Papers and presentations from conferences held by the International Network on Personal Meaning. Articles are included from luminaries such as Howard Gardner, Harold Koenig, Sal Maddi, Jordan Peterson, Donald Meichenbaum, Crystal Park, Paul Wong, Kirk Schneider, and Bernard Weiner. Freshly edited and typeset, this book contains a broad range of essays on meaning and spirituality. The Positive Psychology of Meaning and Spirituality contains a number of must-have essays on topics from suffering, death, and grieving to meaning, spirituality, and virtues.

This handbook aims to bridge the gap between the fields of positive psychology and the psychology of religion and spirituality. It is the authoritative guide to the intersections among religion, spirituality, and positive psychology and includes the following sections: (1) historical and theoretical considerations, (2) methodological considerations, (3) cultural considerations, (4) developmental considerations, (5) empirical research on happiness and well-being in relation to religion and spirituality, (6) empirical research on character strengths and virtues in relation to religion and spirituality, (7) clinical and applied considerations, and (8) field unification and advancement. Leading positive psychologists and psychologists of religion/spirituality have coauthored the chapters, drawing on expertise from their respective fields. The handbook is useful for social and clinical scientists, practitioners in helping professions, practitioners in religious and spiritual fields, and students of psychology and religion/spirituality. This is an open access book.

Positive psychology is currently equated with theory and research on the positive aspects of life. The reality could not be further from the truth. Positive psychology investigates and researches some of the most difficult and painful experiences. Second Wave Positive Psychology: Embracing the Dark Side of Life is an innovative and groundbreaking textbook that explores a variety of topics we consider to be part of the ‘dark’ side of life while emphasising their role in our positive functioning and transformation as human beings. This more nuanced approach to the notions of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ can be described as the ‘second wave' of Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology is one of the fastest growing and least understood branches of psychology. Exploring topics at the heart of Positive Psychology, such as meaning, resilience, human development, mortality, change, suffering, and spirituality, this book engages with so-called ‘negative’ matters from a Positive Psychology angle, showing how the path of personal development can involve experiences which, while challenging, can lead to growth, insight, healing and transformation. Containing useful resources, case studies, practical exercises and chapter summaries, Second Wave Positive Psychology is an essential guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying positive psychology, as well as clinicians wanting to know more about the subject. It will also be relevant to the layperson who is interested in positive psychology.

This is a rare collection of papers by leading authorities on addiction recovery. The distinguished list of contributors includes Alan Marlatt, George Vaillant, Stanton Peele, Jaak Panksepp, and Scott Tonigan. Although each represents different theoretical perspectives of addiction and recovery, all see recovery as more than mere abstinence. The first half of this book contains addresses from the Fourth International Meaning Conference, which focused on meaning and addiction. The second half of this volume uniquely focuses on the positive psychology of meaning and spirituality as an answer for addiction. The existential dilemmas of meaninglessness, boredom, and anxieties often trigger cravings for substance abuse. Geoffrey Thompson and Paul T. P. Wong articulate that only a personally meaningful life is powerful enough to overcome addictive cravings and satisfy the deep-seated human yearnings for happiness and meaning. Ken Hart connects the spiritual underpinnings of Alcoholics Anonymous to the New Thought movement and transpersonal psychology. This edited volume offers practical resources not only for addiction counselors and treatment centers, but also for college and university professors who teach addiction studies. Instead of focusing on coping skills and cognitive-behavioral strategies, a holistic approach emphasizes fulfilling the human needs for well-being, meaningful living, and self-transcendence. "This book is transformative, renewing a sense of aliveness and community from the deadness of addiction." -Brent Potter, PhD, author, Elements of Self-Destruction "This bracing volume offers an open-minded and open-hearted exploration of many key issues touching addiction and its treatment, from grief and loss to meaning and spirituality. It ranges far beyond the narrow and limiting confines of the usual reductionist perspectives." -Gabor Mate, MD, author, In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction "Perhaps one of the most important additions in years in the literature on the intersection between existential and positive psychology, and its application for substance abuse disorders." -Alexander Batthyany, PhD, International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein; University of Vienna; Director, Viktor Frankl Institute, Austria; principal editor, Collected Works of Viktor Frankl (14 volumes)."

What is true happiness? How can you experience it? And can you live it wholeheartedly in your day-to-day life? Every thoughtful person asks such questions. Thoughtful Christians ask a few more questions such as, Can Christian practices enhance happiness? If so, how? And does Christianity provide happiness in a way that other paths, like psychology, cannot? Christopher Kaczor suggests answers to these and other questions about how to be happier. In The Gospel of Happiness, the bestselling author of The Seven Big Myths of the Catholic Church highlights seven ways in which positive psychology and Christian practice can lead to personal and spiritual transformation. Focusing on empirical findings in positive psychology that point to the wisdom of many Christian practices and teachings, the author provides not only practical suggestions on how to become happier in everyday life but provides insight on how to deepen Christian practice and increase love of God and neighbor in new and bold ways. “Part of the Christian message is that authentic happiness is to be found not in selfishness, but self-giving,” writes Dr. Kaczor. “In this book, I highlight the many ways in which positive psychology and Christian practice overlap. All of this points us toward deeper fulfillment in this life, and in the life to come.”

