I knew I wouldn't discover happiness in a faraway place or in unusual circumstances; it was right here, right now— as in the haunting play The Blue Bird, where two children spend a year searching the...
I did, however, vow to stop reading books that I didn’t enjoy. I used to pride myself on finishing every book I started—no longer.
Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill (I
Boredom can be important. That’s when you have to figure out what you want to do.
Any single happy experience may be amplified or minimized, depending on how much attention you give it.
One of my key realizations about happiness, and a point oddly under-emphasized by positive psychologists, given its emphasis in popular culture, is that outer order contributes to inner calm. More tha...
It was my interest in happiness that led me to the subject of habits, and of course, the study of habits is really the study of happiness. Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life, and a...
In the scope of a happy life, a messy desk or an overstuffed coat closet is a trivial thing, yet I find - and I hear from other people that they agree - that getting rid of clutter gives a disproporti...
Use counters for activities, not for storage.
The single most important element in developing an expertise is your willingness to practice
Same person, same activity, different habit.
Our habits are our destiny.
IF IT’S ON THE CALENDAR, IT HAPPENS
Flawed can be more perfect than perfection.
When possible, the brain makes a behavior into a habit, which saves effort and therefore gives us more capacity to deal with complex, novel, or urgent matters.
You
We can build our habits only on the foundation of our own nature.
The least strained and most natural ways of the soul are the most beautiful; the best occupations are the least forced.
It's easy to make the mistake of thinking that if you have something you love or there's something you want, you'll be happier with more.
Hugging relieves stress, boosts feelings of closeness, and even squelches pain. In one study, people assigned to give five hugs each day for a month, aiming to hug as many different people as they cou...