforced leisure has allowed me to focus on a number of things which at first sight may not appear related yet follow a pattern. more

Igniting a passion for cultural change

18/02/2011 | 3 Comments

In a rather pressured week it was a great privilege to have an exploratory meeting with three firemen concerned about community safety. more

The Empire of Illusion

08/02/2011 | 2 Comments

I have just read a deeply disturbing book by an American Pulitzer prize winning author, and ex-war correspondent, Chris Hedges called Empire of Illusion: The end of literacy and the triumph of spectacle. more

Puncturing the Mehrabian myth and restoring reason

26/01/2011

When I was on the internet the other day I stumbled upon something of interest. more

Learning from America's mistakes: waiting for Superman

14/01/2011

At our Creating Good Lives event Professor William Julius Wilson talked about the structural and cultural barriers which particularly affect poor black people in the USA. more

Creating an internet buzz

08/01/2011 | 1 Comment

Yesterday morning I received in my email inbox a message from Avaaz asking me to sign a petition about bees. more

Confessions of a confused baby boomer

04/01/2011 | 4 Comments

I have been giving around fifty talks a year for the past five years and have found that lots of people of all ages, not just in Scotland but throughout the UK, are looking for new values and an image of a different society. more

Resolutions

02/01/2011

At this time of year there's a lot in the papers related to our agenda because this is the time for New Year Resolutions. more

Hallelujah!

18/12/2010

I've been pondering on a news item I heard last week on the radio. more

Changes afoot

12/12/2010

I have been feeling on the verge of a big change for a while but I now find that I'm in the midst of it. more

The new well-being index - part 2

28/11/2010

I feel compelled to recommence writing about the new well-being indicators by saying just how tiresome, predictable and dispiriting much of the media's response was to the Prime Minister's announcement. more

The new well-being index - part 1

25/11/2010

In the autumn of 2004, before the Centre was fully operational, Professor Ed Diener – a world expert on happiness – was in Scotland. more

The Glasgow Effect

22/11/2010

Given I wrote a book recently on why Glasgow's may have particular challenges on a range of health and social outcomes I read with interest a report which came out last week called 'The Scottish Health Survey: The Glasgow Effect'. more

'Scottish miserabilism'

13/11/2010 | 2 Comments

Last weekend I was in the Ceilidh Place in Ullapool for one of their Changing Scotland weekends – an informal gathering, held twice a year in March and November, with sessions on culture and politics. more

Last week's Centre events

03/11/2010 | 2 Comments

Thursday and Friday last week were very special days for the Centre. more

Some mean city

18/10/2010 | 3 Comments

I've been talking to a lot of people about my Glasgow book recently, both individually and at meetings of various kinds. more

Local hero

02/10/2010

Over the past few years I had heard the term "Mary's Meals" but I knew nothing of the organisation or its founder Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow. more

Educational labelling

13/09/2010 | 1 Comment

I read with great interest the newspaper coverage on the latest Ofsted report which claimed that half of special needs children are misdiagnosed as this is a topic which is fairly close to home. more

More on place-making

01/09/2010

Following my last blog I was intrigued to read a piece in today's Scottish Review on-line by Andrew Guest on a current exercise the Scottish Government is funding on place-making. more

The Highland Housing Expo - not to be missed!

26/08/2010

Yesterday I got up very early, drove to Dunkeld (a good hour and a half away) and from there took the train to Inverness to visit the Housing Expo. more

The good life

18/08/2010

When I picked up last Friday's Scotsman I was delighted to find a feature by Jenny McBain on Tom Forsyth. more

The Spirit Level

26/07/2010 | 1 Comment

One of the most influential books of 2009 was The Spirit Level by Professors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, two epidemiologists. more

The temptations of reductionism

11/07/2010 | 3 Comments

I rarely attend international conferences but I did go to the European Positive Psychology conference in Copenhagen as I was asked to give a talk . more

Newsnight Scotland

29/06/2010 | 1 Comment

Hardly was I back in Scotland and I received a phone call from Newsnight Scotland. more

Scotland's health challenge

13/06/2010

Although I'm still on holiday in Vancouver I have been trying to keep track of news back in Scotland and so I'm aware that health is a big issue. more

Masters of the Universe?

