President's Column

President’s Column: Is Existential Wellbeing the Key to Positive Mental Health?

Paul T. P. Wong

Posted Sep 28, 2023

I don’t want to bore you with all the current statistics about our mental health crisis. You already know that the prevalence rates of depression, drug overdoses, and suicide among young people. The challenge before us is how to solve the mental health crisis without solely depending on the medial model (Wong & Laird, 2023). […]

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4 Inconvenient Truths About Community Building for a Better World

Paul T. P. Wong

Posted Jun 29, 2023

  Is it possible to have the kind of ideal community as described by Nelson Mandela? I am afraid not. And for good reasons, too. Suppose that there was an ideal community. Your or my presence would ruin it because none of us are perfect. We are all broken in some way, living in a […]

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Hope Keeps us Moving Forward

Paul T. P. Wong

Posted Mar 14, 2023

Ever since being discharged from the hospital three days ago (Feb 20, 2023), my mind could not help but marvel at the wonderful capacity to hope and dream in times of great danger and suffering. I am able to pen this article this morning (Feb 23, 2023) because I have a hope that holds fast […]

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From Anger Management to Meaning Transformation to Peace and Joy

Paul T. P. Wong

Posted Dec 28, 2022

“I am very angry. God knows that I try, but I can’t help it – I have every reason to be mad” (Segal, 2003). If this sentiment sounds familiar, it is because all of us have experienced similar inner struggles with respect to anger. Why are We Angry? Wouldn’t you be angry if what you […]

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Ultimate Employee Engagement and Wellbeing

Paul T. P. Wong

Posted Sep 28, 2022

Employee engagement (Harter, 2021) and wellbeing (Bersin, 2022) remain the hottest topics during the post-pandemic era. The great resignation, “quiet quitting” (Harter, 2022), and the resistance to return to the office (Cutter & Bindley, 2022; Guilford & Overberg, 2022) are troublesome trends that adversely impact productivity, the economy, and wellbeing. Common sense attributes these developments […]

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How can I be Free from my Struggles and Live a Happy Life?

Paul T. P. Wong

Posted Jun 24, 2022

Abstract This paper invites you to consider a more adaptive view towards happiness and suffering which may change your life. It suggests that the old paradigm of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain is no longer adequate in the current digital age, and a new paradigm of embracing and transforming suffering is needed in order to […]

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How Can We Survive and Thrive in Wartime?

Paul T. P. Wong

Posted Mar 29, 2022

The daily news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine brings back many painful memories. The scenes of Russia’s deliberate bombings of hospitals and schools, and the relentless shelling of residential areas fill my heart with sadness and rage, because the United Nation and NATO cannot do anything to stop a madman from destroying cities and […]

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Why do we Suffer?

Paul T. P. Wong

Posted Oct 7, 2021

This is perhaps the oldest and most urgent question. The proverbial Job raised the question. The wise man Solomon raised the same question. Countless philosophers and psychologists have wrestled with the mystery of suffering. After four decades of research, I still do not have a good answer, especially when it is up close and personal. […]

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A Festival to Celebrate the Human Spirit

Paul T. P. Wong

Posted Jun 19, 2021

It is the worst of times; it is the best of times. But we cannot celebrate the best without overcoming and transcending the worst. This fundamental principle of flourishing is what we want to covey at our forthcoming Meaning Conference. By all accounts, it is the most consequential and most innovative Meaning Conference we have […]

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