The Healthy Way to Forgive Yourself
By Juliana Breines | August 23, 2012Self-forgiveness is critical to well-being—but it has a dark side. Here are four steps to healthy self-forgiveness, based on recent research.
Guest Column
Most Recent Story
Can You Run Out of Empathy?
By C. Daryl Cameron | May 20, 2013An essay in this week’s New Yorker argues that we don't have enough empathy to go around. But new research says we can keep renewing and expanding our feeling for others.
Past Stories
Just One Thing: Hush the Inner Critic
By Rick Hanson | August 22, 2012Messing up is easy, says Rick Hanson. But forgiving yourself takes practice.
How to Pass the Marshmallow Test
By Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton | August 3, 2012Research explains why it's wrong to discriminate against overweight people—and also why it's important to help build mindfulness and self-control.
Just One Thing: Minimize Painful Experiences
By Rick Hanson | July 24, 2012There is a place for painful experiences. But Rick Hanson explains how to minimize the harm they can do to our mental and physical health.
Five Simple Tricks for Healthier Eating
By Amie M. Gordon | June 26, 2012Trying to make healthier food choices for you and your family? Psychology can help.
Just One Thing: Be Home
By Rick Hanson | June 21, 2012Feeling confused about who you are? Rick Hanson says go home... and rest.
Why People Are Not Feet
By Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton | June 4, 2012What's the best way to help build the resilience of loved ones? Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton says care, not tough love, is the key.
Three Insights about Compassion, Meditation, and the Brain
By Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas | May 15, 2012What I learned at the recent International Symposium for Contemplative Studies.
Just One Thing: Find Your North Star
By Rick Hanson | May 11, 2012Where are you headed? Rick Hanson suggests a way to discover what's most important to you.
How Does Religion Shape Compassion?
By Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas | May 9, 2012A GGSC-sponsored study found that compassion is less important for moving religious people to perform acts of kindness. But that doesn't mean they are less compassionate!
Nine Steps to Achieving Flow in Your Work
By Leo Babauta | May 4, 2012A state of "flow" is key to job happiness. But what is flow? Why is it important? And how can we achieve it on a regular basis at work?
Does White Pride Lead to Prejudice?
By Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton | April 26, 2012Does identifying as "White" predict negative attitudes towards diversity? That depends on how conscious you are of power, says new research.
How to Spot an Abuser
By Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton | April 12, 2012Do you sometimes mistake psychological abuse for compatibility? Look to friends for help.
Five Tips for Reaching Your Creative Potential
By Jonah Lehrer | April 11, 2012Jonah Lehrer's new book shows that creativity is not a single gift possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively.
Just One Thing: Leave the Red Zone
By Rick Hanson | April 4, 2012Frazzled? Rick Hanson offers tips for calming down.
Most...
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Why Compassion in Business Makes Sense
April 15, 2013Emma Seppala explains how compassionate workplaces are good for employee health and the corporate bottom line.
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How to be a Happy Working Dad, Part One
March 27, 2013A new report finds that fitting work with family isn't just a women's issue. Jeremy Adam Smith offers 10 tips for helping fathers to navigate a changing landscape at home and on the job.
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When Getting Angry Makes You Happy
April 2, 2013A new study shows how seeking happiness at the right time may be more important than seeking happiness all the time.
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World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements
May 21, 2013A Q&A with visionary educator John Hunter, creator of the World Peace Game.
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Can You Run Out of Empathy?
May 20, 2013An essay in this week’s New Yorker argues that we don't have enough empathy to go around. But new research says we can keep renewing and expanding our feeling for others.
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‘Free the Mind’ film
May 17, 2013
Greater Good Events
Greater Good Summer Institute for Educators
University of California, Berkeley
Clark Kerr Campus
Friday, June 28 - Wednesday, July 3, 2013
» ALL EVENTS
University of California, Berkeley
Clark Kerr Campus
Friday, June 28 - Wednesday, July 3, 2013
The GGSC’s six-day Summer Institute will equip educators with social-emotional learning tools that will benefit both students and teachers. Registration is now closed.
» ALL EVENTS
Take a Greater Good Quiz!
How compassionate are you? How generous, grateful, or forgiving? Find out!
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Watch Greater Good Videos
Talks by inspiring speakers like Jon Kabat-Zinn, Dacher Keltner, and Barbara Fredrickson.
WatchGreater Good Resources
"Gratitude and Prosocial Behavior"
Finds that feeling gratitude produces kind and helpful behavior, even when that behavior is costly to the individual actor.
- "Compassion: An Evolutionary Analysis and Empirical Review"
Compassion evolved as a distinct affective experience whose function is to enable cooperation and protection of those who...
- "From Jerusalem to Jericho"
This article on bystander intervention in emergency situations suggests that we are likely to help a “shabbily dressed”...
- Center for Investigating Healthy Minds
The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, runs a state-of-the-art neuroscience...
- Northeast Foundation for Children
Northeast Foundation for Children is a non-profit educational organization that offers educators the Responsive Classroom...
- Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship
Based at the University of Michigan Business School, this is a networking community for researchers and practitioners...
Book of the Week
Why We Cooperate
Nature and nurture interact to inform, and reform, cooperative behavior. Infants and apes are both able to share, but only the two-year-old will pick up that thing you dropped in front of her.
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Special thanks to
The Quality of Life Foundation for its support of the Greater Good Science Center
"Greater Good offers a first-rate service to those who want to track new and important research findings in social and emotional intelligence."
Daniel Goleman
Best-selling author,
Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence
(www.danielgoleman.info)
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