“There's so much more to us and to the world than just what's broken.” - Dr. Lindsey Godwin

How do we find joy when the world feels overwhelming?

In this episode of Standing Up Strong, guest host Dr. Jillian Coppley sits down with Dr. Lindsey Godwin to talk about resilience, hope, and the power of paying attention to what’s good. Lindsey says joy isn’t about ignoring life’s challenges—it’s about finding the strength to face them. She talks through the science behind our tendency to focus on the negative, the importance of creating space for what truly matters, and the little moments of beauty and connection that help us keep going. This conversation is a reminder that joy can exist alongside struggle—and that noticing it may be one of the most important things we do.

Dr. Lindsey Godwin is the Robert P. Stiller Endowed Chair and Professor of Management at Champlain College, where she teaches leadership, Appreciative Inquiry, and positive organizational change. She serves as the Academic Director of the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry, partnering with organizations around the world to design strengths-based approaches to leadership and change. Lindsey is also the co-founder of Bellflower Street and co-author of the #1 new release Ditch the Ditty: Doing What Matters Instead of Doing It All, a practical guide that helps women move from over-obligation and overwhelm to greater clarity, purpose, and intentional decision-making.

Dr. Jillian Coppley is a visionary executive recognized internationally for her expertise in character strengths, wellbeing, and organizational transformation. With deep experience in positive psychology, strategy, and change, she has led large-scale collaborations, built global programs, strategic partnerships, and thriving organizational cultures that empower individuals, teams and organizations to flourish. Her leadership blends strategic vision, research-based innovation, and deep personal care for others —creating environments where people and programs thrive and where meaningful, lasting impact takes root.

This series is part of the Cynthia & Harold Guttman Family Center for Storytelling at the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the science of character strengths is integral to our work creating a community of upstanders.

https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/

https://www.youtube.com/@holocaustandhumanity

Our thanks to the Mayerson Foundation and the VIA Institute on Character for their support of this series

https://www.mayersonfoundation.org/

https://www.viacharacter.org/

Episode Resources

Follow Jillian

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcoppley/

Follow Lindsey

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlindseygodwin/

Dr. Lindsey Godwin
https://www.lindseygodwin.com

David Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry
https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu

Books & Authors Mentioned

Ditch the Ditty: Doing What Matters Instead of Doing It All
By Lindsey Godwin & Stephanie Jones
https://www.ditchtheditty.com/

Positive Psychology Research
Barbara Fredrickson's work on positive emotions and Broaden-and-Build Theory:
https://www.positiveemotions.org

Rick Hanson
(Referenced for the "Velcro for bad, Teflon for good" concept)
https://www.rickhanson.net

Maria Sirois
https://www.mariasirois.com

“I'm used to helping other people get through their darkest days, and suddenly, here I am, the grieving mum, wondering if anything that I've ever learned is going to be relevant and helpful to me now” - Dr. Lucy Hone

After the sudden loss of her 12-year-old daughter, Dr. Lucy Hone was forced to put her life’s work on resilience to the ultimate test.

In this episode of Standing Up Strong, host Dr. Jillian Coppley sits down with the renowned resilience researcher and grief expert to explore how personal loss shaped Lucy’s groundbreaking approach to grief, healing, and human flourishing. Lucy expands our understanding of grief beyond bereavement, introducing the concept of “living losses”—the heartbreaks that don’t involve death but still deeply impact our lives. From divorce and estrangement to illness, infertility, and job loss, these experiences can leave people feeling untethered, isolated, and unseen—and asking, How will I ever get through this?

Through research and lived experience this conversation highlights the role of character strengths—including hope, forgiveness, curiosity, and perseverance—as tools we can draw on in times of adversity, even if they aren’t what we usually consider to be our strengths. These strengths don’t remove pain, but they can help us navigate it with intention, connection, and courage.

