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!).
In this election season, politicians are spending way too much time arguing about ISIS, the deficit, and bathrooms. In the meantime, the really important problems are being ignored. Problems which will affect the daily lives of Americans in some pernicious ways. I’m talking, of course, about moniliophthoro roreri and fusarium oxysporum. Forget Ebola; frosty pod […]
Everybody Get Frosty Read More »
When I was a child living with my cousins in Biloxi, Mississippi circa 1958, we watched a television show called The Gray Ghost, which popularized the exploits of the real life rebel, John Mosby. After watching, we often went outside to reenact what we had seen. We were thrilled to recreate the battles for the
The Confederate Flag: And the Meme Goes on Read More »
“Okay, Boomer,” I said. “What can I help you with,” came the reply from my son’s car speaker. He and I both started laughing so hard that his car weaved slightly. Fortunately, his all-electric vehicle had plenty of room in his lane. I was trying to tell him about a story I had read concerning
It’s an ill wind that blows no good. Pandemics are no exception to the aphorism They can and do have positive outcomes. I’m not talking about potential positive outcomes. Some writers are already pontificating about some kumbaya moment when we stop being red state blue state antagonists. I’m also not talking about probable outcomes like
The Academic Gold Mine of COVID-19 Read More »
There are interesting moral and ethical questions that have been raised by some people, including the president, about death, the corona virus, and the economy. Simply put, the argument is about whether the economic pain caused by trying to slow the spread of the virus is worth the number of lives social distancing might save.
I am really irritated at my neighbor’s dog, a miniature schnauzer. And not for what you might think. I have had neighbors whose dogs barked incessantly and pooped indiscriminately. That’s a whole other set of problems. Of course if I am really honest, it’s my neighbor and not her dog that I am really irked