I read a fair amount of research and thought some people might be interested in recent studies that I've found helpful.  I plan to write a brief approximately 1,200 word (5 minute read) newsletter/blog post pretty much every week, highlighting helpful material that has emerged in the previous couple of months.  I'll rotate through six topic areas ... Lifestyle, Positive Psychology, Relationships, Ageing, Psychedelics, and Meditation.  I also plan to write occasional posts where I go into more detail about particular related subject areas. 

The Journal of Positive Psychology regularly publishes very interesting, helpful articles.  One that recently caught my eye is titled "The marital version of three good things: A mixed methods study".  OK, maybe not the most catchy title, but the reference to 'three good things' hooked my interest as this is a 'solo exercise' that can be so helpful in nourishing our sense of gratitude, appreciation & wellbeing.  For more on the 'solo exercise', see this post on "How to live well ...

The first of the two blog posts in this sequence can be reached by clicking on "Using a wisdom diary - background".  In this second post I give the nuts & bolts recording form:

This wisdom diary exercise is adapted from the work of the Canadian researcher Igor Grossmann. 

"Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.”  Confucius

“Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.”   Elbert Hubbard

                                          “No man was ever wise by chance.”  Seneca 

The language is a bit archaic, but the underlying message of these quotations is still very relevant today.  And, if you like quotations about wisdom, here are over 20 more that I like, downloadable both as a PDF and as a Word doc.

The "Emotion colouring In exercise" is a deceptively simple 6-minute writing exercise where we practise identifying and describing our feelings.  For important additional information about this process, see the "Initial background for the colouring in exercise: assessment, maps, emotional intelligence & emotion differentiation" and the "Further background for the colouring in exercise: gratitude, expressive writing, emotion processing & taking it forward&q

Yesterday's post and today's are combined and downloadable as a Word doc or as a PDF file.

I was asked by a friend to write a short piece on research evidence backing up therapeutic uses of reading & writing to be used in a local initiative supporting health workers in a diverse range of settings.  Today's and tomorrow's post give the piece with hyperlinks to the various research studies that I mention.  A combination of the two posts is downloadable as a Word doc or as a PDF file.

“ Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans - that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too ... Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic and power in it. Begin it now! ” - Goethe

Here are a series of forms that I use almost every session with clients, or for screening and orientation at the start of therapy:

A few months ago I wrote a series of three blog posts on the theme "New research suggests CBT depression treatment is more effective if we focus on strengths rather than weaknesses".