The following is excerpted from one of my most popular newsletter pieces along with some of the wonderful feedback I received. I was recently telling someone about the trip Marcie and I took to Europe 30 years ago with backpacks after college. When there was a week remaining before Marcie…
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 you reach a certain age (in my case, it was in my mid-40s), parents of friends begin to have health problems and/or pass away. Over the past 10 years, I’ve been to many funerals, including several very recently. I nearly always cry, but I also frequently smile, and often…
I saw full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal just before Christmas from AT&T that said: Put the "happy" in holidays. That was incredibly distasteful to me. The iPhone 6 is not what makes holidays happy. Neither you nor your family members are going to remember 20 years from now…
As I have done for each of the past two years, here are the many ways I enjoyed music, movies, places I visited, books I read, and what I watched on TV this past year. Books I love reading and I love learning. I read quite a bit every day,…
I was reading a wonderful blog post about the way the impermanence of things enhances our appreciation of them—and how instead of lamenting loss, we can realize if we had these things all the time we would begin to take them for granted; their beauty is tied to their impermanence.…
There is much written about gratitude in the happiness literature, and for good reason. It’s hard to be grateful and unhappy at the same time. An awareness of the importance of gratitude has helped me to remember to go to a happier place in difficult times. Some people struggle with…
When I saw this quote on And Then We Saved, "To feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can't buy,” I quickly put together the following list of things, with much gratitude: Family, Friends, Love, Happiness, Contentment, My health, My brain, Nature Taking it a bit…
I listened to interesting interviews with a couple of music superstars recently. Each provided some happiness lessons. The first was Billy Joel. When talking about his song Vienna, explained that the message of the lyric about Vienna waiting for you means life is a marathon, and just because you don’t…
My book, blog, newsletter, and speaking engagements are peppered with suggestions for ways to enhance your happiness. My recommended path to greater happiness is not a magical one where you can snap your fingers and change your life; my message is not “la-di-da, let’s just be happier.” What I recommend…
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…