The Psychology of Happiness: 13 Steps to a Better Life ∞ Get Rich Slowly. We think we know what will make us happy, but we don’t. Many of us believe that money will make us happy, but it won’t. Except for the very poor, money cannot buy happiness. Instead of dreaming of vast wealth, we should dream of close friends and healthy bodies and meaningful work. The psychology of happiness Several years ago, James Montier, a “global equity strategist”, took a break from investing in order to publish a brief overview of existing research into the psychology of happiness [PDF]. About 50% of individual happiness comes from a genetic set point. If we have no control over our genetic “happy point”, and if we have little control over our circumstances, then it makes sense to focus on those things that we can do to make ourselves happy.
What does not bring happiness? The happiness paradox Writing in The Washington Post last June, Shankar Vedantam described recent research into this subject. Why aren’t rich people happier? Which future would you prefer? Principles for Peace » Blog Archive » How to Stop Negative Thinking in its Tracks.
Earth and Moon as Seen from Mars. Earth and Moon as Seen from Mars + Larger view The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera would make a great backyard telescope for viewing Mars, and we can also use it at Mars to view other planets. This is an image of Earth and the moon, acquired on October 3, 2007, by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. At the time the image was taken, Earth was 142 million kilometers (88 million miles) from Mars, giving the HiRISE image a scale of 142 kilometers (88 miles) per pixel, an Earth diameter of about 90 pixels and a moon diameter of 24 pixels.
The phase angle is 98 degrees, which means that less than half of the disk of the Earth and the disk of the moon have direct illumination. On the Earth image we can make out the west coast outline of South America at lower right, although the clouds are the dominant features. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona. The Secret :: Official Web Site of The Secret Movie :: Law of Attraction. Meditation for Beginners: 20 Practical Tips for Quieting the Mind | zen habits | simple productivity. Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Todd Goldfarb at the We The Change blog.
Meditation is the art of focusing 100% of your attention in one area. The practice comes with a myriad of well-publicized health benefits including increased concentration, decreased anxiety, and a general feeling of happiness. Although a great number of people try meditation at some point in their lives, a small percentage actually stick with it for the long-term.
This is unfortunate, and a possible reason is that many beginners do not begin with a mindset needed to make the practice sustainable. The purpose of this article is to provide 20 practical recommendations to help beginners get past the initial hurdles and integrate meditation over the long term: 1) Make it a formal practice. 2) Start with the breath. 4) Meditate with Purpose. 5) Notice frustration creep up on you. 6) Experiment. 7) Feel your body parts. 8) Pick a specific room in your home to meditate. 9) Read a book (or two) on meditation.