My thinking about this topic was clarified and advanced a great deal by an empirical research project (supported in part by funds from the Positive Psychology Network and Swarthmore College) I conducted in collaboration with colleagues Andrew Ward, John Monterosso, Darrin Lehman, Sonja Lyubomirsky, and Katherine White. I am deeply grateful to these colleagues (especially Ward, whose office is next door to mine and who thus must put up with almost daily discussions) for the role they played in the research and for the many illuminating conversations we had in the course of completing the
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