13 Scary Stories About Happiness, Part 1

Each year on October 31, Americans celebrate Halloween by dressing in costumes, exchanging candy and, most of all, scaring each other. The usual candidates for fright include Ghosts, Monsters, Zombies, crawly things, and Vampires. Believe it or not, Happiness frightens some people more than giant spiders. In honor of Halloween, I’ve assembled a list of … Read more

Five Tips to Manage Stress in Job Search

A shorter version of a post from earlier this week – 156 words of advise for managing job search stress: 1.     Practice gratitude. Every day, write down three good things that happen around you.  Focus on what you DO have to feel blessed even when stressed. 2.    Tally your Friendships.  List all your important relationships: … Read more

Tips to Reduce Your Stress During Job Search

While I ran an outplacement center earlier in my career, I know much about search tactics.  But these days my passion is to help folks in this situation by emphasizing the importance of self-care during the search. As the corporate saying goes, “hire for attitude, train for skills.”  What that means for the job searcher … Read more

Say Cheese: 15 Fascinating Facts About Smiling

Ken recently contacted me to share an article he thought my Happiness audience would also enjoy — on Smiles.  Of course!  Ken’s audience is nurses (www.nursingschools.net), so he’s really grounded his research in the medical world — proving that smiles are GOOD FOR YOU! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Everyone loves the quote “laughter is the best medicine,” and … Read more

It's Time for Spring Cleaning!

Ah, Spring!  The days are longer.  The sun shines brighter. Oh, and as it shines in and brightens my home, I’m suddenly aware of a winter’s worth of dirt on the windows, dark paths on the carpeting from tracked-in winter slush, and cobwebs in the dim recesses that were invisible in the grey light of … Read more

There are Reasons for Optimism

I keep a running list of my favorite inspirational thoughts for use when I need a little lift.  This one just jumped out at me today — a great reminder that whatever I/we might be struggling with today, it’s all temporary. I subscribe to (and HIGHLY recommend) the daily Note From the Universe from www.tut.com … Read more

Let Music Shift Your Mood

I didn’t feel very well (physically) over the weekend, and slept really poorly. I woke up Monday morning with the alarm, feeling VERY sleep deprived and nauseous. I made the decision to take care of me, and slept in until 8:30. FINALLY caught up on sleep. Showed up at the gym at time I’m usually … Read more

39 Rules for a Good Life

I received this in email at the beginning of the year &  loved it.  But I was overwhelmed with other stuff at the time, so I set it aside.  Pulled out the article today and I STILL love it (unable to find an author attribution).  It’s called Handbook 2010, but it’s more like Rules for … Read more