I found the Ted Talk on Hardwiring Happiness intriguing. I think I knew about the negativity bias, perhaps simply by experience, but to have it explained along with how to sort of trick it and open the bottle-neck to let the good experiences take over was good to hear. It also reminded me of the reading on "Reflection" from Healing Administration about how we keep trying to move forward and don't take time to reflect. Reminding ourselves to reflect on the good experiences will open up that bottle-neck that normally only lets bad experiences reign in our lives will make it easier each time to let the good experiences in.
I also found this one an intriguing concept. It reminded me of the movie Patch Adams that is also mentioned in the book” Rest in the Storm”. In fact the entire last chapter is dedicated to laughter and joy. I believe that bringing laughter in a leadership setting is important. My team and I love to have fun and laugh but we also know when to be serious and get the work done. I believe it has to be a balance. During hard days we remember when we laugh and keep that memory until laughter returns again. I believe it is the same here. Keep hold of the good remember the good and when you go through the bad bring the good back up.
Betsy, that article was useful to me as well. At my current place of employment we are going through a massive remodeling and new build of our work area and the inconveniences that it has caused are tremendous. Only so often can you tell the staff this is only temporary, and each time one temporary inconvenience is resolved it is replaced by two more, so finding ways to keep the staff encouraged and hopeful is a real bottleneck situation and being able to remind them of the good times and what lies ahead as a result of their endurance is a not only a trick but a real magic act.