03/06/2010

In 2003 the psychologist Gregg Easterbrook published a book called The Progress Paradox: How life gets better while people feel worse. more

Streets ahead

24/05/2010

I was asked to speak at a Sustainable Development Commission's conference the other day on creating the right mindset for sustainable development. more

The political class

16/05/2010

When I was young my passion was politics. more

That was the week ...

01/05/2010

Sometimes I like basing my blog simply on some of my latest activities as it gives an insight into the varied work of the Centre. more

The rationale behind our events

23/04/2010 | 2 Comments

Things are beginning to return to normal and I'm fully back in work mode planning our future activities and events. more

That's life

18/04/2010

I know it has been ages since I blogged but - my partner Alf badly injured his hand, I came down with a bad cold, then we went on a much needed holiday, returned to the UK but I'm still in a caring role (ie a pair of working hands), now spending lots of time trying to fanthom out how my sons can get back from Russia. more

Not in the public interest

01/04/2010 | 1 Comment

It has been another busy week for us at the Centre. more

Afternow ...

25/03/2010

One of the most popular features of many Centre events has been the contribution of Phil Hanlon - Professor of Public Health at Glasgow University and a member of the Centre's board. more

Moving on

22/03/2010 | 1 Comment

Writing my new book The Tears that Made the Clyde hasn't been great for blogging and even since publication it has been the case since I've been busy with various launch events. more

Not that daft ...

07/03/2010 | 2 Comments

Over the next few months if people review my new book or comment on it I plan to make it available on the site unless it is personally abusive. more

Music videos

28/02/2010

I went to get my hair cut last week. more

Background to 'The Tears that Made the Clyde'

20/02/2010 | 1 Comment

When we set up the Centre in 2004 we were based in the Glasgow Centre for Population Health which had been established effectively to find the cause of Glasgow's ill health. more

The Wire

07/02/2010 | 1 Comment

I haven't been much of a blogger of late: I've just been too preoccupied with writing my latest book on Glasgow to have time left over to write other things. more

Bright-sided 2

07/01/2010 | 2 Comments

In Bright-sided: how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America Barbara Ehrenreich includes a whole chapter called 'Positive Psychology; the Science of Happiness'. more

Bright-sided 1

04/01/2010

Those of you managing to break away from festivities in the last few weeks will be aware that the media have been giving a fair amount of attention to Barbara Ehrenreich's latest book - Bright Sided: How the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America. more

An important agenda

03/12/2009

I met someone I knew on the train coming home tonight who is involved in the enterprise world. more

Resilience

22/11/2009 | 1 Comment

A word that just seems to come up everywhere at the moment is 'resilience': not only is it now common in programmes geared towards young people but also workplaces are also focusing on it. more

Starsuckers documentary

18/11/2009

In the past few years I often use talks to warn people of the dangers of media and advertising and how consumerism, celebrity culture and television watching are undermining well-being. more

Inequality and the bonus culture

14/11/2009 | 1 Comment

I go to a lot of events and what I’ve been noticing is the number of people who have been referring to Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s book The Spirit Level. more

Hartlepool

11/11/2009

I'm literally just back from speaking at an event in Hartlepool on Teeside which was called Paths to Well-being. more

Great Scot

09/11/2009

One of the things which has caught my attention recently is a piece by Ken Roy on his Scottish Review On-line. more

New leaf

04/11/2009

I've just realised that weeks have past since my last blog. more

2p or not 2p?

