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The Surprising Relationship of Gratitude and Happiness
I’ve always loved Thanksgiving, and it’s always seemed to me a much less complicated-feeling holiday than Christmas is. I especially like the point of Thanksgiving; slowing down to be thankful, and reflecting on just how many things, especially small things you have to be grateful for.
If You Don’t Believe What I Believe, You’re a Bad Person (Part 2)
In the first part of this blog, I talked about how we have come to believe if someone has beliefs that don’t align with our own, they must be a bad person.
If You Don’t Believe What I Believe, You’re a Bad Person (Part 1)
“This is part one of a two-part blog.
Here we are several days after the most bruising Presidential election in my lifetime, and somehow, we’re all still here. And somehow, we have to find a way to live in the same country with people whose beliefs on almost every issue clash with our own.”
Not Self-Help, Self-Recognition
I dislike the term, “self-help.” The best help we can give ourselves is to recognize who we really are, underneath all the ideas we have about ourselves. Self-help material tends to reinforce the ideas we have about our identities, because they take the identities we create for ourselves and treat them as though they’re our real identities, as though they’re who we really are.
What Do Mistakes Mean?
“Uh oh! I made a mistake.” When you have this realization, what tends to be your next thought? The difficulty we have with mistakes is largely a function of what we tell ourselves those mistakes mean. If for example, your thinking tells you your well-being has gone missing because you made a mistake, the experience of making a mistake can lead you to believe something is really wrong. But is it?
How to Feel Young Regardless of Your Age
At 73, it’s almost impossible not to feel the effects of an aging body. Joints break down, old injuries have a way of reminding you they’re still there, and long-term illnesses can seem to bleed away energy and enthusiasm for life. Yet, as I’ve written before, I’m living the everyday miracle of feeling as young as I did when I was a teenager.
Does Accomplishment Automatically Lead to a Sense of Fulfillment?
The assumptions we make on a routine basis are usually hidden from our conscious view, which is what makes them dangerous to us. We assume something to be true without knowing we’re doing it. If at some point we happen to become aware of the assumption underlying a particular belief, it’s easy to feel like a chump. In other words, it becomes clear to us we’ve been hoodwinked by our own thinking.
Kidnapped By Your Own Thinking
Whoever you are, my educated guess is at times you’ve been kidnapped by your own thinking. You may not have thought about it in those terms, but for a moment, just reflect on the phrase, “kidnapped by your own thinking.” When your thinking gets all revved up, and starts running away with you, and from you, what else would you call it?
What Am I Here For?
It’s a question that almost anyone with a self-reflective impulse has probably asked themself, perhaps repeatedly: what am I here for? The question can seem like it demands a long, complicated answer, or that it might take a long time to figure out. There’s a simpler way to look at it.