What many of us want most deeply—assuming our basic needs are met—is to live a kind of life where spontaneously being our Selves is most able to happen again and again (for proof of this assertion, if you need it, look at Part II: How to Want What You Really Want in my new book How […]
How To
How to Not Buy Things by Mistake
In my new book How to Be Alive: A Guide to the Kind of Happiness that Helps the World, I talk about the many relationships we have with the world and how those relationships affect both our own well-being and that of our communities and planet. One of those relationships is the one we have with stuff. […]
Ten Ways to Give Mundane Life Chores Meaning
A butcher who lived in the time of Buddha wanted to live a meaningful and purposeful life and wondered how, as a butcher, he could ever achieve that. To him, killing animals felt like the opposite of living a life of meaning and purpose. On the other hand, he had a wife and small children […]
The Happiness of Getting Acknowledgment By Giving It
Recently, I sent out a survey to readers and email subscribers to ask how I might be most helpful to their finding meaningful, purposeful lives that help the world. I’m still analyzing results and will say more later. But for now, one of the questions was “What obstacles do you face when it comes to feeling […]
Ten Ways to Overcome Futility (About Life, The State of The World or Anything Else)
I’ve been saying since the No Impact Man project first started in 2007 that lasting personal happiness does not come without contributing to community and world happiness. But there are big issues that stop us from trying to contribute or that make us really frustrated when we do try. I know this because I sent out […]
Detoxing Your Life from The OUTside In
I am teaching a five-week course and giving an introductory talk on the topic of this blog post–details below. You certainly don’t need to attend the course to find the ideas in this blog post helpful though. Victor Frankl famously wrote “Those who have a ‘why’ to live can bear with almost any ‘how.’” One reason why the […]
How to Figure Out What You Care About
So many people have come up to me after I’ve made a public appearance and asked me, “What should I do? Inside myself I know that I am called to help the world in some way but I don’t know how.” So I ask, “What do you worry about or care about most in the […]
Aligning your corporate career with your values
Many of us pine for meaning and purpose but feel that the only way to find it is to uproot ourselves from our careers and start anew–maybe in a non-profit or maybe as a social entrepreneur. In assuming we must take that approach, we put so many barriers between us an our meaningful lives. I’m an […]