This is a guest post by Ashley Hardway Ever since I can remember, I have been using humor to alleviate anxieties in relationships and in life situations that would otherwise be overwhelming to me. Some people, like my own mother, do not understand how I can make light of things…
About a year ago, I raised my desk so I could stand for most of my work day. I wrote about it last September, a couple of months into the "experiment" which turned into a permanent change. I originally raised my desk after I read in several places that sitting…
Someone recently forwarded to me a note called, “20 Things the Rich Do Every Day.” Apparently, the material is from the bestselling book, Rich Habits. While my site is not about becoming wealthy in the monetary sense, I like a definition I once read that said that wealth is an…
In order to make changes that stick, I take my big goals and break them down into small pieces. Then I focus on one at a time until it becomes a habit. The goal of safer driving is a good one, but it's one of those big, non-specific goals that…
Last week I posted part one of my parenting suggestions. Here’s part two: 1. Protect your kids from internet dangers. I thought everyone was aware of the dos and don'ts, but I recently showed my cousin I could figure out his daughter's school, what team she is on, her best friend's…
This week, our oldest, our son Jeremy, graduates from college. As my wife Marcie would say, we’ve done all we can and he’s fully cooked. He was pretty well cooked in many ways before he headed off to college, yet while he’s much the same person he was at that…
In my book, I wrote that many of the things that happen to us seem like catastrophes at the time, but end up as funny stories later. When I say this, I'm not talking about the big stuff; I'm talking about the inconveniences like traffic, canceled flights, and the like.…
Albany is about two-and-a-quarter hours north of where I live in the NYC area. I was driving up to Albany one morning early this year. It’s a drive I’ve made countless times. First, during the four years I went to college in Albany in the 1980s, and more recently during…
Last year, when Marcie and I celebrated our 25th anniversary, I published an article in the Six Simple Rules newsletter with my thoughts about marriage, and about divorce (and happiness). A version of the article was published on the new Love Fairy site, a sister site to Purpose Fairy, where…
There are tons of articles about dealing with stress, so maybe another isn’t needed. But, unhappiness and ill health from stress is so prevalent it can’t hurt to provide the following list I adapted from an article I read in a Canyon Ranch newsletter. It’s amazing the way all the…
My yoga teacher Lucy shares wonderful messages with us—messages of gratitude, calm, peace, and happiness. Recently, she shared the quote, "Service to others is our rent for living in this world." As I've said here before, I've also learned that service to others is the single best strategy to ensure…
I recently read a powerful story in What Happy People Know, a book by Dan Baker. He explained he was working with a super stressed out business owner and trying to help him to delegate more. The business owner said he could not delegate more because so many of his…