This peer-reviewed book aims to deepen our understanding of the unique contributions of both positive psychology and spirituality to the field of mental health and psychotherapy. This integration will be covered through ten chapters that explore distinct yet complementary angles on this emerging cross pollination of psychospiritual wholeness. The co-editors have included works that offer different perspectives on this integration from the psychological, spiritual, anthropological, and ancient philosophical dimensions to empirically based views informed by contemporary research. In addition to a diversity of perspectives, a diversity of content is also explored with academic rigour. This academic resource has multiple voices singing in the choir of integration. The co-editors have conducted this symphony of twelve scholars and/or clinicians harmonizing to the tune of positive psychology and spirituality. The twelve authors come from various universities in Canada (Quebec and Ontario) and abroad (Vietnam). They also come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Poland, China, the Middle East, French and English Canada etc.). This speaks to the broad intercultural diversity highlighted in many chapters. Positive Psychology and Spirituality in Counselling and Psychotherapy is divided in three parts. In the first part, four chapters present theoretical reflections and contributions from multiples frameworks. In the second part, there are three chapters on empirical research, presenting findings from diverse ethnic and cultural samples. In the third and last part, three chapters discuss some professional considerations, from micro to macro issues. The book invites researchers, students, practicing clinicians and psychotherapists as well as lay persons interested in self-help, to enjoy the complexity of the relationship between positive psychology and spirituality in the context of psychotherapy and creates the space for important professional dialogue.

The Science of Spirituality is a ground-breaking book that integrates the individual systems of science, psychology, philosophy, spirituality and religion into a unified system that describes the multi-dimensional nature of man and the universe. It provides a more comprehensive description of reality than conventional science can offer and fully explains the mechanisms behind an array of paranormal phenomena that mainstream science chooses to ignore. It explains the science behind religious, spiritual and new-age belief systems, and sheds light on some common misconceptions. The Science of Spirituality systematically describes the mechanisms behind a diverse range of subject matter including: consciousness, sleep and dreams, reincarnation, religion, creation, evolution, space and time, higher dimensions, heaven and hell, ghosts, angels and demons, out of body experiences, near death experiences, clairvoyance, psychic abilities, personal development, meditation and the meaning of life.

This book offers an inspiring exploration of current findings from the psychology of meaning in life, analysing cutting-edge research to propose practical, evidence-based applications. Schnell draws on psychological, philosophical and cognitive perspectives to explore basic concepts of meaning and introduce a multidimensional model of meaning in life. Written in an accessible style, this book covers a range of topics including the distinction between meaning and happiness, the impact of meaning on health and longevity, meaning in the workplace, and meaning-centred interventions. Each chapter ends with exercises to encourage self-reflection and measurement tools are presented throughout, including the author’s original Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe), to inspire the reader to consider the role of meaning in their own life. The Psychology of Meaning in Life is essential reading for students and practitioners of psychology, sociology, counselling, coaching and related disciplines, and for general readers interested in exploring the role of meaning in life.

A multidisciplinary team of scholars shows how spiritual and religious practices actually do power psychological, physical, and social benefits, producing stronger individuals and healthier societies. In recent years, scholars from an array of disciplines applied cutting-edge research techniques to determining the effects of faith. Religion, Spirituality, and Positive Psychology: Understanding the Psychological Fruits of Faith brings those scholars together to share what they learned. Through their thoughtful, evidence-based reflections, this insightful book demonstrates the positive benefits of spiritual and religious engagement, both for individual practitioners and for society as a whole. The book covers Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and other major traditions across culture in two sections. The first focuses on ways in which religious and spiritual engagement improves psychological and behavioral health. The second highlights the application of this knowledge to physical, psychological, and social problems. Each chapter focuses on a spiritual "fruit," among them humility, hope, tolerance, gratitude, forgiveness, better health, and recovery from disease or addiction, explaining how the fruit is "planted" and why faith helps it flourish.

In our current era of holy terror, passionate faith has come to seem like a present danger. Writers such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens have been happy to throw the baby out with the bathwater and declare that the danger is in religion itself. God, Hitchens writes, is not great. But man, according to George E. Vaillant, M.D., is great. In Spiritual Evolution, Dr. Vaillant lays out a brilliant defense not of organized religion but of man’s inherent spirituality. Our spirituality, he shows, resides in our uniquely human brain design and in our innate capacity for emotions like love, hope, joy, forgiveness, and compassion, which are selected for by evolution and located in a different part of the brain than dogmatic religious belief. Evolution has made us spiritual creatures over time, he argues, and we are destined to become even more so. Spiritual Evolution makes the scientific case for spirituality as a positive force in human evolution, and he predicts for our species an even more loving future. Vaillant traces this positive force in three different kinds of “evolution”: the natural selection of genes over millennia, of course, but also the cultural evolution within recorded history of ideas about the value of human life, and the development of spirituality within the lifetime of each individual. For thirty-five years, Dr. Vaillant directed Harvard’s famous longitudinal study of adult development, which has followed hundreds of men over seven decades of life. The study has yielded important insights into human spirituality, and Dr. Vaillant has drawn on these and on a range of psychological research, behavioral studies, and neuroscience, and on history, anecdote, and quotation to produce a book that is at once a work of scientific argument and a lyrical meditation on what it means to be human. Spiritual Evolution is a life’s work, and it will restore our belief in faith as an essential human striving.