Recently I had gotten into the habit of putting unpleasant or scary tasks off because I was afraid to deal with them—it’s called procrastination. As a result, my productivity suffered because of the weight of these tasks hanging over my head. For example, I needed a huge favor from a fairly famous person whom I…
The other day I went to the Post Office to mail a gift to my mother in law. I was not doing well that morning as I felt very stressed and anxious. When I was called to the counter, I noticed the postal employee who was about to help me was drying her eyes and…
An article by Elizabeth Bernstein which recently appeared in The Wall Street Journal, points out that people who have solid friendships live longer and healthier lives. She goes on to say, “Friendship decreases blood pressure and stress, reduces the risk of depression and increases longevity, in large part because someone is looking out for us.…
According to an article by Robert Lee Hotz which recently appeared in The Wall Street Journal, students who take handwritten notes outperform those who type them on a keyboard. While handwritten note takers take fewer notes than those who type them (22 words per minute vs.33), they learn better, retain information longer and more readily…
Most of the advice about preparing for retirement centers around making sure that you’ve put enough money aside in order to live comfortably. However, an article written by Brian Stoffel which appeared in a recent issue of USA Today points out that it takes more than money to have an enjoyable retirement.” Mr. Stoffel cited…
Bronnie Ware is an Australian author, songwriter and an international speaker. Prior to that, she worked many years as a palliative care specialist dealing with patients who had gone home to die. She was with them during the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. When she questioned them about any regrets they had…
I have always appreciated the phrase “stop and smell the roses” metaphorically which means to take time out of one’s busy schedule to appreciate or enjoy the beauty of life. On the other hand, I have only recently begun to appreciate it from a literal standpoint. The other day, I was out for a morning…
It’s not uncommon to hear people making excuses about why they didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that life sent their way. You’ll hear them say things like, “I could have done this or that….” Then come the excuses: “…but at the time my kids were little,” or “but we had just bought a new…
I came across an interesting quote made by a psychologist named Theodor Reik more than 50 years ago. “In order to be happy oneself, it is necessary to make at least one other person happy.” He went on to say, “The secret to human happiness is not in self-seeking, but in self-forgetting.” What Dr. Reik…
This has to be one of the strangest questions I’ve ever heard. It implies that you can only be one or the other–right or happy. In reality, you can be both pretty much all the time unless you’re being right is tied to your having to prove to someone else that they’re wrong. Now you’ve…