Simple True Happiness

A Vacation from More of the Same Old Thing

The video below is from Pump Boys and Dinettes. Rhetta Cupp tells her sister Prudie, “I need a vacation from more of the same old thing. … If I could only do something different somewhere else, oh what a joy, a mighty joy, that would bring.” Prudie then crosses to L.M., one of the “pump boys.” L.M. puts flip-up sunglasses on, and sings, “I’m going to Florida. Won’t you come along with me?”

Do you…

Pasta With Roasted Summer Vegetables

When summer opens, I see how fast it matures, and fear it will be short; but after the heats of July and August, I am reconciled, like one who has had his swing, to the cool of autumn. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Now is the perfect time of year to make this delicious pasta sauce! 

Boston, City Hall, Farmer’s Market Credit: Kindra Clineff/MOTT

This recipe could not be easier to make. The veggies get…

The Three Simplest Ways to Feel Better Fast

How are you feeling right now? If you are feeling down, or not quite tip-top, this post can help! You will learn the three simplest ways to feel better fast.

  The remedies for fighting today’s unhappiness are much the same as the solutions for long-term happiness. Both employ the same strategies. So try some of these strategies to get you by today, and you can look forward to a happier future.

Th…

Simple Strategies for Eating Well

Discover some simple strategies for eating well. These tips will take you from planning to table with ease. Includes suggestions for menu planning, food shopping, and cooking.

How do you feel about the whole business of feeding yourself and your family? Chore or pleasure? For me the answer usually falls somewhere in the middle.

How can we nudge the needle towards the “pleasure” side of the scale?…

Some Things Are Un-American

Some things are un-American. Thanks to Tom Ricks for reminding us of what these are.

Watching this, listening to the tape, brings me back a lot to the 1930s, the use of political violence to subdue people and the vocabulary word I think for today is un-American. It is un-American for a political candidate to knock down a reporter asking an uncomfortable question. It’s also un-American for a…

Signature Strengths Power Happiness

Would you like to be a happier person? Do you like to make other people happy? Signature strengths power happiness! Discover yours today!

The Science of Character

This is an amazing video that should be shared with everyone!

Ed Diener, Ph.D., (“Dr. Happy”), speaking to his research on happiness that spans over three decades. He discusses the link of “reverse causality” between positive emotions…

This Is Not The America I Love

‘I don’t understand how our lawmakers…can be so lacking in empathy,’ says Xeni Jardin, breast cancer survivor and co-editor of Boing Boing, on the House passing the AHCA.

Jardin is referring to the “health care” bill passed by the House on May 4, 2017.

America is like a body, and we have to take care of the entire body, every single cell in this country, every single person in this country,…

Give Yourself A Happiness Upgrade

This post is a sequel to Not Your Grandmother’s Psychology. You will notice that some of the introductory material is repeated. In Not Your Grandmother’s Psychology we were introduced to the PERMA theory. Here, in Give Yourself A Happiness Upgrade, we will see how to build PERMA in our lives.

  The psychology of today is not your grandmother’s psychology. The psychology of old tried to keep us…

Not Your Grandmother’s Psychology

The psychology of today is not your grandmother’s psychology. The psychology of old tried to keep us out of the negative numbers, as close to zero as possible. Today’s psychology includes positive psychology, which is all about life above zero.

What Can We Most Hope for in Life?

What is the most we can ever hope for in life? What is the best we can do?

  Positive psychology has some good news for…

Listen to Your Body: It’s Smarter Than You Think

What would you say to a science that could lure you away from your keyboards and screens, and send you off to learn mindfulness meditation or yoga, auto mechanics or patisserie?

  The science is embodied cognition. It says listen to your body. Since mindfulness meditation and yoga can help with that, the science would favor them.

  How about auto mechanics and patisserie? Why encourage those…

A New Kind of Activism Wins Hearts and Minds

Something is happening here in the United States of America. There’s a new kind of activism taking hold. It began with the postinauguration women’s marches. Then gained momentum spurred by resistance against Trump’s anti-immigrant executive orders. And this fierce new movement recently wowed us when organic protests sprang up around the country to save the Affordable Care Act.

A New Kind of…

We Can Be A Happier Country

This year the U.S. is number 14 in happiness, a ranking so low that we literally fall of this chart.

  The data comes from the 2017 World Happiness Report, released on March 20th, to coincide with World Happiness Day.The report was prepared by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, an international panel of social scientists convened by the United Nations.

The U.S. Has Been a Story of…

Nature Makes the Case for Compassion

Trees live in communities and help one another. Baboons teach us how to be peaceful. Humans are born to be good.

  There you have three prime examples of how nature makes the case for compassion.

Mother Nature Wants Us to Be Compassionate

Why? Because she wants her children to do well. To survive, to thrive. And she understands that compassion must play a key role in the realization of that…

Kindness Makes Us Happier and Healthier

Kindness makes us happier and healthier The giver, the receiver, even the observers. 

  Even the small acts of kindness.

  And kindness has this phenomenal way of spreading. Picture ripples on a pretty sun-dappled pond.

  Have your doubts? Try this simple experiment.

A Kindness Experiment

Next time you are waiting in line at the supermarket, try this little kindness experiment. Offer to help the…

Donald Trump’s Lies Are Dangerous

In his inauguration speech, Donald Trump alluded to abandoned factories littered across America “like tombstones”, in a nod to the people who elected him. Patrick Semansky / AP Photo

Donald J. Trump has been lying to us. These are not the ordinary lies of ordinary politicians. No –These lies have been carefully designed to further the interests of the liar himself. His thirst for power. His…

The Power of Dogs to Transform Human Lives

Are you a dog lover? Do you think you might become one if you give it a chance? Has your child been begging for a dog?

  Adding a canine member to your family might be beneficial in ways you never imagined. The power of dogs to transform human lives seems nearly miraculous. 

The Therapeutic Power of Dogs

Dogs have been shown to do remarkable things to improve the well-being of their owners.

See M…