One of the top determinants of well-being is autonomy: the perception that one can govern oneself and not have decisions dictated externally by someone else. Understanding what autonomy is could be tricky. Many people mistake it to mean the same as independence, but it’s not. Being autonomous does not mean you do not depend on […]

Last year I went on a coast-to-coast solo motorcycle trip. A project I call “Ride Of Your Life” – a journey to inner peace. I embarked on this 6,000 mile ride only a year after obtaining my motorcycle license and along the way interviewed scholars and scientists like Deepak Chopra, James Pennebaker, Sonja Lyubomirsky and […]

While running errands this morning, I stopped at a local bank to meet with the branch’s investment manager. The sun was shining bright in the sky, and since I had no work meetings scheduled I allowed myself to dress (very) casually. I walked into his office wearing short pants and a t-shirt and couldn’t help […]

A few weeks ago a nagging pain at the side of my left leg appeared out of nowhere. At first, it was muffled and intermittent, then gradually turned sharper and more prominent, until eventually it was impossible to bear. It was time to see the doctor. My primary physician, who knows me for many years, […]

Take a look at your life today, if you are enjoying a shelter of comfort, break through it and go outside where life awaits.

A “positive intervention” is a “happiness activity” – a term coined by positive psychologists to describe an action one can take to improve their psychological well-being. For example: maintaining a gratitude journal and writing at bedtime three good things you are grateful for, writing about your “best possible self” to cultivate optimism, conducting one random […]

Matt Green has a Masters degree in Civil Engineering. He graduated a few years ago and started working in New York City. Things were looking up: he was well-educated, making good money, enjoying the lifestyle of New York, and was well on his way to a safe and worry-free corporate career. But as a young man […]

We are all students of life, and like anyone who is learning we want to know how we are doing.

Krishna is one of the most important deities in many Hindu traditions. He is the divine speaker of the Bhagavad Gita – a sacred Hindu script considered to be one of the most important texts in literature and philosophy. In the Gita, Krishna speaks with Arjuna, a warrior who is debating about going to war. Helping […]