Some fantastic new (2010) research from Todd Thrash and colleagues suggests that inspiration leads to well-being (but not the other way round), and that purpose in life and gratitude are mediators. For the full story see my Positive Psychology News Daily posting here.

As always, you can post your comments here and on the PPND website.

Image: thanks to PVBroadz

Thanks to http://twitter.com/dannyfine for the link

Some of you might be wondering what the connection is between social media (aka social networking), business and positive psychology. The answer (or at least one of them) as far as I am concerned is performance. Both individiual and organisational performance depend on employee engagement and well-being, both of which can be increased through social networking.

As Will McInnes points out in this slide show (presented as part of Social Media Week), technological changes are unstoppable, so we’d be better off working out how we can use them effectively. Huge organisations like IBM have shown that it can be done – as this great blog from Casey Hibbard at the Social Media Examiner shows.

Of course there are headlines every day reporting the dark side of social networking, or about how many hours employees are wasting as they update their Facebook profiles. But technology can be used to change people’s behaviour for the better – McInnes gives the example of Toyota Prius drivers competing to better their MPG  ’score’ on the dashboard. You may remember that I touched on this subject with my posting on the so-called “Fun Theory” last year.

So if you want to engage your staff and take advantage of the social connections that people naturally make, think seriously about how social networking is being used in your organisation.

Here’s a great 25 minute documentary about the science of happiness, featuring Harvard’s Dr Daniel Gilbert (“Stumbling on Happiness”), Dr Angela Clow from the University of Westminster and my favourite,  Newcastle University’s Dr Daniel Nettle (“Happiness – The Science behind your Smile”).

Thanks to CoachFu for the link

Repeated at 11pm tonight BBC Radio 4:

• Off the Page - Dominic  Arkwright interviews my colleague and fellow MAPP graduate,  Miriam Akhtar about what happiness is and how she found it, as well as Dr Phil Hammond (a potential convert to positive psychology) and Guardian journalist Lucy Mangan (a dyed-in-the-wool sceptic). Miriam gives a very personal perspective on her discovery. You can find out how to do it for yourself using her Happiness Training Plan CD.