Our full selection of articles exploring happiness.
I’m not a happiness expert. Just a happiness seeker. That’s why in this article, I’m leaning on wisdom from some of the most thoughtful writers to have ever lived. I won’t pretend that any of the below approaches to happiness and internal peace will lead to a lightbulb moment that will, all of a sudden,…
Ever dream about being a kid again? It’s a common reaction to the onset of adulthood. Gradually, responsibilities and seriousness have a tendency to crowd out the joy, excitement, and play that’s often a feature of childhood. Of course, some adults maintain an attitude of playfulness throughout their lives. If there’s a single secret to…
The Emotional Vibration Chart maps the range of human emotions to higher and lower frequencies. Peace and joy are higher vibration emotions, while shame and guilt are lower vibration emotions. You’ve heard people talk about good vibrations, high vibrations, and low vibrations. Is this just a saying, or is there something more to it? We’ve…
Most days, we wake up and get on with the business of the day. How often do we stop and think about what actually makes up a good life? How often do we have a chance to consider whether our actions are moving us towards life satisfaction? It’s easy to lose track of our end…
Each year, the UN World Happiness Report comes out with a list of the happiest countries in the world. (Usually, the Scandinavian countries win). But running happiness surveys isn’t as simple as it might seem. From self-reported surveys, to sentiment analysis, to testing saliva for oxytocin, there are a variety of ways to measure happiness. …
The Stoics of ancient Rome walked around imagining all manner of illnesses, deaths, and worst-case scenarios that could happen to them and their loved ones. It’s called negative visualization—and counterintuitively, all that negative thinking might help you live a better life. I was first introduced to the idea of negative visualization by the book A…
If you’re wondering how to appreciate life, the best way to do it is by practicing gratitude and reminding yourself of your own mortality. We take life for granted because mortality is scary, so it’s easier to ignore it. But ignoring the fact that our time is finite means it’s harder to appreciate our lives….
Part of mindfulness is understanding the difference between what we can control, and what we can’t control. And this is tough. It’s tough because we live in a world where we’re encouraged to pay attention to things happening thousands of miles away. We’re bombarded on all sides with worthy causes to support. Worthy though these…
There’s no more time-honored morning routine than sitting down at the kitchen table with coffee, eggs, and the newspaper. We’ve been trained in this habit. We mirror the behavior shown to us by past generations. My grandparents made it a point to read the full Washington Post every day. I spent many years reading the…
A couple years ago, I read the book The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt. Haidt references studies showing that 50% of our happiness is determined genetically. This concept is known as your “happiness set point.” The other 50% of your happiness is under your control. When I became aware of this concept, I felt both…
According to Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” Kierkegaard, along with other philosophers like Alan Watts and Rainer Maria Rilke, have argued that when you seek the answers to life, you’re asking the wrong question. Life is something to be experienced, not something…
Sometimes, we enter a mode of being where doing is our only concern. Being falls by the wayside. I often fall into this trap. I forget to allow myself to simply be, and to enjoy activities that don’t feel productive. It’s easy to forget that resting is its own kind of doing, in a way….
Sometimes, you just have a bad day. Whether it’s the proverbial “wake up on the wrong side of the bed” experience, or just a chain of events or emotions gone wrong, it happens to all of us. In my case, I can get easily overstimulated by the environment around me. It can make me want…
