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!).
An eponym is a human name that has been turned into a word. There are many examples of eponyms in the English language. A boycott, for example, comes to us via Charles Boycott. Leotard comes from Jules Leotard. One of the great things about English is its great adaptability. It adds, subtracts, and changes word […]
Anti-Science Foolishness and the Face of Conservatism Read More »
I hate the comma. I don’t mean hate like, “I hate blue M&Ms.” I mean hate as in, “I hate choking to death on a brussel sprout.” English teacher and writer that I am, I shouldn’t expend such emotion on a mere punctuation mark. It’s too little of an item to stress about in life.
Comma Chameleon: A Punctuated Relationship Read More »
There’s a gun shop in my town that still has its Christmas message up. “Joy to the world the lord has come.” I’m not an expert on theology, but I’m pretty sure where Jesus would stand on the whole gun rights issue. People criticized Obama for his remarks about people who cling to their guns
Guns, Bibles, and Charlie Hebdo Read More »
Rum and Coke is a good drink, my cocktail of choice. Oh sure, if I could afford it, I’d drink Crown Royal or Glenmorangie. Barring a lottery win, though, it’s a Cuba Libre for me on the rare occasions that I skip the wine at a party or find myself in a bar. It goes
I lost my cell phone recently. Technically, I didn’t really lose it. It was sitting on my son’s coffee table in his house in Ft. Morgan. Only I was locked out and he was in Denver. So the result was the same as if I had lost it. At first, I thought it was just
People in America spend more time worrying about their weight than a high school wrestler. And no wonder. Everywhere we look, we’re bombarded with diets, diet suggestions, exercise equipment, gym memberships, pills, powders, ointments, and headlines decrying the obesity epidemic. Media exhorts us to get our fat butts off of the couch and lose weight.
Fat is Not a Disease Read More »