A few years back, when I was working longer and more stressful hours at the office, I would often come home to find my husband, John, had set out a plate of olives, cheese and crackers with a glass of wine for me. It was a kind way to welcome me home, as well as a smart move of self-preservation.…
We’ve just passed the halfway point of 2014 — how is the year going for you? Are you following through on your ambitions for the year?
For our new year’s card this year, we provided a range of verbs we felt showed actions of improving your life, including several pairs of actions: start and quit, commit and release, host and visit, save and give.
About the time I hit my goal of losing 10 pounds, our friend Lou Rosenfeld posted on Facebook in March that he’d lost weight and trimmed his waistline. I found the timing interesting — it’s tempting to scarf heavy casseroles and skip exercise during a bitter winter like we had this year — and I was struck that we’d both taken…
What do you think is the meaning of life? Recent research shows that people who have a sense of purpose live longer — so if you figure out why you’re here, you might even have longer to pursue that purpose. A Huffington Post piece with the headline, Sense Of Purpose Adds Years To Your Life, Study Finds, says in part: Researchers…
Happiness is a subject I frequently blog about — specifically, that it’s not just a virus you catch or something that happens to you, but like love or fulfillment, it’s something you consciously cultivate. So of course I loved this column by Jacob Sokol on Huffington Post headlined 12 Things Happy People Do Differently — And Why I Started Doing Them.…
I love birthdays — I think of them as my own personal New Year’s Day, reflecting on where I’ve been in my last year and how I can make my next year better. And my birthday always falls during Lent, which is a Christian season of reflection leading up to Easter. Though many people simplify Lent to giving something up,…
In the blocks around our Brooklyn apartment, there are several check-cashing places, which seem foreign to me. Why would you pay to cash a check when there are dozens of banks in the neighborhood? But many poor families don’t use banks, whether that’s because they can’t afford the fees or don’t trust them or live a cash-based life. That leads to…
Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, this past week predictably brought huge crowds to my local YMCA. Every cardiovascular machine was full, classes were packed, the hallways bustled. Also predictably, the people who were working out in November and December grumble about the New Year’s resolution throngs. For instance, a friend funnier than I am wrote on Facebook: Dear people…
Death has been close to me recently. Our neighbor died, my dad’s brother died, a business school classmate died. I am aware of our mortality but these various losses have brought that difficult truth front and center. In this already vulnerable state, I read Laurie Anderson’s farewell to Lou Reed in Rolling Stone. It seems every journalist and musician had…
Today’s post is really more of an invitation, an urging, a fervent pointing elsewhere. Thanks to our friend Lou Rosenfeld for posting the link on Facebook, I read and loved Bill Watterson’s “How to Find Happiness.” It’s beautifully written, with charming Calvin & Hobbes style illustrations by Gavin Aung Than, and Watterson quickly and simply gets across his view of…
The world would be a lovely place if we were all kind and respectful and loving toward one another. Unfortunately, there are greedy people, bullies and manipulators among us, to name just a few of the difficult people we all have to encounter. How should we handle these people who make us feel less than great? A recent Deepak Chopra…
It can be tough to know what to say when someone close to you has lost a job or gotten a terrible diagnosis. When my mom died, I was taken aback by some of the things people said. They were trying to be supportive, to connect with me in my time of grief, but sometimes it just amplified the hurt…
If you don’t yet read Brain Pickings, the smartly wonderful guide to things you should check out online, here’s yet another endorsement to check it out. I spend a lot of time reading and blogging about happiness, but recently Maria Popova, the curator of Brain Pickings, turned me on to a happiness book I hadn’t heard of: The Antidote: Happiness…
We met a woman this weekend who ran the Boston Marathon. It didn’t come up until we’d chatted for a while at a party. She didn’t even bring it up, but after she casually mentioned that she’s a marathoner, I asked if she knew anyone in Boston. I was there, she said, before adding she’d finished just 23 seconds before…
Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. – Dalai Lama I had breakfast with a friend this week where among other things, we talked about a simplified view of human nature: are you a person who is irritated by life or a person who gets joy from life? Sure, I complain about things but overall,…
One of the themes I come across consistently in seeking out fodder for my blog is that happiness is not something you get because of external forces — you will *not* become happy simply because you get a new job or lose 20 pounds — but instead is something you cultivate internally. So I could lose myself in the wonderful…
Like so many others, I am thinking the new year is a good time to recommit to exercise. Health clubs are full this time of year. Many won’t make it ’til Valentine’s Day before they drop off. But Lindy West isn’t a hit it and quit it gym member. She wrote a sassy, funny, inspiring article on Jezebel headlined, “Hello,…
Maybe you have this holiday week off, or maybe you’re just enjoying a little come down after a jam-packed month of parties, shopping, pageants or religious observances. I love the holidays — taking down the Christmas tree is one of my least favorite days of the year — but feels like many of us have let out a small sigh…
