One thing I know about happiness is that it comes from the narrative of our life. The story we tell ourselves. But too often, we let others write that story for us. Unhappiness and discontent inevitably follow. The only person who can write the story of your life properly is you. In order to change our narrative to an authentic one, one we write ourselves, we must change our perspective, and thus our perceptions of our world. This is not a new idea. Plato explained it in “Allegory of the Cave” over 2,300 years ago. A small change in perception can mean a huge change in what we see. And changing how we see lets us write a new narrative. The Dalai Lama also explores this idea of the relationship between perception and a good life in his book The Art of Happiness (99¢ in the remainder bin . . . maybe you can buy happiness after all!).
It was the last day of school and most of the students had left. Hans, the janitor, motioned for me to follow him. He had a smile on his face and was very animated in his gestures. One of the few survivors of the Wehrmacht’s ill fated drive into Russia as well as the Korean […]
The Great Nebula, Stardust, and True Learning Read More »
The television reporter stuck his microphone inside the driver’s side window of the Cadillac. The driver, a blue haired woman in her eighties, was quite agitated. She sat in a line of cars that was three blocks long. In fact, all but one of the four gas stations located on each corner had lines that
A Liter Bit of Mathphobia Read More »
Dimly, through my sleepy haze, I heard the “uh, uh” like a car engine trying to turn over in bitter cold. No, my brain screamed. Not tonight. I had tests to grade the next day. Parent teacher conferences. A workshop. A field trip. Then the dreaded words, “Daddy.” I rolled over out of bed and
All I Really Want for Father’s Day Read More »
A favorite tactic of creationists is to ask the question, “How do you know (about dinosaurs, mountain building, the Grand Canyon, or any fact you bring up)? You weren’t there.” Ken Hamm in particular likes to use this strategy, and he teaches it to kids all over the country. Those who bring this query up
Creationism Refuted Read More »
I stared at the return address on the envelope in slight disbelief. It was from my former brother-in-law. Emphasis on the word “former.” David was living in Monument, according to the return address. I waited, in spite of my curiosity, to open the letter until I had privacy and time to carefully consider its contents.
On Forgiving the Duggars Read More »
The United States not only incarcerates more people than any other country, but we are one of the few that executes people. A Christian nation that sanctions state killing is a contradiction that requires some thoughtful consideration. One doesn’t need to be a biblical scholar to figure out Christ’s view of capital punishment. Trials like
Capital Punishment: Proposing a New Model Read More »