Happiness & Success
Achieving Happiness Through Acceptance of Life
The quest for happiness often leads to frustration, as many fail to realize that the...
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- Written by: Starhawk
Put-downs are terms of disrespect, of ridicule and humiliation. I use the term shut-down for a form of communication that, instead of opening up a topic and encouraging debate and healthy conflict, shuts it off. Shut-downs may be overt but shut-downs can also be very subtle...
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- Written by: Nicolya Christi
As human beings, the greatest gift we have at our disposal can also be the greatest weapon—words. We can heal ourselves, others, and the world with words; yet they can also be used in a destructive manner. Most of us are unaware that the ways in which we relate are entirely distorted and unnatural.
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- Written by: Renée Peterson Trudeau
Assess how you currently navigate challenges: Do you immediately isolate, put on your armor, grab your sword, and head out into the forest to slay the dragon alone? Or do you enlist the help and strategic counsel of other knights and soothsayers who...
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- Written by: Christopher Krupenye, Max Planck Institute
One of the things that defines humans most is our ability to read others’ minds – that is, to make inferences about what others are thinking. To build or maintain relationships, we offer gifts and services – not arbitrarily, but with the recipient’s desires in mind.
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- Written by: Evita March, Federation University Australia
Almost half the population of the planet now has access to the internet, with about one in three of those people regularly active on social media.
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- Written by: Linda & Charlie Bloom
Many of us also have a strong tendency to withhold giving input to others that we fear may cause them to feel upset or angry. We are reluctant to say things to others that aren’t “nice.” Consequently, we may adopt some effective ways of discouraging...
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- Written by: Karen Casey
There are two voices in our minds. One belongs to the ego, the other to the Holy Spirit (you may call this peaceful inner messenger your Higher Power or Great Spirit or Universal Source or whatever name you choose). Both voices are always available to us, but one is very loud and generally gets our attention.
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- Written by: Dawn Mannay, Cardiff University
At times, it can feel like adults are speaking a completely different language when talking to young people. Even small generational divides feel like gaping chasms as each party tries to relate their experiences in a way the other will understand.
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- Written by: Alan Cohen
We all seek to express our truth. We all must express our truth. There are two ways to express your truth: directly or indirectly. If you do not express your truth directly, it will come out in odd, aberrant, and damaging ways. Self-sabotage or sabotage of others ...
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- Written by: Felicity Duncan, Cabrini College
When my digital media students are sitting, waiting for class to start and staring at their phones, they are not checking Facebook. They’re not checking Instagram, or Pinterest or Twitter. No, they’re catching up on the news of the day by checking out their friends’ Stories on Snapchat, or...
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- Written by: Kira Asatryan
Needs and values — the things we care about, the sources of our wants — matter because they are the contents of our core selves. They make up much of the terrain of our inner worlds. Needs and values are indeed highly interconnected, but there is an important distinction between the two.
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- Written by: Jude Bijou, M.A., M.F.T.
Just like Colorado aspens or giant California redwoods need each other for support and to survive, so do people. Science now substantiates what we intuitively know: It feels good to be part of a team effort. When you have a shared goal you can go to greater heights of creativity and success.
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- Written by: Jim PathFinder Ewing
Traditional Native American societies may be the best models of balanced societies in existence today—with only about 500 years of European contact and assimilation, versus 2,000 years. Native people viewed themselves—not their political, social, or religious lives—as individuals. The names that Native groups gave themselves generally translated to “the People” or “human beings.”
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- Written by: George Lowery, Cornell University
If you’ve ever thought about quitting Facebook, you’re not alone. Maybe you’ve even shut down your account, swearing never to return, only to log back in a week later.
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- Written by: Jude Bijou, M.A., M.F.T.
Chances are you’ve seen and heard an emotional manipulator at work. Perhaps you even live or work with someone who regularly pulls out their blame gun and sprays accusations on everyone but themselves. They get angry and indignant and go on and on about how stupid, ineffective, or lame others are.
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- Written by: Barton Goldsmith PhD and Marlena Hunter MA
Statistics show that people who live solitary lives don’t live as long as those who enjoy deep and meaningful connections with family and friends. Each step you take to vanquish the fear that is holding you back will add more years to your life, and perhaps, more life to your years.
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- Written by: Susan Campbell and John Grey
It’s really important to be able to name your control patterns and fear buttons and accept them as part of the human condition. Each item in the list below describes a behavior. Identifying the behaviors that you exhibit will help you notice when you are using a control pattern. Then you can choose your response rather than reacting automatically.
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- Written by: Marcia Naomi Berger, MSW, LCSW
For a good marriage, who is the most important person with whom you should be communicating well? If you think it’s your spouse, think again. The most important person to converse with constructively is yourself! You need not try to resolve every situation by talking it over with your partner.
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- Written by: Olivier Clerc
What keeps us prisoners of our illusions? Our assumptions—the things we believe are true that really are not. For example, on my way to work during rush hour, a guy in a Lexus speeds by, cuts in front of me, then weaves in and out of traffic at a hundred miles an hour. My first reaction is...
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- Written by: Barbara Berger
If we want to make the world a better place, we need to work on having healthy boundaries! And by this I mean… we understand that I am me and you are you and that each of us has a right to be here and to choose and experience the consequences of all our thoughts, words and actions.
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- Written by: Jeff Sossamon, University of Missouri
In the social world, we are constantly gathering information through visual cues that we use to evaluate others’ behavior. Babies do the same thing. Babies as young as 13 months know how people should treat each other—and recognize when nasty replaces nice.
