Most of us know what we should do and what we shouldn’t do to be happier and healthier. Yet knowing is a lot easier than doing. Despite being aware that certain behaviors aren’t good for us, we keep doing them. We struggle to make short-term sacrifices that would reap benefits in the long run. Why? […]
Adam Grant wants us to redefine success as how far we’ve come rather than how well we are doing in comparison to others. “The true measure of success is not the height if the peak you’ve reached, but how far you’ve climbed to get there.” He also wants us to place less value on innate […]
Over the years, I’ve been adding well-being habits to my daily routine. Discovering the science of positive psychology led me to practice gratitude and start meditating to boost my happiness. After reading more about the negative impact of eating meat on my health and on the planet, I stopped eating meat. Learning about hormesis, that […]
In her book, The Mindful Body, Ellen Langer proposes that a mindless view of events causes stress. Stress relies on two things: 1) we assume something is going to happen and 2) when it does, that it’s going to be awful. She explains that we can reduce stress by challenging these two points. First, we […]
For years, Ellen Langer’s research has fascinated me. She is a psychology professor at Harvard who studies mindfulness, which she defines as the process of actively noticing things. One of her first studies was the Counterclockwise study in the 1970s. She housed elderly men in a retreat that was “retrofitted to suggest that time had […]
In my book, Beyond Happy, I discuss two factors that are important for well-being: happiness and meaning. A couple of years ago, psychologists Oishi and Westgate proposed a third path to a good life: psychological richness. A happy life brings you joy, security, comfort, and fun – you feel good and satisfied. A meaningful life […]
Many of the things we should do to be happier and healthier in the future require sacrifices today. In his book, Your Future Self, Hal Hershfield identifies several reasons why we aren’t so good at doing this. He starts with his research showing that when we think about our future selves, our brain activity is […]
Your circadian rhythm is your internal representation of time or your biological clock. It helps your body respond to the 24-hour day/night cycle by regulating essential functions. In his book, Life Time, scientist Russell Foster discusses the many well-being benefits of living in harmony with your biological clock. They include: The best ways to work […]
Our senses play a crucial role in our well-being. In her latest book, Life in Five Senses, Gretchen Rubin explains how sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch can impact human connection, creativity, energy levels, and more. Sight provides information about the world around us. It lets us read to learn new things. It helps us […]
Jim Kwik’s latest book, Limitless, teaches us how to upgrade our brain and learn faster. In it, he shares strategies for improving focus, memory, reading speed, and study habits. Kwik begins by identifying what he refers to as the four supervillains of learning: I must admit I struggle with all four. While I was well […]
