My brother-in-law is one of the all-time great people. For almost as long as people have been doing it, he has sent around emails with jokes, stories, wisdom, and more to a long list of people. I don’t read all of them, and it’s easy enough to delete ones I…
Earlier this year, I wrote a post about venting rarely being good for us. A key line from that post, which I learned from Arthur Brooks, is anger has a honeyed tip and a poisoned root – meaning, sometimes it feels good to vent (the honeyed tip), but it almost…
Last year, I listened to a podcast interview with Eric Adams, who has now become New York City’s mayor. As has been the case across the U.S. during the pandemic, crime in New York City has gone up. Adams is focusing on that issue. He explained in the interview his…
I’ve written and spoken about New Year’s resolutions countless times. My main messages relating to New Year’s resolutions are: They tend to fail because we make too many, or ones that are too big New habits can be formed any time of year, not just in January Rather than making…
In order to keep up with current events, I look at three newspaper apps every morning, listen to one news app, and read one newsletter. Each afternoon, I read two newsletters, one of which is Dave Pell's Next Draft. Pell published a book last year, Please Scream Inside Your Heart:…
The fourth of my “Six Simple Rules” is “Be Organized,” and a To-Do list is one of my keys to staying organized. I’ve written about to-do lists in my book and more than once in the blog, such as here. I’ve also written that one of the secrets to my…
I’m a big fan of Arthur Brooks. I have seen him speak, I have read his columns, I have listened to his podcast episodes, and I have written about him here. Brooks had a podcast called How to Build a Happy Life and on the first episode, “Manage Your Feelings,…
In my speaking engagements and in my book, I have placed extra emphasis on the first and last of my Six Simple Rules. (I also put them first and last because they are the most critical.) The first is “Be Happy” and the sixth is “Be Healthy”. I never considered…
When I attend funerals, in addition to being sad, I almost always walk away inspired, as I have written about a bunch of times, including here. One of my biggest takeaways from a recent funeral was an extremely simply message. My friend David said everyone who knew his dad well,…
Eating well and exercise are the major pillars of “Be Healthy,” the sixth of my Six Simple Rules. Whenever I give suggestions for ways to be a healthier eater, I quickly mention giving up soda, as I did in this post Soda is Poison. Diet soda is also poison, as…
I’ve written a few posts about the power of smiling and how it helps our happiness. When I present to groups, I always have them do this simple exercise: I ask them to smile. I then explain: When we smile, chemicals are released in our brains that make us think…
In his book, “How to Change Your Mind,” which I wrote about last year, author Michael Pollan writes of Peter Hendricks, a psychologist conducting a trial using psilocybin (aka magic mushrooms) to treat cocaine addicts. According to Hendricks, “People who are addicted know they’re harming themselves – their health, their…
