http://www.thinkhappy.org A Practical Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:37:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I've been investigating Byron Katie's Loving What Is recently. (I guess she'd say I've been doing the work on The Work!) There's a lot there that I like. And a lot that I'll need to come back to. I'm more than happy learning from people with whom I might not share ... http://www.thinkhappy.org/2008/08/28/byron-katie-on-incest/ G. K. Chesterton, the famous Catholic journalist once wrote: 'There are two ways to get enough: one is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.' This strikes me as incredibly profound. How much misery enters our lives through the desire for things - or circumstances - that ... http://www.thinkhappy.org/2008/08/19/the-1-way-to-have-everything-you-want/ Given the recent post on the benefits of friendship, I thought this deserved a link. Goodlife Zen posts 35 Ways to Create Lasting Friendships: I’ve collected 35 tips for you on how to create lasting friendships. Some of the tips are about finding friends, others are about how to deepen a friendship ... http://www.thinkhappy.org/2008/08/15/35-tips-to-creating-lasting-friendships/ I've just come across a refreshing article over at The National. It is not simply your mental health which benefits from a broad network of friends but your physical well-being. There is a big biological pay-off, it seems, to having a strong social circle. Friends can boost your defences against disease, help ... http://www.thinkhappy.org/2008/08/11/friendship-is-good-for-you/ I know it's hard to believe, but we are still here. The reason for our silence is that we've just moved house and have only just recovered internet access. However, we'll be back before you know it with tips on moving house, more on teeth grinding, the next installment in our ... http://www.thinkhappy.org/2008/08/08/we-are-still-here/ I should warn you, first of all, that if you're not used to doing something like this, it will feel silly. Deal with it. I can honestly say that when I was first taken through an exercise like the one below, I felt like I had learnt to relax for the ... http://www.thinkhappy.org/2008/07/25/how-to-reduce-stress-with-visualisation/ There's a great post over at Dumb Little Man, entitled, 7 How-to-be-happy Lessons That Kids Can Teach Us. I wanted to link to it, because as the father of 3 - yes, three! - girls, I can vouch for every word. Here are DLM's points, with some commentary from me at ... http://www.thinkhappy.org/2008/07/22/7-lessons-kids-can-teach-us-about-how-to-be-happy/ Over at my anabaptist spirituality blog, Leaving Münster, I wrote a birthday reflection on what lessons I encountered last year. It was an act of self-discipline, as much as anything, because I tend to get fairly melancholy around my birthday. So, I thought it would do me be good to ... http://www.thinkhappy.org/2008/07/20/abraham-lincolns-religion/ Smoking cessation is the big topic right now and seems like it has been for an incredibly long time. I'm guessing that by reading this you have an interest in giving up, wanting to help someone give up, or have already given up. Whatever one it may be, I can’t ... http://www.thinkhappy.org/2008/07/17/how-i-stopped-smoking-preparation/ Our latest author, Claire, is going to begin publishing a series of posts on giving up smoking. This will be a three-part series, consisting of: 1 - preparation 2 - the actual quitting 3 - the aftermath I've had a sneak peek and it's good stuff. More importantly, it works! http://www.thinkhappy.org/2008/07/15/giving-up-smoking/