12/10/2009 | 3 Comments

Anyone who was at the event with Barry Schwartz in June will tell you how strong he was on how financial incentives don’t work. more

Hope

17/09/2009

I was fairly certain that the Norman Doidge event on ‘the brain that changes itself’ would prove popular but in fact the interest exceed my expectations. more

The Centre and the Curriculum for Excellence

31/08/2009

A few weeks ago The Sunday Herald carried a big essay I had written for their opinion section which they called The Princess Syndrome – one of the lines in the piece. more

The neuroplasticity revolution

17/08/2009 | 1 Comment

At the Centre we're delighted that Dr Norman Doidge, author of the international best-seller, The Brain that Changes Itself, is coming to Scotland and giving a multi-media presentation for us on the evening of 15th September. more

Tackling inequality

28/07/2009 | 1 Comment

Last week the papers were full of the story that Britain is becoming even more unequal and that there’s less social mobility now than decades ago. more

The DofE

07/07/2009

In 1972 I had a job as a college lecturer out in Dalkeith. more

A different angle on the banking crisis

24/06/2009

I went to hear Malcolm Gladwell at the Kings on Monday night. more

Shifting the balance of power

07/06/2009 | 1 Comment

Malcolm Gladwell, of Tipping Point fame, makes the point that prior to the Berlin Wall coming down few people would have predicted this happening. more

Well-being in Wellhouse

19/05/2009 | 1 Comment

In the first year of operation the Centre ran some action research training courses. more

Natural highs

28/04/2009 | 1 Comment

The psychologist Theodore Roszac once pointed out that if you ask someone who is highly stressed to imagine a relaxing scene they are likely to think of being in nature – on the beach, in the hills, on the banks of a burn. more

The dream of a middle aged woman

21/04/2009

I'm not a television fan but even I couldn't escape the sensational story of Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent. more

The need for a broader agenda

11/04/2009 | 1 Comment

Over six months ago I wrote a blog explaining that the Centre wanted to broaden its agenda out beyond Positive Psychology. more

Barriers to Well-being

29/03/2009 | 1 Comment

Our latest event took place on Thursday in Edinburgh. more

The role of schools

15/03/2009 | 4 Comments

I spoke on Saturday in Birmingham at the annual conference of the Association of School and College Leaders – one of the main trade unions for head teachers. more

How to ruin organisations - sack the oldies and concentrate on strengths?

28/02/2009 | 3 Comments

Years ago when I worked as a consultant in organisations I used to talk to a lot of people who had problems at work with a bullying and autocratic boss. more

Confucius says ...

31/01/2009 | 1 Comment

I had a great morning yesterday at Bathgate Academy. more

Wise words for turbulent times

11/01/2009

I’ve been enjoying using some of the cards we’ve produced recently. more

Thriving in flu-ridden times

18/12/2008 | 1 Comment

I would have written a blog sooner but I’ve been laid low by one of the worst winter viruses I’ve ever been smitten by. more

System Redesign

28/11/2008

I’ve been down in Birmingham at a huge conference for secondary school head teachers run by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. more

Samuel Smiles: Self-Help

11/11/2008 | 1 Comment

Last week I had was given a huge treat: I was asked to give an evening lecture at the National Library of Scotland on Samuel Smiles’s classic Self-Help. more

Crisis - which crisis?

24/10/2008 | 1 Comment

Listening to the news over the last few days about how we are on the brink of recession has been dispiriting. more

Bursting bubbles

09/10/2008

When I give talks I regularly point out that psychologists don’t use the word confidence very much. more

Saving Scotland's bacon

29/09/2008

Jonathan Sher from Children in Scotland introduced me at an event the other day. more

The myth of talent

10/09/2008 | 2 Comments

Over five years ago Malcolm Gladwell, of Tipping Point fame, wrote an interesting piece for The New Yorker, called ‘The Talent Myth – Are smart people overrated?’ Gladwell argues that “‘the talent mind-set’ is the new orthodoxy of American management’”. more

Hard pressed

05/09/2008

I don’t know much about football. more

In praise of Scotland

24/08/2008 | 2 Comments

It is always great having visitors from another country because you really get a chance to see your own country through their eyes. more

