I enjoyed a wonderful Independence Day weekend visiting with my sister and brother-in-law in Portland, Maine this month. One day, we took a ferry to Peaks Island. While we didn’t spend much time on the island, the time we spent was fun and surprising. While eating lunch on the island,…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
This is a guest post by Julie Singer, who teaches us, among other things, something we've discussed before: one of the great sources of happiness is helping others. As a college student, at times you can feel like you have no control over anything. It may be your emotions, your…
When I was a kid, I was a speed eater. My dad would tell me and my siblings to chew our food 30 times before swallowing, but we ignored his advice and his good example (he is the slowest eater I have ever met). I did learn to eat more…