G as in Good H as in Happy

Sailing Past the Horizon

Intrepid sailor and journalist G. Bruce Knecht, the author of Hooked: Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish and The Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the Sydney to Hobart Race, writes in the May 24 Wall Street Journal [subs. only] about the recent valor of a bunch of young sailors in a big race.

Life. Not for sissies. Engaged, with honor, courage, and preparation, exilarating even to hear about. There's intelligence, then there's "safety."  No one gets out in one piece anyway, we can only hope for painless, blameless, and the peace of being in our high-hearted destiny.

Hans Horrevoets - 1974 - 2006

Life in Bloom

May 13, 2006

Dust My Broom offers weekend beer and blues, totally reminiscent of John Corbett's radio station in a log cabin on Northern Exposure. Click to listen.

A nice offset to a morning spent touring beautiful and expensive gardens, sponsored by Lady Bird  et al.

Cheers to all, on a sleepy early summer afternoon.

"Happiness --I know it when I see it"

Malcolm Gladwell is enthusiastic.

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert is a psychological detective story about one of the great mysteries of our lives.

So is Marginal Revolution.

He takes Proust and turns it into social science. Your brain distorts both your anticipations and your memories; we do not know how happy we were or how happy we will be.

Reminiscent of Byron Katie's pinpointing of the problem: "believing what you think." We, especially our imaginations, are not too good with reality. "Without the story, reality is kind." The difficulty of grasping that, is a precise measure of the virulence of the accompanying mind-chatter story.

"Spend Less Time Plotting Your Life"

My attitude is to give everyone some of my time. If I can contribute in any way to their happiness, that makes me happy.

A proper understanding of the most sophisticated economy of exchange, in our opinion.

In other matters the Dalai Lama says pretty much what the Pope says, adjusted for perspective. No outcries result.

Courtesy Zadok the Roman

Mr. Gobley's Blog-a-Verse

The increasing value of subtler and subtler enjoyments.

This is the bounty
of life
proclaiming itself
for someone to see.

Today, that someone
was me.

Not a dime's worth of difference between Life, and Bliss.

Letting in Some Air and Light

May 2, 2006

The current New English Review is up. Not only Dalrymple and Derbyshire; we particularly liked Piety and Wonder by Rebecca Bynum, addressing the airless interiors of jihadic Islam and every other inverted systemic self-worship as:

Happiness, On-going Closer Look

April 27, 2006

Dennis Mangan, tres reluctant toward simple happiness, is nonetheless pleased by the Seligman-related Coaching Toward Happiness. Its importance is familiar news here, but refining the science of it is always welcome. Martin Seligman is the Leader.

Funny Thing

April 12, 2006

Why is it that discussions of humor, or of creativity, usually aren't funny or inventive? And discussions of religion...don't get us started.

Laughter is good. Beware environments where there is no provision for a real sense of humor. Another can of worms, no one considers himself lacking a sense of humor. Funny thing, that.

A Dime on the Copier

April 11, 2006

Wilkinson again, linking to an omnibus happiness post at Truck and Barter.  More discussion here later.

Cheers. Literally.

Well, Young Person,...

...Hello, there!