Shhhh … the movie

11/08/2008 | 1 Comment

I like Ken Wilber’s work and I particularly think he is right on track with one of his main observations about modern life: narcissism. more

Strathclyde Summer Academy

04/08/2008

I spent a terrific day last week at the
Summer School Christine Percival runs with her team at Strathclyde University. more

Stress, broccoli and running shoes

26/07/2008 | 1 Comment

The press carried a story this week that more than 11,000 Scots young people (under 25s) are on incapacity benefit due to ‘stress’. more

The Centre and Positive Psychology

20/07/2008

I wrote my first book 'The Scots Crisis of Confidence' as I had become to believe that there was something inherent in Scottish culture which tended to undermine confidence. more

The need for a broad agenda

08/07/2008

Felicia Huppert is a professor of psychology at Cambridge University. more

Classifying sadness as mental disorder

30/06/2008

I have a friend whose teenage son was very keen on a girl he was going out with. more

The power of networks

21/06/2008

I’ve never talked before a band before so the whole thing was a bit strange for me. more

Aping men

11/06/2008

I went to hear Oliver James give a lecture in Glasgow last week. more

Developing the Centre's work

28/05/2008 | 3 Comments

The Centre is now mid-way through its fourth year. more

Marketing to children

21/05/2008 | 2 Comments

Think about families where the parents have little money and they don’t want to feel their children are missing out on toys, trainers, burgers or other things that other children have. more

Reflections on lifelong development

19/05/2008 | 2 Comments

One of the things I’ve become a wee bit allergic to is the well-worn phrase used by many educators that what they want to do is develop children’s ‘full potential’. more

Selling politics

12/05/2008 | 1 Comment

There’s a story in the papers today about an all-party group of Christian MPs saying that the main cause of unhappiness in Britain is not about the lack of material wealth but an erosion of religious values. more

An error of judgement

29/04/2008 | 3 Comments

I was phoned last week by a Sunday paper and asked for my views on the SNP's first year in office. more

A national and international agenda

20/04/2008 | 1 Comment

Welcome to the new website. more

Big changes

09/04/2008

We're now in the process of getting lots of things ready for the new look website. more

The meaning of confidence

24/03/2008

When the Centre started up we wanted to help project leaders measure the impact their interventions were having on people’s confidence. more

Being heard and seen

13/03/2008

When I was in Madeira last year I was shocked by my own attitude. more

Getting Scotland on an upward spiral

08/03/2008 | 1 Comment

I am constantly taken aback at how negative the talk about sport is in Scotland. more

Becoming Your Own Woman

28/02/2008 | 2 Comments

I’m flying off for a few days tomorrow and one thing I know for certain: I won’t be buying a women’s magazine for the journey. more

Attention all parents

19/02/2008 | 4 Comments

I try not to write too many blogs on young people as it gives the impression that we are a charity working only in this area. more

The confidence to be ourselves

05/02/2008 | 1 Comment

The Netherlands has, unexpectedly, been in my thoughts this week. more

The pros and cons of happiness

22/01/2008 | 3 Comments

The Tal Ben Shahar events proved very popular with most of the people who came along – and there were lots of them. more

Time for a kick-start

13/01/2008

It's gratifying to run events which are so popular that they sell out. more

Elevation

02/01/2008 | 1 Comment

I was so pleased when Mick Jackson, of Wildhearts in Action, was voted Scot of the Year. more

Columba 1400

06/12/2007

I went along to Greenock the other night to an event organised by Columba 1400. more

Reasons to be … sceptical

26/11/2007 | 2 Comments

One of the things I like about Martin Seligman’s approach to optimism is that it doesn’t encourage mindless positive thinking. more

Expecting the best - not the worst

16/11/2007 | 1 Comment

I was phoned this afternoon and asked to write 500 words for a paper on how the Scots should prepare themselves for defeat in tomorrow’s game against Italy. more

