My wife and I spent Memorial Day Weekend in a small town in central Washington to go birdwatching in the Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge. And devoting an entire three-day weekend to birding felt like a perfectly normal thing to do, but three years ago, I couldn’t have imagined such a thing. Now, I’m obsessed with birds. So what happened? And what does this have to do with becoming better? The… Read More »Passion Comes From Repeated Engagement
Note: I’m referring to being proud of things you’ve done, not being proud of your identity or things outside your control, such as the country you happened to be born in. There’s nothing wrong with that sort of pride – it’s just not what I’m talking about here. Would you rather feel pleasure or pride? Pleasure is certainly more tempting. It’s easily accessible, and it calls out strongly, begging for… Read More »Pleasure vs. Pride
Have you ever thought about the true meaning of the phrase, “on purpose?” In everyday language, doing something on purpose means you intended to do it – it wasn’t an accident. But the words hint at a deeper meaning. To do something on purpose means to act in alignment with your life’s purpose. To be on purpose means organizing your habits and your environment around the actions that serve your… Read More »Living “On Purpose”
Apparently, we’ve all been reading The Declaration of Independence wrong. In Happy for No Reason, Marci Shimoff explains what “the pursuit of happiness” actually meant: “Back in Jefferson’s day… the common usage of the word ‘pursue’ was not ‘to chase after.’ In 1776, to pursue something meant to practice that activity, to do it regularly, to make a habit of it.”1 So Jefferson meant that we should be free to… Read More »Don’t Chase Happiness, Practice It