As I’ve written, and as I say at every one of my speaking engagements, smiling helps your happiness. The act of smiling releases chemicals to your brain that make you think you are happy. And that feels good. Similarly, I strongly recommend saying, “Great” when people ask how you are.…
I was listening to a happiness episode on one of my favorite podcasts, the TED Radio Hour. One of the speakers, Matt Killingsworth, talked about a study done to track happiness in real time. An app was given to 35,000 people who received survey questions on their smartphones, on a…
A bunch of times, when I've mentioned the name of my book to people I've gotten this response: "Sounds easy. Six rules. I love it." I accept their positive feedback, but I don't feel entirely comfortable with their comment. I feel like I need to explain, "The rules are simple,…
Last year, as part of our corporate wellness program, we bought Fitbits for everyone (for anyone who wanted one, the cost was a $5 donation to charity.) I wrote about it in September in my monthly newsletter and received some great feedback, so I want to share it here as…
This is guest post by Alex Romero. You’re a nervous volunteer at a nursing home. You're nervous because of the sounds you're hearing coming from a room down the hall—metal screeching, drawers falling, and floorboards scratching. Hopefully the residents are okay. You get to the room and find three elderly…
This is a guest post by Jennifer Shriver Most of us feel we could be healthier eaters, whether it’s prompted by summer coming, holidays ending, or just wanting to better ourselves. The biggest problem a lot of us face is we do it all at once instead of easing into…
As many people have done, I have written about the importance of gratitude as a happiness habit, or as I also like to say, as an act of proactive positivity. I was listening to an episode of one of my favorite, weekly podcasts, The TED Radio Hour. During the episode,…
For several years, I’ve been wanting to read “Thinking, Fast and Slow," by Daniel Kahneman. When the book came out, the reviews made me feel I would love it. I finally read and found it an incredibly interesting read. It wasn’t a fast read, which is part of why it…
Since 2011, when I published my book and began blogging, I have also been a regular reader of other blogs. My favorite, Becoming Minimalist, has countless useful posts to help you have a simpler, better life. Reading Becoming Minimalist, and other minimalism blogs, led to several changes in my life.…
More than ever, restaurants are accommodating regarding the dietary needs of their patrons. Gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and other options appear on many menus. To paraphrase an old Burger King commercial, the theme at most restaurants these days has become, "Special orders don't upset us." Long before these options began to…
Making time for exercise is a big challenge for many people. Whether it's about exercise or anything else, time management is about making time for your priorities. As I've written before, if someone says they don't have time to exercise, I like to challenge them by explaining it's not that…
I’ve written a lot about gratitude as a happiness strategy. When you spend time thinking about ways you are grateful, and things and relationships in your life about which you are grateful, it’s hard to be unhappy at the same time. Gratitude is a proven activity of proactive positivity. But in a…