It’s not to much to say that David Steindl-Rast is the ambassador of gratitude. The Benedictine monk is known worldwide for his teaching of practices of gratitude. “Practices” may actually make it sound more difficult or complex that it needs to be, however, as Brother David’s counsel in this TED Talk is really rather simple. Reminding us of the three instructions we were given as children when approaching a street corner, he tells us to “Stop, look, and go.” Stop – slow down, take a break, pause long enough to take a breath. Look – notice and pay attention to just how many things are given to us freely and without...

The relationship between money and happiness isn’t a new topic for this blog and its readers. We’ve discussed before the relationship between happiness, money, and memory and, in particular, our inability to predict what will make us happy because of the fragility of memory. We’ve explored the peculiar power of our cultural narrative that having more stuff makes us happy when, in fact, what we need and want so much more than “more stuff” is time enjoy what we have. And we’ve seen how money can, in fact, make you happy when you spend it on others. In this vein, I recently came across a brilliant little video that summarizes a lot...

I have a confession to make: I started listening to Christmas Carols in earnest two weeks ago. I know I’m not supposed to. I mean, I know that I should wait at least until Advent. (Actually, we’re often told that we should wait until Christmas itself to sing Christmas carols and should content ourselves with Advent songs until then. That’s a debate I’ve entered into before and something, quite frankly, about which I have some strong feelings. 🙂 ) So there’s no way around it: I know I shouldn’t be listening to Christmas music yet. But here’s the thing: listening to Christmas music makes me happy. I actually listen to it...

In recent weeks we’ve considered happiness from a variety of perspectives: what makes us happy, what doesn’t, and why we’re so bad at distinguishing between the two. Sometimes the insights offered have been surprising: turns out that getting more stuff or making loads of money doesn’t make us happy, while giving money away does. In this TEDTalk, Dan Pink — author of one of my favorites books in recent years, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future — offers another surprise: contrary to popular wisdom, we are rarely motivated or made happy by the traditional rewards and carrots of...