A friend pointed me towards this podcast in which Tim Ferriss interviews Mr. Money Moustache (MMM), a man who retired from work in his 30s to live on the interest from his investments and then got a significant following as a blogger. The podcast describes the kind of life I’ve
Continue readingTag: happiness
Things Are Good: 2017 is the Year to Quit Your Job
Until we get something like universal basic income everybody will need to work. But why should you work in a job you don’t want? James Altucher argues that this year, more than any previous year, is the right time to quit your job. Why? Because the robots will make us
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: What I’ve Learned About Myself Caring For My Mom
For many years I was the primary caregiver in our family for our son who has severe disabilities. Nicholas needed a lot of therapy and was often ill enough to be in the hospital. Those were fraught and exhausting times. Now our son lives in a wonderful care home near
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: What I’ve Learned About Myself Caring For My Mom
For many years I was the primary caregiver in our family for our son who has severe disabilities. Nicholas needed a lot of therapy and was often ill enough to be in the hospital. Those were fraught and exhausting times. Now our son lives in a wonderful care home near
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Sugar and Socialization
An Agenda discussion on sugar use is timely for me. I typically let students eat something small and healthy in class to tide them over until lunch, but, in one class this semester, I ended up having to police their choices. A few shovelled candy into their mouths before I’d
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Sugar and Socialization
An Agenda discussion on sugar use is timely for me. I typically let students eat something small and healthy in class to tide them over until lunch, but, in one class this semester, I ended up having to police their choices. A few shovelled candy into their mouths before I’d
Continue readingThings Are Good: Stop Trying to be Happy
Want to be happy? Stop trying! The key to happiness is accept reality and not to imagine some greater version of happiness. Projecting oneself into a better future and striving for something that cannot be just builds a disconnected between expectations and your everyday experience. This dissonance creates unneeded stress
Continue readingThings Are Good: If You’re a Nice Person You Likely Have More Fun Than Others
Some people think that the way to get ahead in life is to be a pushy jerk, and those people are wrong. What you should be is nice. Yup, that’s all it takes. Don’t be like that stereotypical Gordon Gecko wannabe, instead just be. There is now more research that
Continue readingThings Are Good: Philosophy Will Help You Be (Happy)
Happiness can be a fleeting feeling, or it can be an ongoing emotion. It all comes down to how you approach the world and react to what you experience. In this video the idea of happiness is explored via the views of philosopher Bertrand Russell. Give the video a watch
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Happy Partner Means a Healthy Self
Being in a relationship can have benefits of feeling good as long as it’s a healthy one. There’s now a bonus to couples that are happy: they are making their partners healthier. It turns out that having a happy partner can improve one’s health. “This finding significantly broadens assumptions about
Continue readingThings Are Good: Good Storytellers Tend to be Happier
Everybody likes a good story, but not everybody can tell a story well. If you are one of those people who are a good storyteller you might just be happier than other people. It turns out that good storytellers are happier and that male storytellers who can spin a good yarn are more attractive to […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: 30 Minutes in Your Local Park is Perfect
Urban parks are great and now some Aussie researchers have found another reason to create more of them: it’s really good for your health. We’ve known for years that spending time in nature is good for people but his research augments that knowledge with a timeframe. It takes only 30 minutes of being in an […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: Achievements Don’t Equate To Happiness
The pursuit of happiness is life to some people, although they’ll likely never achieve it. They won’t get to their desired level of happiness because they think that a certain achievement will bring them happiness. Instead, they should learn what books of wisdom already know: be happy with what you have. In his book If […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: Be Happy With What You Have
It’s often thought that if one had more money they would be happier, bills would be easy to pay and work would be less stressful. It turns out that that is not the case. Once one has their basic needs met the more they earn the less of an impact it has on their happiness. […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: Get Your Fika On
Coffee breaks in North America tend to be more about coffee than a break. In Scandinavia they focus on the break. In fact, they even have a special word for it: fika. They also add baked goods to the mix. The reason the fika concept is important is that Sweden has the happiest workers around […]
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Continue readingBe happy! …today is International Happiness Day
Blogging about happiness may seem eccentric, but today is the United Nations International Day of Happiness, and happiness is good, so I thought it deserved a mention.
The day was inspired by a speech Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave at a UN Gener…
Continue readingBe happy! …today is International Happiness Day
Blogging about happiness may seem eccentric, but today is the United Nations International Day of Happiness, and happiness is good, so I thought it deserved a mention. The day was inspired by a speech Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave at a UN General Assembly meeting on Happiness and Well-Being: Defining
Continue readingBe happy! …today is International Happiness Day
Blogging about happiness may seem eccentric, but today is the United Nations International Day of Happiness, and happiness is good, so I thought it deserved a mention.
The day was inspired by a speech Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave at a UN Gener…
Continue readingThings Are Good: Pub Proximity Produces Pleasure
How close you live to a pub impacts your happiness, the closer you are the happier you’ll be! Oxford University and the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) released the study proving this fun bit of knowledge last week. CAMRA is all about keeping British pub culture alive and strong bro people keep drinking beer, which […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: Lessons on Happiness From the Happiest Man Alive
What’s the key to happiness? Not thinking about yourself. Matthieu Ricard is a Tibetan Buddhist monk who has been deemed the world’s happiest man. Researchers scanned his brain to prove it. He has used his training to hone his brain to be ‘light’ and not carry burdens – something we can all learn from. A […]
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