I read a good piece in Fast Company with suggestions from people who are successful with their New Year’s resolutions. The first suggestion was near to my heart: Their resolutions revolve around small changes. New Year’s resolutions tend to fail because we take on too many goals at once, or…
I was reading a book of the best sports writing of W. C. Hines, famous for his work from the 1940s through the 1970s. In a profile of former heavyweight boxing champion Floyd Patterson, he asked Patterson about the month he had spent in seclusion at home after losing a…
As I have done for each of the past few years, here are the many ways I enjoyed the experiences of my year: places I visited, music and podcasts I listened to, books I read, what I watched on TV, and more. Reading I love reading and I love learning.…
This is a guest post by Courtney Carver. I had the opportunity to read a pre-publication edition of Courtney’s new book Soulful Simplicity, which will be published December 26th by Tarcher/Perigee, a division of Penguin Random House, and I asked if she would like to write a piece about one…
I, and others on this blog, have written that helping others is a happiness secret. After many people helped others impacted by this year’s hurricane season, a New York Times article pointed out why this is the case. According to Dr. Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist and founder of the Center…
I’ve written many times about the importance of investing in experiences instead of things—about the way spending your time and money on experiences rather than accumulating “stuff” will lead to greater happiness. A new study has reinforced that notion, showing that using money to buy yourself more time results in…
I bought my first iPhone in 2011. I never had a Blackberry, a Palm Pilot, or anything similar—so that iPhone 3G was my first foray into the world of smartphones. I've upgraded it twice since, and now use an iPhone 6. I love my iPhone—just as so many people do.…
I do not attend many religious services over the course of a typical year. There is one service I love attending more than the others. It's an Interfaith Thanksgiving service, held on a rotating basis, in one of a group of participating houses of worship from the towns surrounding where…
I have been a long-time student of the power of our thoughts. That's part of why I enjoyed Waking Up by Sam Harris, a book that focuses a great deal on the power of our thoughts. Before cell phones, when we saw someone walking down the street talking to himself,…
I’ve written many times about what I call Proactive Positivity, actions you can take to help yourself to be happier, such as: expressing gratitude, smiling, helping others, exercising, spending time with people you like, looking for silver linings, being present, seeing the glass as half full, celebrating your progress, laughing,…
On a TED Radio Hour podcast episode, I listened to an interview with Dan Goldstein, who studies economic behavior and decision making. He talked about something he calls Commitment Devices. The ideas he shared resonated with me because they related to making changes that stick. As we all know, resisting…
I’ve written a number of times about making the time to do the important things in life. Rather than saying, “I didn’t do it because I didn’t have the time,” it’s more accurate to say, “I didn’t do it because I didn’t make the time.” (One example: Making time for…