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…
Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. – Dalai Lama I had breakfast with a friend this week where among other things, we talked about a simplified view of human nature: are you a person who is irritated by life or a person who gets joy from life? Sure, I complain about things but overall,…
Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. I had such a wild 2011, a year of such intense personal and professional transformation, that it’s hard to…
If you know nothing else about the late mythologist Joseph Campbell, it might be his oft-quoted call to follow your bliss. About a year ago, career coach Kim Curtin gave me advice I hadn’t expected: watch Campbell’s interviews with Bill Moyers and see what inspiration comes about following your bliss. Then Kim started talking about the recent premiere of Finding…
New York Times columnist David Brooks recently ran an interesting amateur sociology experiment: he solicited what he called “life reports” from people 70 years old and up, sharing what they had done well and poorly, then he combed them for lessons. With the giant caveats that: these are people who read the New York Times and opted in to sharing…
You’ve probably heard the cliché that no one on his death bed wishes he’d spent more time at the office. But while I was there as both my mother and stepmother died, I don’t have any great insight into the psyche of the dying and what they wish they had or hadn’t done with their time on earth. So I…
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences points to a connection between happiness and longevity. A study by University College in London of about 3,500 people found those who reported feeling happiest had a 35 percent lower risk of dying compared with those who reported feeling least happy. A USA Today story on the…
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…
