Maximum Gratitude, Minimal Stuff

Do you want to be happy?  The world's longest scientific study on happiness began in 1938 and is ongoing.  It focused on a group of over 700 Harvard students and other young men from the Boston area, including all income groups.  It has expanded to include the spouses and children of the original participants, a pool of more than 2,000 people. Not surprisingly, good health added to people's happiness.  So did a positive, grateful attitude having goals and a purpose learning new things showing kindness to others The number one indicator of happiness, however, turned out to be strong relationships .  When test participants were asked how they overcame adversity – illness, losses, war memories – their connections with others were mentioned most often.  Whether it was the person who loaned them money when they were in need, the fellow soldier who kept their spirits up (many participants were war veterans), or the friend who always listened and consoled, rela...

Losing weight and keeping it off isn't the easiest thing in the world for most of us.  I've lost weight multiple times, but I've gained it all back (plus a little more) just as often.  I've tried many diets – several low-carb variants, Weight Watchers, Slim Fast, super low-fat, and more.  They all work for a while. Recently, I've tried again, and I think I've hit upon some easy concepts that aren't a diet as such, which might actually make them a long-term solution.  Diets have a lot of rules, and it's those limits that make you feel deprived.  No one wants to be deprived for long, but taking even a short break from a diet is usually seen as failure.  And once you stray, it's easy to wander even further. Simpler is better in my book, and I think that's true for most of us.  Charting and calculating (or buying a book or an app that will do it for you) just makes you think more and more often about food.  My mom was a serial dieter too, and she tho...

If anything needs decluttering, it might be our minds.  After all, errands, projects, 24-hour news, plans, worries, and more add to the stress and chaos in our brains.  Many of us experience constantly churning thoughts that steal attention from our people and our purpose, and interfere with sleep and peace. How do you declutter a mind?  I used to think my mind was like a filing cabinet, and I could locate an idea and pull it out at will.  But thoughts are much more complicated and messy than that.  They're not orderly or sequential.  You can't just sort through them and then shut the drawer on them.  The brain is more complex and confusing than that.  It contains knowledge and memories, not all of them good.  It contains trivia and trauma, and many layers of consciousness. Fortunately, there are several actions and practices that can make things a bit calmer and simpler.  We've talked about many of them before, but here I've gathered sm...

I'm not a Catholic, but I was inspired by Pope Francis.  His compassion and obvious joy in serving God were, in my opinion, exactly what the Church needed. I was saddened by Francis' passing, because I think he's been a great blessing to many.  Especially today, when hyper-nationalism and far right politics are on the rise, we needed another strong voice to refute those trends.  His emphasis on humility and service set him apart as a leader in today's world.  He was outspoken about the plight of refugees and criticized the wars in Ukraine, Gaza (saying that "terror should not justify terror"), Sudan, and other places around the world.  He called for decisive action against the climate crisis.  And he promoted peaceful relations between those of different faiths and attempted greater understanding for LGBTQ+ individuals. The Pope of Mercy Born Jorge Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1936, Pope Francis attended a technical secondary school and graduated...

Decluttering is about more than your stuff.  The rewards go beyond saving you money, making more room, creating an organized and attractive space, or simplifying and expediting home care.  I think these additional benefits make anyone's life better. 6 ways decluttering improves your mindset and mood 1.  Reduced anxiety and stress Looking at an overfull room can make you feel overwhelmed by unfinished chores and projects.  You feel worried and burdened by all you need to do.  Decluttering adds clarity.  It helps you prioritize what's important and remove what's not. Plenty of studies indicate that a cluttered environment increases the production of cortisol, a stress hormone.  Clutter puts our "fight or flight" response on high alert.  That response is intended to be an occasional situation – one that lets us meet sudden dangers and challenges.  Being in that stressful situation all the time is detrimental to long-term health. There's so much ...

As a child, the name "Good Friday" always confused me.  How is it good if it commemorates the day Jesus died?  I understood that Easter was the joyful celebration of Jesus' resurrection, the triumph of good over evil, and the hope of eternal life in relationship with God.  But how is the suffering of that Friday good ? I had to go through some suffering of my own to learn its potential. Whether or not you're a Christian, you're going to go through hard times at some point.  The world isn't perfect, and struggles and disappointments are real.  A strong and hopeful perspective is one you'll want to cultivate. 15 lessons we might learn from hard times 1.  We might learn that we're stronger than we know, and that we can survive things we never thought we could endure.   2.  We can learn to let the past go, wake up tomorrow, and try again. 3.  We learn not to waste energy on things that aren't important in the long run.  We get better at...