IT’S NOT JUST YOU – IT’S ALL OF US! This blog is being published on Day 404 of the Pandemic. Yes, a year and six weeks since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global celebration of all things Virus, introducing us to a whole new vocabulary like, WFH, virtual socials (what used to be … Read more
During my search for past writings on Optimism, I came across this article from 2012, LONG before pandemics and 2020’s turmoil – and I was struck by how much of the wisdom from a “normal” year still applies, but feels different, in a pandemic year. With minor tweaks, I share this from the archives. My … Read more
I began this blog 18 years ago, in November 2002, before social media was even a thing. I started the dance with 100 subscribers and over the first two years I slowly unpacked The 13 Principles of Happiness that were central to my work at that time. While my focus has expanded and shifted and gone … Read more
DISCLAIMER: This post moves into territory I have never before addressed publicly. I recognize that for some this topic may push into what they experience as polarizing space. I offer this essay as MY reflection on MY experience in the world right now, and I make no judgment whatsoever about you and your position in the … Read more
ARE YOU AN OPTIMIST OR A PESSIMIST? It is said that an eastern monarch once charged his wisemen to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and all situations. They presented him with the words: “and this, too, shall pass away. “How … Read more
I remember when my children were younger and we were trying to get past the childhood disease phase, we’d send the boys to hang out with friends who had chicken pox, hoping they’d get infected. Emotions are more contagious than viruses. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of having a roomful of people shift within moments … Read more
There’s a moment in the movie Frozen 2 when Queen Elsa, haunted by a mysterious voice, decides to shift from ignoring it (out of fear) to pursuing it (out of curiosity). The song, Into the Unknown (watch it here), follows her transition from “I won’t” to admitting, “there’s a part of me that wants to go, … Read more
Pandemic and all, this is still annual Act Happy Week. Watch for five 60-second exercises, starting today. Because even if panic is the emotion of the day, you get to choose. The focus of Act Happy Week is to educate the public about purposeful actions you can take to create chemical shifts in your body … Read more
A friend recently told a story to a conference crowd: A traveler climbing a hill saw another man ahead of him running and running. Then he saw the man stop. Then he began running fast again. And again, he stopped. Over and over he repeated this cycle. Eventually the traveler caught up to the … Read more
Talking About Death and Happiness Death—and its relationship to life—has been pushing onto my agenda in the past month, so much so that when I sat down to write this month’s post, I found it impossible to not write about it. “But Jim, “you are possibly thinking, “isn’t this site about happiness and leadership?” Well, … Read more