Since the 1990s, longevity expert and author, Dan Buettner, has been traveling with teams of researchers to areas around the world where people live the longest. His teams have studied how lifestyle and environment impact the length of people’s lives. According to an article which appeared in USA Today, “Buettner says that while a strong…
Many people prefer comfort of security over the excitement of taking risks. They would rather sit inside the safety of their comfort zones and watch the world go by. As a result, they miss out on much of the good life. Blind and deaf American author and political activist Helen Keller understood this well.…
One of my daughters recently emailed a quote to me that read, “Happy people are those who continuously evaluate and improve themselves. Unhappy people are those who continuously evaluate others.” What this means is that happy people are focused on personal growth–trying and learning new things, going to new places and making new friends. For…
All of us have dreams, but not everyone’s dream comes true. The question is, why? The song, When You Wish Upon a Star provides two important insights necessary to answer this question. First, as the song says, “When your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme.” Having your heart in your…
There’s so much in our world that needs fixing that it’s easy to become overwhelmed and wonder if it’s actually possible for us to make a difference. My wife sent me the following quote from Clarissa Pinkola Estes which deals with this very thought: “Anything you do from the soulful self will help lighten…
A friend made the following post on Facebook. I have no idea who authored this, but I think it’s excellent advice. Become friends with people who aren’t your age. Hang out with people whose first language isn’t the same as yours. Get to know someone who doesn’t come from your social class. This is how…
Tracy Myers is an extremely successful used car dealer and one of the happiest and most energetic people I know. His television commercials are hilarious and he’s always posting positive messages on Facebook. As it turns out, some people don’t like it when others post a steady stream of positive messages on Facebook. Here’s what…
One of the sports teams I follow is the Detroit Tigers. While they haven’t done much on the field recently to make me proud, they did something off the field that did. They fired their pitching coach for making an insensitive remark to a team employee. The Tigers have a “zero tolerance” policy for such…
A friend of mine posted a comment on Facebook that went something like, “Everyone gets to decide how happy they want to be because everyone gets to decide how grateful, kind and caring they’re willing to be.” I think this is right-on and it places the responsibility for our happiness squarely in our lap. If…
As I climbed into a bloodmobile to donate a pint of blood, I looked around to see what was going on. Here’s what I saw: everyone there was either about to be stuck with a large needle, in the process of being stuck, having blood withdrawn or having a needle removed from their arm.…