The Goods Life v. the Good Life

04/11/2007 | 2 Comments

Just finished reading ‘The High Price of Materialism’ by Tim Kasser. more

Rethinking happiness

18/10/2007 | 6 Comments

One of the big news stories from the Washington Summit on Positive Psychology came from Martin Seligman. more

Learning from the beautiful game

13/10/2007 | 3 Comments

‘The thing about sport is that it is a metaphor for life - it really lets us see what is going on culturally. more

Ken Wilber

03/10/2007 | 8 Comments

I'm off to the Positive Psychology Summit in Washington tomorrow. more

'Dissensus'

27/09/2007

I’ve been called many things in my life but puritan was a new one on me. more

The treadmill

13/09/2007

'My life's dedicated to feeding a monster of my own creation’. more

A matter of principle

26/08/2007 | 1 Comment

I was very pleased to see that our new book made the front page splash in the Times Educational Supplement. more

Stay tuned ...

02/08/2007

The book I’ve been writing has now been sent off to the printers and it will due out on the 27th August. more

The myth of adolescence

13/07/2007 | 2 Comments

When I went into the office yesterday Emily, the Centre’s great psychology researcher, handed me a sheaf of such fascinating articles that it has got me blogging again. more

Changing Mindsets

18/06/2007 | 2 Comments

I couldn’t help thinking about Bill Duncan’s Wee Book of Calivin last Thursday during the Carol Dweck event. more

Ironic effects

07/06/2007 | 1 Comment

Some of the most interesting articles I have read recently have been published by a social psychologist called Dan Wegner on what he calls ‘ironic processes of mental control’. more

In praise of whist drives

21/05/2007 | 1 Comment

I watched the film Rob Roy on DVD the other night. more

Alive and writing

07/05/2007 | 1 Comment

I know I have been silent for a while but it’s because I’ve been up to my elbows in writing. more

Wild Hearts In Action

16/04/2007

A few weeks ago I met a very inspirational Scottish entrepeneur at an event in Inverness. more

Getting EQ in perspective

01/04/2007 | 3 Comments

I haven’t been blogging much recently as I’m too busy writing other material. more

Tackling depression

15/03/2007 | 2 Comments

I went along last night to hear a presentation from Lord Layard – the economics professor from the LSE who recently published a book on happiness. more

Learning from Dundee

04/03/2007

I’ve been thinking a lot about Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point recently. more

Programming our children for ill health

21/02/2007 | 2 Comments

I’m glad to see that the UNICEF report on child well-being has attracted so much attention. more

America's Report Card

11/02/2007

For decades now Scotland has benefited from inward investment from the United States. more

Distress signals

29/01/2007 | 2 Comments

I was sitting next to someone at a dinner the other night who had been senior in health in Scotland. more

Thank God it’s the First Friday ….

25/01/2007

When I was involved in setting up the Centre I was always keen for it to provide the opportunity for people to meet up informally and discuss matters of mutual interest. more

Scottish confidence

18/01/2007 | 9 Comments

With all the debate and talk about the Union of Scotland and England, I’ve been pondering issues of Scottish confidence yet again. more

Time to lighten up ‘the dismal science’

03/01/2007 | 3 Comments

I’ve been arguing for a while that the research behind Positive Psychology has the capacity to spawn a new Enlightenment. more

The roots of self-esteem

19/12/2006

Those of you who didn’t get a chance to come to the morning event on education we held at the Hub recently really missed yourselves. more

It's a boys' game

10/12/2006 | 2 Comments

When I was in France a few months ago I was surprised to see two teenage boys kiss each other when they met up in the street. more

Making faces (This is worth a look)

23/11/2006

In Britain on the Couch the clinical psychologist Oliver James recounts research which shows how exposure to media images and television is very undermining for people's sense of themselves. more

Mindsets

19/11/2006

I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently for a book I’m writing on confidence and young people. more

