My next door neighbor invited me over a few months ago to check out his "Alexa" (the electronic device from Amazon you can ask to do things for you). I had only heard a bit about Alexa at that point. He showed me the way he uses it to control…
Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, lost her husband to a tragic accident. Sandberg, who is quite famous for her book, Lean In, is writing a book with Adam Grant, the author of two of my favorite recent books, Give and Take and Originals. In a commencement speech at…
I've always liked the designs of the "Life is Good" t-shirts. I was recently given Life is Good, the Book, written by Bert and John Jacobs, founders of the Life is Good company. It's a nice, happiness book, and an easy read. After explaining optimism as the philosophy behind their…
One of my friends participates in a program as a mentor to moms. She gave me one of the handouts from the training sessions she attended prior to beginning her volunteering. Its author is unknown and it's easy to find on the Internet. It's about listening, something most of us…
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…
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,…
During a trip to Nashville for a speaking engagement, I was in a gym where each piece of aerobic exercise equipment had its own TV and there were no large screen TVs. Usually those big-screen TVs are blaring, and half the time they are on a channel I find unappealing…
I've written a bunch of times about the value of experiences over things—about spending your money and time on experiences rather than stuff. In one of my newsletters, and later in a post here, I said the following: "I feel fortunate (and grateful) that investing my time and money in experiences…
This is a guest post by Louis Savalli. Every day is the same. From the moment you drag yourself out of bed, you’re devoting your time to taking care of other things and people. Whether it’s your kids, spouse, colleagues, customers, your house, or your car – you barely get…
Someone I know recently said to me, after a particularly frustrating turn of events in her life, “Why do these things always happen to me?” I know the right thing to do would have been to nod my head and say something about how sorry I feel for her. But…
My wife and I were fortunate to take a wonderful trip to Europe to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We met in college and after we graduated we took a backpacking trip in Europe. We hadn’t been back since and the anniversary trip was a wonderful time, filled with many…
When I was in high school, I took a psychology class. It was one of the few high school classes I enjoyed. The teacher, Mr. Mascari, taught us a relaxation technique I went on to use for many years. I would close my eyes and imagine the sun shining on…