Harvard Medical School Positive Psychology: Harnessing the power of happiness, personal strength, and mindfulness

Tough economic times are the perfect setting to begin using positive psychology to your advantage, says a this report from Harvard Medical School. Positive Psychology: Harnessing the power of happiness, personal strength, and mindfulness is a guide to the concepts that have made Positive Psychology the most popular course at Harvard University, and teaches how to put positive emotion to work in your life. Positive emotions have been linked with better health, longer life, and greater well being in numerous scientific studies. On the other hand, chronic anger, worry, and hostility increase the risk of developing heart disease, as people react to these feelings with raised blood pressure and stiffening blood vessels. A Harvard School of Public Health study found that people who are generally hopeful were less likely to develop hypertension, diabetes, or respiratory tract infection than those who were less hopeful.