How to Practice Optimism

Sonja Lyubomirsky’s The How of Happiness provides some excellent advice on improving positive moods. A social psychologist, Lyubomirsky writes with authenticity and with logical prose more fitting of a scientific journal than a New Age spiritualist. Still, her exercise are backed by scientific study to help improve individual happiness. Here are three of them:
Create an [...]

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The Best Possible Self Through Writing

I’m currently reading The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky. Unlike previous personal development books that I’ve read, this one is penned not by a spiritual leader but by a social psychologist. Blending New Age principles with scientific study, Lyubomirsky shows that up to 40% of our happiness can be controlled by our own thoughts [...]

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Embracing Yourself in the Present: A Review of “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle

The source of suffering, according to Eckhart Tolle, is the ego. It contextualizes everything in terms of past and future. People tend to determine themselves based on their previous experiences and interactions, and define their future with those in mind. Tolle states that the key to escaping from this madness and entering enlightenment is to [...]

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Testing My Passions

Since I work in publishing, I have access to a lot of books. One that came across my path was The Passion Test by Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood. This one struck a chord because, although there are many self-help and inspirational books out there, Janet and Chris’s book has specific activities you can [...]

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Testing My Passions with “The Passion Test”

Since I work in publishing, I have access to a lot of books. One that came across my path was The Passion Test by Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood. This one struck a chord because, although there are many self-help and inspirational books out there, Janet and Chris’s book has specific activities you can [...]

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Making Happy Students

Today’s high schools mostly focus on academic achievement and extracurriculars such as athletics and various social clubs. Course content is conventional and subject-specific: language arts, history, science, mathematics, and of course P.E. A school in Germany, however, is adding another class requirement: happiness.
“‘We want to teach contentment, self-confidence and personal responsibility,’ the school’s director Ernst [...]

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