Category: lifestyle


Can people change? Part II, with input from friends

Can people change? Part II, with input from friends

My recent post on whether people can change generated a nice conversation over on Facebook, so I’m bringing those comments in here to share other perspectives: Margaret Yang I voted yes. People can change. The thing is, most people don’t want to! Don’t we all think we’re just dandy the way we are? Jeffrey SaugerPeople can change their synapses. They’ve…

Can people really change?

Can people really change?

Reading NPR’ s app on my way to the office recently got me thinking about one of my favorite questions — whether people are really capable of change. Terry Gross on WHYY’s Fresh Air did an interview about the new HBO series called “Enlightened,” and talked about that, among other things: Can people really change? That’s the question Laura Dern…

Amanda Hirsch's easy 10-step plan to being an artist

Amanda Hirsch's easy 10-step plan to being an artist

Earlier this week I shared advice Ira Glass gave to beginning storytellers. Here’s a follow up from my Brooklyn pal, Amanda Hirsch, who wrote a tongue-in-cheek 10-step plan to being an artist. You get the idea when you read Step 1: Refuse to do the work. Avoid it at all costs. If you want to write, you should instead check…

Deepak Chopra shares the equation for happiness

Deepak Chopra shares the equation for happiness

Deepak Chopra doesn’t seem to think happiness is all that complicated. In an interview with the San Antonio Express-News, Chopra said happiness comes down to generosity, and that attention, appreciation and affection are the keys to generosity. Chopra is the author of numerous books including “Seven Spiritual Laws of Success,” “Creating Affluence” and “The Ultimate Happiness Prescription,” as well as…

Chris Brogan's story of a builder and a shaky foundation

Chris Brogan's story of a builder and a shaky foundation

If you’re a social media geek like I am, you might know Chris Brogan as the intensely prolific oracle on all things new media. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sVVdAB41Zg&feature=player_embedded] But his wide-ranging blog also tackles issues about living life, and recently, my friend Scott Daris pointed out one of Brogan’s posts — the story of a builder. Brogan tells the tale of a builder…

Measure your success by more than your title and pay

Measure your success by more than your title and pay

You might not go to Harvard Business Review expecting a long, personal tale of faith, morals and values — but I love HBR for knowing success means so much more than increasing profits. Clayton M. Christensen wrote a powerful essay called, “How Will You Measure Your Life?” Not to spoil it for you, but one of the more moving parts…

On embracing your fabulosity, even when it's impractical

On embracing your fabulosity, even when it's impractical

If you have not read The Bloggess, you are missing out on some of the best writing I’ve found online. Her genius post “And that’s why you should learn to pick your battles,”  follows the kind of mundane argument most married people can relate to, except that most married people don’t buy a five-foot metal chicken to make a point.…

Half a lifetime ago, back to school time

Half a lifetime ago, back to school time

Twenty years ago this week, I started my senior year at Central Michigan University. Half a lifetime has passed since that last fall I spent in Mount Pleasant. And though I got another run at buying notebook paper and folders for business school, there’s something special about that undergrad experience — moving away from home, living surrounded by thousands of…

Money can buy happiness, says MP Dunleavy

Money can buy happiness, says MP Dunleavy

Money can’t buy love. Money can’t buy happiness. We hear these clichés frequently, but I loved this article from investment firm Vanguard that suggests you can, in fact, buy happiness — if you spend your money on the right things. A snippet from a Q&A with MP Dunleavy, author of “Money Can Buy Happiness: How to Spend to Get the…

38 Things I Have Learned at 38, by Amy Spooner

38 Things I Have Learned at 38, by Amy Spooner

I love that the contributions to the “Things I Have Learned” series keep coming in. I asked a small number of my writer friends to participate at the outset, but now the majority of participants have volunteered themselves and that’s fantastic. Keep ’em coming, all! Today’s list comes from Amy Spooner, who I met when she profiled me for the…

There's more than one way to be grateful

There's more than one way to be grateful

If you haven’t already seen this video of pastor Joe Nelms giving thanks in prayer before a NASCAR race in Nashville, you’re in for a treat. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J74y88YuSJ8] I grew up Catholic and have heard a whole lot of prayers and invocations in my life — but have never heard such impassioned thanks raised up to God for the power and…

More reflections on life in New York City

More reflections on life in New York City

A few months ago I wrote a pair of posts reflecting on what I’ve learned in five years as a New Yorker: Five observations after five years in New York New York tourist tips gleaned in my five years in NYC But I have to give it up to Sarah Hepola for writing a piece with an almost identical theme — lessons…

Why the ending of Bridesmaids bugged me

Why the ending of Bridesmaids bugged me

Giant spoiler alert: If you couldn’t tell by the headline, this post is about the ending of a movie that’s still in the theater. So if you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want me to wreck everything for you, why don’t you check out another post for now and maybe come back to this after you’ve laughed your butt…

How would you spend your last day on Earth?

How would you spend your last day on Earth?

There’s been a lot of discussion, some serious and some snarky, about the rapture coming today. Personally, I don’t believe God sends an Outlook calendar invitation for the end of the world, but I respect anyone’s right to believe whatever feels true to you. Still, the talk has gotten me thinking about a big philosophical question: if you truly believe…