I loved reading this brief article last year, which told about research showing staying optimistic and maintaining a positive outlook can directly extend the length of your life. The 30-year study followed 1,200 elderly people who were born in 1920 or 1921. The researchers analyzed their health, ability to function,…
A Wall Street Journal article last year talked about why hobbies are so important in retirement. I have many interests and believe I will not have a problem staying busy when I retire one day, but I was interested in seeing what they had to say, because hobbies are important…
I recently spoke with a group of my company’s up-and-coming professionals. Most of my talk centered around the kinds of things I always talk about in my speeches from my book, Six Simple Rules for a Better Life. Because it was a business event, I decided to add some thoughts…
I’ve written before about Arthur Brooks – articles of his I’ve read, the time I saw him as an event speaker, and episodes of his “How to Build a Happy Life” podcast. I very much enjoyed this podcast episode of his, featuring Robert Waldinger, a psychiatrist and a Professor of…
When my kids were in high school, I wrote a five-part series of "Teenproofing" posts about teens and drinking. The posts include many of my opinions and suggestions including not letting your kids drink in your house. My kids are all in their mid-twenties now, so I haven’t given a…
I recently watched the HBO documentary, Risky Drinking. It delivers a powerful, disturbing, and important message about dangers to our health and happiness from what are now called alcohol use disorders. The documentary had four segments. All of them were meaningful. The first segment focused on binge drinking. The filmmakers…
I'm pleased to have had a post I wrote published yesterday on one of my favorite blogs, the Tiny Buddha web site. Helping others' happiness is clearly a nice thing to do, and it will help you to be happier as well. Here's the first part of the piece, with…
Last week, I was fortunate to have a blog I wrote published on the terrific web site, The Bridge Maker. Here’s the first part of the piece, with a link to the rest… I was recently reading a business journal and came across an article called, “Learning to let go.” It…
Last week, I was fortunate to have a blog I wrote published on the wonderful Tiny Buddha web site. Here's the first part of the piece, with a link to the rest... A person I work with recently left me an article about the unproductiveness of multitasking. On it was…
Being present, having an awareness of our surroundings and the day-to-day happenings in our lives, and being grateful for what we have are some of the thoughts that come to me as I read this guest post by Kevin Clarke. Kevin is a writer for America Magazine and this piece…
I got lucky last year. My daughter Julie, then 16, who has spent a lot of time with kids with special needs, and who wants to major in special education in college, invited me to come with her one Sunday afternoon to help out at our local Challenger basketball program.…
Now that we’re a few weeks into 2012, if you’re like most people who make New Year’s resolutions, you're already struggling to keep them. New Year’s is an ideal time to review my approach for making real, lasting, positive changes in your life. If you’ve read my book, you know…