Dreaming of a green Christmas

05/11/2006

For decades now I’ve felt a real aversion for going into shops in the run up to Christmas. more

Scottish delight

29/10/2006

Frequent visitors to the site will know that the name we’ve given to what we’re doing with Positive Psychology in Scotland is the Vanguard. more

Log blog

18/10/2006 | 1 Comment

I try to write a blog at least once a week and so I was surprised to see that a fortnight has gone past since my last entry. more

Positively green

06/10/2006

I gave a talk on Positive Psychology last week at a CIPFA conference in Northern Ireland. more

Time to detox

30/09/2006

It is good to see that the 100 signatories to the letter about the dangers facing young people’s physical and mental health in modern times is causing a debate. more

Divine confusion

23/09/2006

Readers of last week’s Sunday papers in Scotland must have felt confused. more

Suffer the little children?

14/09/2006

Here’s a scary statistic for you. more

Winning streaks

06/09/2006

So the Scottish football team is finally on a winning streak. more

Open letter to Scotland

30/08/2006

In case you missed it, there was a really interesting open letter in this Sunday’s Sunday Herald. more

Teaching and Learning

18/08/2006

Guenter Grass, the Nobel prize-winning German author, has recently admitted that he served in Hitler’s elite Waffen SS. more

In praise of humility

08/08/2006

I’ve been doing a lot of reading on self-esteem recently and was amused when someone sent me a copy of an over the top promotional leaflet. more

Face Values

26/07/2006

I’ve been very irritated recently by an email site I use from time to time as it has been carrying a huge ad of a glamorous woman which wouldn’t look out of place in a lad’s magazine. more

Sunny Days and Dark Hearts

18/07/2006

All the talk recently about how wonderful it is to have a reasonably long spell of hot sunshine has got me thinking again about how the weather connects with the Centre’s agenda. more

Seeing the Big Picture

10/07/2006

The conference in Portugal organised by the European Positive Psychology network (ENPP) was, as I suspected, a great success. more

Portugal

01/07/2006

I’m leaving tomorrow to attend the European Positive Psychology conference in Portugal. more

Stretching the Point

27/06/2006

I’ve been thinking about tattoos a lot recently. more

Having a nice day

18/06/2006

When I was undertaking research for my book I particularly enjoyed reading about Robert Louis Stevenson so it was with great pleasure that I visited the Robert Louis Stevenson park in California today. more

What's for ye ...

13/06/2006

I had a conversation the other day with someone who had run a variety of focus groups with young people. more

Switching Off

04/06/2006

I think Mark Easton’s Happiness Formula on BBC 2 is great. more

Scotland the best?

23/05/2006

As you enter Scottish airports from an international destination these days you are told that you are now in ‘the best small country in the world. more

Michigan

18/05/2006

I'm currently in Ann Arbor, Michigan as I'm on a course on Leading the Positive Organisation run by the Positive Organisational Scholarship Department at the University of Michigan. more

Unwritten Rules

11/05/2006

Spent this morning training on a confidence-building course and I found myself going into material I haven’t used for ages but which seemed very relevant to what people were talking about. more

The Problem with Mothers

30/04/2006

Recently I’ve had several very similar conversations with women about their children. more

The Problem with Blogs

19/04/2006

I’ve not managed to write a blog for what seems like ages as I’ve been too involved with other things – particularly with reading and writing for the new Positive Psychology section on our website. more

The L Word

31/03/2006

A woman who was on secondment to the Scottish Executive from California told me recently that one of the things that struck her about Scotland is how good some of our initiatives are yet we give them very little attention, let alone praise. more

In Praise of Negativity

20/03/2006 | 1 Comment

When people hear about the big vision the Centre has for helping to bring about a transformation in Scottish culture to make it more supportive of confidence and positive attitudes they often ask if I don’t feel daunted by the task. more

The views contained in the Guest Blog are those of the individuals' and do not necessarily represent those of the Centre or sponsoring organisations.

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