James Pawelski, PhD, is a Professor of Practice (← best professorial title EVER?) and the Director of Education in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where he cofounded the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program with Martin Seligman. He is one of the world’s leading positive psychologists who has presented keynote talks in more than twenty countries on six continents.

I got this book after James Pawelski and Larry King interviewed me as part of their Positive Voices interview series. (One of our Heroic Coach – Class I graduates, Donna Hemmert, introduced us. Thanks again for connecting us, Donna!!)

When I heard about this book, I immediately got it. When it arrived, Alexandra (who reads as much as I do!) immediately grabbed it and read it first. She loved it. So did I.

I like to start a book by reading the back cover then the inside flap then the testimonials. This book features testimonials from a Who’s Who of positive psychology Luminaries. I went through the list and marked off the books we’ve covered and noted the ones we haven’t covered (yet!) so we can expand our collection!

For example, here’s a brief list of brilliant authors we’ve featured who loved the book as much as I did: Angela Duckworth (Grit), Tom Rath (Life’s Great Question, Eat Move Sleep, Are You Fully Charged?), Tal Ben-Shahar (Happier, The Pursuit of Perfect and Choose the Life You Want), Marci Shimoff (Happy for No Reason), Joshua Rosenthal (Integrative Nutrition), Barry Schwartz (The Paradox of Choice), Ed Diener (Happiness), Barbara Fredrickson (Love 2.0), Scott Barry Kaufman (Wired to Create), George Vaillant (Spiritual Evolution), Ryan Niemiec (The Power of Character Strengths), and Caroline Adams Miller (Getting Grit) and Sonja Lyubomirsky (The How of Happiness and The Myths of Happiness).

Then we have the cofounder of the whole Positive Psychology movement himself, Martin Seligman, with whom James cofounded the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program at Penn, who wrote the incredible foreword. (Check out our Notes on Learned Optimism, Authentic Happiness and Flourish.)

So, yah. The book comes incredibly highly recommended. For one very simple reason. It’s FANTASTIC. I’ve been waiting for a very long time for the book that would make me say: “READ THIS BOOK if you want to figure out how to integrate Ancient Wisdom + Modern Science + Practical Tools to Optimize your relationship.” And, well, THIS book is it.

I HIGHLY recommend it. Get a copy here. Of course, it’s PACKED with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

Oh! Almost forgot. We’re deeply honored that James and Suzie joined our Guest Faculty as Luminaries sharing their wisdom in our Heroic Coach program. (Cruise on over here to learn more about that and over here to see the other extraordinary teachers who support our Coaches in being the change so we can change the world together.)