When someone smiles at me, it makes me feel better and it puts a smile on my face as well. The same holds true when I smile at someone else. Smiling is a powerful behavior that causes many good things to happen to us. Research has shown that people who smile feel better, look better…
American chef, Sara Moulton, dedicated an episode of her Public Television show, Sara’s Weeknight Meals, to her former mentor Julia Child. Sara said she learned many things from Julia that she still carries with her today. The things she mentioned are excellent advice for living a happy and successful life. First, “always strive for excellence.”…
I came across a blog post on LinkedIn Pulse by Jeff Haden titled, “10 Habits of Genuinely Charming People.” As it turns out, we’re naturally attracted to charming people— “…individuals who are genuinely polite, modest, agreeable, kind.” Note, the watchword here is “genuinely,” you can’t fake this stuff. I have listed several of the 10…
One of my observations from being on Facebook is that there are a fair number of people who are trying to live in the past. They regularly post videos from YouTube featuring musical groups and recording artists from “their era” and they talk about going to dances featuring bands and music from the “good old…
Nancy, a friend of mine since high school, made the following post on Facebook: “Well, I did my good deed for the day. I went to City Hall and the bank and on the way home it started raining. As I drove down the road that leads to my house, I noticed an elderly lady…
I’ve been talking with someone who is not particularly happy with how he’s doing financially. It turns out that he’s one of those people who’s extremely knowledgeable about sports—especially football. On several occasions I have suggested that he start a newsletter to share his vast knowledge with other interested people. Each time he comes back…
Doing the right thing makes you feel great and it energizes those around you. Often, we are faced with situations where we ask ourselves, “Should I do the right thing or take the easy way out?” For example, I was on a Hertz Rental Car bus at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. A pregnant woman traveling…
A former student of mine posted the following quote on Facebook: “Happiness comes a lot easier when you stop complaining about your problems and you start being grateful for all the problems you don’t have.” We all know someone who, when things don’t go their way, they take it personally and start complaining—as if they’re…
The above is a quote from the late Ernie Harwell who was the Detroit Tigers’ play by play radio broadcaster for 42 years. While broadcasting for the Tigers, he became the most popular sports figure in the state of Michigan and his popularity came from living out the above quote—putting the interest of others before…
Setbacks–those unfortunate events that impede our progress toward achieving our goals or realizing our dreams–can be frustrating, as well as stressful and painful. As unwelcome as they are, setbacks always have a silver lining because they force us to look at the world through a new set of eyes. As a result, a setback could…