Special Issue on Optimism Interview with Dr. Martin Seligman: The way most people start to build optimism is to find out the costs of being a pessimist. Beyond Survival: Guilding Adversity With Hope: Optimism with Anabel Jensen, Ph.D. If I could only teach my child one lesson, this would be it. Optimistically Speaking - EQ Tools: There are three key ways optimists talk to others and to themselves, by Marsha Rideout. EQ and Optimism by Joshua Freedman. Optimism means believing that positive results are likely. What does it take to create those results? Do One Thing Different: A fabulous book about breaking patterns, making change, and taking charge of your life! Growing Up Toward Life: On July 11th, 1983, I was born in Burlington, Vermont. 38 days later, my father died of Leukemia, three years after his diagnosis.

The Biology of Violence: Interview with Debra Neihoff
The biggest lesson we have learned from brain research is that violence, like all complex human behaviors, is the result of a developmental process, a lifelong interaction between the brain and the environment." [full text]

Emotionally Intelligent Parenting with Maurice Elias
Interview: "When you go back and think about human memory and how kids remember things based on a feeling and the context, the apology can transform a highly negative situation into a positive situation from which the child can actually learn. We need to be courageous enough to take advantage of those opportunities." [full text]

Building a Role Model
"Like it or not, teachers, parents, caregivers, we are all role models. Our daily choices and actions will echo through the generations. But at the same time, we also teach our beliefs about knowledge, about learning, about adversity, about mistakes, about achievements." [full text]

Shifting from the Egosystem to the Ecosystem; a speech by Claire Nuer
"But if I look at my own behavior today – with my colleagues, my daughter, my husband, mostly with my husband – when I know that I am right, or when I fear that somebody is going to “make me wrong,” what do I do? What do you do? Every day in subtle ways we “kill” each other with our thoughts. We kill with our anger, our prejudices, and our strong attachment to being right." [full text]

John Steinberg's History of Affective Ed.
"Emotional Intelligence" developed from a long history of affective education. This article provides a historical framework for EQ from Maslow to Bandler and more -- perfect starting point for those of you writing a paper on EQ! [full text + links]

What Are Emotions?
Interviews with EQ experts -- including Jack Mayer, Maurice Elias, Candace Pert, Eric Jensen, Karen McCown, Anabel Jensen, John Steinberg, Daniel Gil'Adi -- reveal a range of definitions about emtions and feelings. [full text]

Approaching Emotional Intelligence
"The proper time to influence a child's character is 100 years before he is born."
- William R. Inge
So what influence are you giving to the child born in three generations, that 21st Century baby-x? Will your life work echo through the generations, or are you another Ozimandius, commemorated but forgotten? [full text]

A Girl's Place part 1 | part 2 | Part 3
"We do not need to protect girls from adolescence itself; rather we need to give them the skills so that as they grow, they can keep the strong parts of themselves that they value." [full text]

Girls' Group helped the "whistle-blowers" begin to see that the conflicts and confusions they faced were valid. Moreover, they began to see that these inequities are not immutable mountains that cannot be moved. Rather, they began to see that many of the inequities are based on old patterns that could be changed by a few people willing to take action. These girls helped me see that questioning is the first step towards change. [text + links]

Building Noble Goals
A noble goal is a lifeline mission that leads you onward to fulfill your greatest human potential. Karen Stone McCown, author of Self-Science and Chairman of Six Seconds, has set "to support myself and others to become human beings" as her noble goal.[full text]

Book Review: Choice Theory
"Glasser's latest is a powerful extension of his long list of well known titles (including Control Theory in the Classroom, The Quality School : Managing Students Without Coercion, Reality Therapy). A major message that runs through his work is that we are free agents -- we choose our actions independent of the circumstances." [full text]

Hijacking of the Amygdala
An essential to understanding how emotions work in the brain; this straightforward explanation shows what happens when our "hot buttons" are pressed. [full text + graphic] Also see Pause Buttons to find out how to reduce hijacking!

Moral Dilemmas
Kohlberg found that discussing moral dilemmas was the only way to systematically improve a persons moral reasoning. So come play our "moral dilemma game" 

EQ Toolbox:

Expression Journals
"Journals in the classroom for affective expression are not unfamiliar. However, their systematically guided use in a social-emotional learning program can dramatically increase their value as a tool for developing self-awareness and personal accountability." [text + additions]

Wikki Stix® for expression
Wonderfully manipulative, Wikki Stix ® are ideal for promoting discussion and symbolizing emotional ideas. [text + links]

Listening + Using Laughter
How to create listening in the classroom, and techniques for teaching with laughter. [text]

EQ&A:

Teaching Optimism
"Q: Aren't optimism and pessimism ‘built-in’ — just a part of someone's personality?
A: They are related to personality, but they are learned behaviors...." [text + links]

Self Esteem
What is self-esteem and where does it come from? [text + links]

JPC & EQ
What is "principled conscience" and what does it have to do with emotional intelligence? [full text]

Behavior and EQ
Can EQ "solve" behavior problems or help with ADHD issues? [full text]