Dr. Jillian Coppley is a visionary executive recognized internationally for her expertise in character strengths, wellbeing, and organizational transformation. With deep experience in positive psychology, strategy, and change, she has led large-scale collaborations, built global programs, strategic partnerships, and thriving organizational cultures that empower individuals, teams and organizations to flourish. Her leadership blends strategic vision, research-based innovation, and deep personal care for others —creating environments where people and programs thrive and where meaningful, lasting impact takes root.

Dr Lucy Hone is a resilience researcher, grief specialist, and author committed to helping people face the toughest chapters of their lives with clarity, compassion and practical tools. Her TED talk, "Three Secrets of Resilient People," has reached over 9 million viewers worldwide, and her first book, "Resilient Grieving," is now in its second edition. She's spent over 15 years studying how humans cope with loss, disruption and change - blending lived experience with evidence-based strategies to help people rebuild after heartbreak.

This series is part of the Cynthia & Harold Guttman Family Center for Storytelling at the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the science of character strengths is integral to our work, creating a community of upstanders.

https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/

https://www.youtube.com/@holocaustandhumanity

Our thanks to the Mayerson Family Foundation and the VIA Institute on Character for their support of this series

https://www.mayersonfoundation.org/

https://www.viacharacter.org/

Episode Resources

Follow Jillian and Lucy

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcoppley/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlucyhone/

https:// www.instagram.com/drlucyhone/

https:// www.facebook.com/DrLucyHone

https://www.tiktok.com/@drlucyhone

Buy Lucy’s new book available from Simon & Schuster:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/How-Will-I-Ever-Get-Through-This/Lucy-Hone/9781668227893

Lucy's TED talk

https://www.ted.com/talks/lucy_hone_the_three_secrets_of_resilient_people

Take your free character strengths quiz here

https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/upstander/assess-your-character-strengths/

Your relationships might be the most important thing you’re not training.

"We should invest our relationships, like our health and well-being depends on it, because it does." - Suzie Pileggi Pawelski

In this episode, Suzie and Dr. James Pawelski—the husband and wife who co-authored the book Happy Together—explore how thriving relationships aren’t all about finding the perfect match, but about putting in the right kind of effort to build something worth having.

Dr. Jillian Coppley is a visionary executive recognized internationally for her expertise in character strengths, wellbeing, and organizational transformation. With deep experience in positive psychology, strategy, and change, she has led large-scale collaborations, built global programs, strategic partnerships, and thriving organizational cultures that empower individuals, teams and organizations to flourish. Her leadership blends strategic vision, research-based innovation, and deep personal care for others —creating environments where people and programs thrive and where meaningful, lasting impact takes root.

Suzie Pileggi Pawelski has a Master of Applied Positive Psychology degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a freelance writer, well-being consultant, and international speaker specializing in the science of happiness and its effects on relationships and health. Her 2010 Scientific American Mind cover story, “The Happy Couple,” was the catalyst for Happy Together: Using the Science of Positive Psychology to Build Love That Lasts. Happy Together was named a best book of 2018 by Business Insider, Success magazine, Fatherly and The Greater Good Science Center.

James Pawelski is Professor of Practice and Director of Education in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania where he co-founded the Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program with Martin Seligman in 2005. The Founding Executive Director of IPPA, he is currently leading a three-year, multi-million-dollar grant investigating connections between the science of well-being and the arts and humanities.

This series is part of the Cynthia & Harold Guttman Family Center for Storytelling at the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the science of character strengths is integral to our work creating a community of upstanders. https://www.youtube.com/@holocaustandhumanity

Our thanks to the Mayerson Family Foundation and the VIA Institute on Character for their support of this series

https://www.mayersonfoundation.org/ https://www.viacharacter.org/

Episode Resources

Follow Jillian and her guests on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/suziepileggipawelski/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcoppley/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-pawelski-1636572a3/

Find out more about Suzie & James’s work

https://www.suzannpileggi.com/ https://jamespawelski.com/

Take your free character strengths quiz here https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/upstander/assess-your-character-strengths/