Each week, I post a video about some 'Pigeon of Discontent' raised by a reader. Because, as much as we try to find the 'Bluebird of Happiness,' we're also plagued by those small but pesky 'Pigeons of...
Growing up in Kansas City, I was always neat, the teacher's pet, know-it-all type.
The Levity Effect,
Although we presume that we act because of the way we feel, in fact we often feel because of the way we act.
Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath describe
Whenever I start a new book, I think, 'This is the most interesting subject of all time. It's sad, I'll never enjoy writing another book as much as I enjoy this one.' Every time, I'm convinced. And th...
Just because we're doesn't mean we're being productive. Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination.
Don't grieve limitations
—Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography
Once I started trying to give positive reviews, though, I began to understand how much happiness I took from the joyous ones in my life---and how much effort it must take for them to be consistently g...
We set out to be wrecked.
We are happy when we are growing.
There is a preppy wabi-sabi to soft, faded khakis and cotton shirts, but it's not nice to be surrounded by things that are worn out or stained or used up.
The days are long, but the years are short...
It isn't enough to love; we must prove it.
They say that people teach what they need to learn. By adopting the role of happiness teacher, if only for myself, I was trying to find the method to conquer my particular faults and limitations.
Upholder, I see its dark side, too
One study showed that children who got a reward for coloring with magic markers—an activity that children love—didn’t spend as much time with markers, later, as children who didn’t expect a reward. Th...
If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.
I had everything I could possibly want -- yet I was failing to appreciate it. Bogged down in petty complaints and passing crises, weary of struggling with my own nature, I too often failed to comprehe...