Reflections…
December 15th, 2008
This has been a wonderful year. (more…)
Notes
Archive for 2008
Simple Pleasures
December 8th, 2008
Ah, it’s Christmas again. I love Christmas. I love all the lights, the pleasant attitudes that people take on, and the smells and flavors that come out this time of year.
I used to get caught up in the gifts. To me, Christmas was about giving and receiving (especially receiving when I was a kid). Over the years, however, I’ve learned to get rid of all the ’stuff’ in my life, and what’s left is much more simple and minimal. And now the gifts aren’t as important to me as the thoughts. (more…)
Happiness Does Not Prevent Growth
December 1st, 2008
Last week, I wrote about choosing happiness. At the end of the essay, I mentioned the sentiment of some that choosing happiness keeps you from achieving long-term success. I want to expand on that thought this week. (more…)
Happiness Is a Choice
November 24th, 2008
One of the most difficult lessons I ever learned, and one that I have to keep reminding myself of from time to time, is that happiness comes from within.
I realized just the other day as I was thinking through everything I needed to get done on a very big project that I had forgotten to be happy. I was feeling a lot of stress: time pressure, financial pressure, social pressure, and even self-imposed pressure to perform, and I simply forgot about my happiness. And you know what? I became unhappy.
It’s really not hard to be happy. In The Power of Attitude, I pointed out that every emotion you have is a choice. This includes happiness. (more…)
Dreaming and Living
November 17th, 2008
“Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” With those words, James Dean proved himself to be a very wise man.
As a child I remember having very big dreams. I wanted it all, and then some. I wanted infinite riches, the best cars, airplanes, and boats that could be bought. I wanted a mansion on every continent. I wanted to see everything there was to see and to do everything there was to do. I wanted to go into space, to see the bottom of the ocean, to climb mountains and cross deserts. If it could be imagined, I had imagined it. I wanted, wanted, wanted… Although I never had a plan, I sure had the dreaming part down. (more…)
