A Community of Practice (CoP) was established in 2020 to promote positive life values and well-being among university students in the Education University of Hong Kong. The CoP team has adopted the Heaven, People, Environment, and Self perspectives to conduct life education and positive education and help students learn about transcendental, communal, environmental, and personal well-being. In this symposium, the CoP team members will share the results of a cross-sectional survey study about the levels and predictors of university students’ meaning in life and positive mental health. The CoP team members will also introduce a newly developed online learning platform, the E-hub for Life Education and Positive Education, which shares learning resources and teaching materials related to life education and positive education. Moreover, the CoP team members will introduce a collaborative digital storytelling project related to positive education, in which students are trained to create and reflect on a series of digital stories that highlight different contributing factors of a positive life, including personal character strengths and positive values (e.g., determination, courage, and bravery), family love and support, and friendship and collaboration. The CoP team members will discuss how these non-formal learning activities help students enhance personal, family and social well-being, and develop reflective skills and values-laden perspectives in their personal and professional lives. Copyright © 2021 ICLT.

Objectives: Research shows that compassion from others and from the self may enable university students to face, overcome, and bounce back from adversity and generate a greater sense of thriving and meaning in life. However, the underlying processes are largely unknown. The present study aimed to examine the associations of compassion with psychological distress, flourishing, and meaning in life among university students and explore the mechanisms underlying these associations. Methods: A total of 536 Hong Kong university students completed questionnaires measuring their experiences of compassion from others, self-compassion, resilience, psychological distress, flourishing, and meaning in life. Results: Serial mediation analyses showed that compassion from others was associated positively with self-compassion, which was, in turn, linked to greater resilience and consequently lower levels of psychological distress and higher levels of flourishing and meaning in life. Conclusions: Our findings reveal the associations of compassion from others and self-compassion with the well-being and life meaning of university students. The findings highlight the importance of being open and receptive to love and kindness from others. The findings also point to the importance of developing a caring attitude toward oneself. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s).