I’ve had two recent moments when inspiring ideas surprised me.
First, during a reiki session, I saw colors, then the interior design of an e-book I want to write.
Then while watching opera, the concept “elasticity of joy” popped into my head.
Tag: happiness
An article on Business Insider headlined “A neuroscience researcher reveals 4 rituals that will make you happier” summarizes some key findings of UCLA neuroscience researcher Alex Korb and his book The Upward Spiral.
Few people are brave enough to own their honest story in the way Jojo did, even fewer would put it on their business website. I asked for her permission to share her story of finding happiness through trial and error and eventually getting brave enough to listen to her heart.
I’m grateful she and Rachel both said yes so I can share with you this story of loving hard.
Let’s not forget about giving thanks — really giving thanks and meaning it, on Thanksgiving and beyond.
The cliche of the middle-aged guy buying a sports car and ditching his wife for a girl half his age always struck me as a desperate move to avoid aging — when the pressures of parenting and career collide with the increasing aches and pains and wrinkles of a body in decline, hook up with someone who knows nothing of those…
It breaks my heart every time I hear someone just biding time until retirement — not only because it’s a waste of the here and now, but also because stories of people who die just as retirement arrives seem a bit too common. What if you suffer for decades in a job you hate, waiting for deferred happiness, but never…
Happiness is a subject I frequently blog about — specifically, that it’s not just a virus you catch or something that happens to you, but like love or fulfillment, it’s something you consciously cultivate. So of course I loved this column by Jacob Sokol on Huffington Post headlined 12 Things Happy People Do Differently — And Why I Started Doing Them.…
If you don’t yet read Brain Pickings, the smartly wonderful guide to things you should check out online, here’s yet another endorsement to check it out. I spend a lot of time reading and blogging about happiness, but recently Maria Popova, the curator of Brain Pickings, turned me on to a happiness book I hadn’t heard of: The Antidote: Happiness…
One of the themes I come across consistently in seeking out fodder for my blog is that happiness is not something you get because of external forces — you will *not* become happy simply because you get a new job or lose 20 pounds — but instead is something you cultivate internally. So I could lose myself in the wonderful…
I launched this blog Jan. 1, 2009 in what I might describe in retrospect as pre-midlife crisis. I’d spent five years in Michigan’s evening MBA program, focused on graduating and getting a new job in New York. Then having made that move, I enjoyed my new career for three years before beginning to ask “What’s next?” I’ve always been a…
I kept seeing people post this photo on Facebook but only recently stopped to read the poster. I encourage you to do likewise — it’ll just take a minute and with luck, it’ll make your heart feel good like it did for me. Mission for this week: ask the next person you see what their passion is and share your…
Some of the decisions I have made this year — choosing a part-time job over full time so I could launch my own business in a tough economy, spending two months in New Orleans when we have a cozy place in a great Brooklyn neighborhood — don’t make sense to some people. Ditto our choice not to have children, not…
I’ve shared posts before from one of my favorite blogs, Zen Habits. I know you can read it yourself if you’re interested, but this recent column on dealing with negative people just struck me as such good advice that I wanted to share here. Zen Habits encourages sharing by offering all its content freely, without restrictions. This post, borrowed from…
Picture someone you really look up to — someone who goes beyond an important mentor, someone you idolize as very talented or successful in your field, perhaps the person you wish you could grow up to be. Got someone in mind? Now imagine getting an opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation with that person. Not just an “I love your…
Don Miguel Ruiz‘s slim little book, “The Four Agreements,” offers four simple pieces of life advice: Be impeccable with your word — say only what you mean and be careful the power of your words Don’t take anything personally — the way others behave is more about them than about you Don’t make assumptions — it’s easy to misunderstand when…
A mutual friend introduced me to Heather Newgen when Heather was moving to New York from LA last year. After trading several messages, we met for the first time in New Orleans — I was there on our semi-sabbatical and Heather was shooting a TV pilot she’s pitching called The Voluntourist. I was impressed by her passion for this new…
I’d never heard of St. Vitus’ Dance until I read an ABC News story recently about its anniversary: St. Vitus’ Dance, back in 1374, groups of people — sometimes thousands at a time — started dancing uncontrollably. It continued for days, and in some cases, weeks and months. Some people reportedly danced until they collapsed from exhaustion or even death,…
If you’d like to take some deep thoughts into your long holiday weekend, here’s a great way to spend about 20 minutes. Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness, explains in scientific terms that we overestimate the effects of things outside ourselves have on our happiness and that we have great capacity for creating synthetic happiness. In more concrete terms,…
Today is installment #3 in the “Things I Have Learned” series, with this latest list coming from Amanda Hirsch, a friend I met thanks to the wonder of Twitter. Previous lists have come from: me Margaret Yang Amanda Hirsch is a writer and comedian. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, Jordan, their dog, Cosmo, and a lot…