THRIVE Blog

Articles, videos, and research on what makes life worth living. What it means to thrive is different for everyone so AllPsych's Thrive Blog is designed to help you understand the foundations of what it means and what it takes to thrive so you can begin applying them to your own life. Make sure to check out our THRIVE Courses where you can add action to your knowledge and start improving your well-being.

Helping Others Makes Toddlers Happy

Helping Others Makes Toddlers Happy

A finding that comes up again and again in psychology research is that people feel better when they take prosocial actions, which is why helping others is one of the best ways ...
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/ / Altruism, Developmental Psychology, Positive Psychology, Toddlers
The Psychology of Finding the Silver Lining

The Psychology of Finding the Silver Lining

Finding something good in a bad situation is a common way of coping with adversity, as can be seen when we talk about clouds, silver linings, and the like. It’s also a ...
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/ / Optimism, Positive Psychology, Psychological Capital
The Advantages of Unrealistic Optimism

The Advantages of Unrealistic Optimism

Having a realistic view of the world might be overrated. One of the first psychology papers to explicitly make that case was published in 1988 by Shelley Taylor and Jonathon Brown, under ...
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/ / Optimism, Positive Psychology, Psychological Capital
Is Compassion the Key to Enjoying Sad Music?

Is Compassion the Key to Enjoying Sad Music?

A question that often comes up in music psychology is why so many people enjoy music that recalls negative emotions like sadness. It seems paradoxical that people would seek out and apparently ...
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/ / Compassion, Music, Positive Emotions, Positive Psychology
Writing Therapy to Develop "Good" Rumination

Writing Therapy to Develop “Good” Rumination

Repetitively turning over negative thoughts, or ruminating, is a behavior that has been explored as a target for therapy in conditions like depression. After all, it’s not hard to imagine that getting ...
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/ / Clinical Psychology, Positive Emotions, Positive Psychology, Rumination, Treatment, Writing
Meaning in Life and Drinking

Meaning in Life and Drinking

Finding sources of meaning in life sounds like neither an easy task nor one that looks the same from one person to the next. But it is one that seems to be ...
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/ / Alcohol, Behavioral Psychology, Meaning, Positive Psychology, Resilience
The Advantages of Having Similar Friends

The Advantages of Having Similar Friends

Part of what defines a friendship is what that friendship is founded on. For people to be friends, something has to connect them, but the nature of that connection is different from ...
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/ / Friendships, Positive Psychology, Relationships, Social Psychology
Reflecting on Life Lessons Can Help With Aging

Reflecting on Life Lessons Can Help With Aging

In a general sense, life looks the same for all of us: stuff happens to us. We learn from that stuff, sometimes. We get older. Ideally, we have a sense that there’s ...
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/ / Clinical Psychology, Older Adults, Positive Emotions, Positive Psychology
Economic Hardship Might Increase Tendency to Help Others

Economic Hardship Might Increase Tendency to Help Others

If there’s an upside to adversity, it might be greater empathy for others. That idea makes a certain intuitive sense to us, and there’s some evidence to support it. Take, for example, ...
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/ / Gratitude, Money, Positive Emotions, Positive Psychology, Relationships
Lessons in Coping From a Teacher Who Rowed Across the Atlantic

Lessons in Coping From a Teacher Who Rowed Across the Atlantic

In 2018, a biology teacher from Cincinnati named Bryce Carlson decided to row across the North Atlantic. That feat is about as difficult as it sounds. Carlson faced no shortage of obstacles ...
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/ / Coping, Mindfulness, Positive Emotions, Positive Psychology, Teaching