What Happiness Is

“Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.” – William James Pessimism is like asking yourself “How can I fail? How can I connect with, and strengthen, my not-being-able-to-do-it thoughts?” Optimism is asking yourself, “How can I succeed? How can I call the best of me, of others and what’s around to create the best result…

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. – Thomas Jefferson You must tell yourself the truth: About how you’ve succeeded. About the things you said you’d do, but haven’t. About the things you’ve done, but wish you hadn’t. About how you’ve “failed,” and that failure is a lie itself – everything creates results,…

“The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.” – Rainer Maria Rilke If you’re not “failing” you’re likely not doing anything worthy of your efforts and talents. Consider you have two (at least… ) sacred aspects: your labor and talents. Your labor is your effort, your hard work, your doing…

Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’ – Mary Anne Radmacher Sure, Hollywood wants us to believe that courage is primarily the domain of the well-muscled action hero, but real courage is more like the everyday person who makes a…

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity. – Pema Chodron Isn’t it great that no one is perfect? Well, we…

I expose myself to all sorts of emails, articles and books having to do with living well and effectively. Why? Because it allows me me to check in with my thoughts and actions, and how they compare with what I am reading. Am I perfect? Certainly not, but the more attention I pay, the better…