The Blog
So many words, so little time.


I Wrote a Book! So When Will I Be Happy?
I Wrote a Book! So When Will I Be Happy?

Have you ever reached a juicy goal and then robbed yourself of 93.6% of the joy by moving the goal posts? So that your originally-agreed-upon-with-yourself goal wasn’t actually achieved—because now you’ve got to do a little bit (or a lot a bit) more? And then at that point you’ll for sure be happy… unless you...

Are You Ready to Fledge in Your Life?
Are You Ready to Fledge in Your Life?

Once of my recent preoccupations (along with Palomas and Trader Joe’s taco cheese) are the two eaglets that recently hatched in Big Bear Lake, California. (Yes—Sunny and Gizmo! You’ve been watching them on the 24-hour live video feed positioned on their nest, too? Animal voyeurism all day [and night] … it gets in the way...

Finding Joy when Life is in the Toilet
Finding Joy When Life is in the Toilet

Please know that this is not an article about tying a pretty bow around a fresh, steaming bag of doggy poo… about putting a silver lining around a colostomy bag… about appreciating the future benefits of currently crappy hardships. No, sometimes we want to wallow in the full-on shitmanship of a full-on shitty situation, and...

12 Examples from Real People Living with Aliveness
12 Examples from Real People Living with Aliveness

Need a little inspiration out there, Slugger? I’ve got you. Pardon me—you’ve got you! I assembled a dozen of YOUR rousing examples of aliveness over the last week or so… and oh, how we love to hear about other people’s joy! (Except when we love to hear about other people’s joy getting stampeded… stay tuned...

Words of Wisdom from the Grim Reaper to the Class of 2025
Words of Wisdom from the Grim Reaper to the Class of 2025

'Tis the season for students to graduate and wonder what they're going to do with the rest of their limited Mondays on the planet! I decided to ask my business partner—the Grim Reaper—for his “words of wisdom” for the graduating Master of Applied Positive Psychology class at the University of Pennsylvania (i.e., my alma mater)....

The Unbearable Weight of Being Disappointed with Your Life
The Unbearable Weight of Feeling Disappointed with Your Life

What’s the worst thing your parents could’ve said to you while you were growing up? A) “I’m so angry at you!!” (👈Said with the emphasis of two exclamation points.) B) “I’m just so… disappointed in you.” (👈The word ‘disappointed’ pronounced with the inflection of italics.) C) “Your father and I are going to have a...

Get In, Get Out
Get In, Get Out: The Psychology of Wanting to Leave Early

What thought goes through your head when you arrive at a social event/ concert/ networking happy hour/ fundraiser/ baby shower/ spoken word poetry night/ pretty much any outing at all: A) “I’m going to savor this event and loiter linger as long as I can… I’ll probably be the last one here. It won’t be...

Are You Living Vicariously Through Others’ (Livelier) Lives?
Are You Living Vicariously Through Others’ Lives?

I’ve coined a phrase—and while it’s not as good as procrastibaking (baking when you should be doing a way more important thing OH LIKE WRITING YOUR MONDAY MORNING BLOG POST), it’s pretty good. Ready for it? Vicarious vitality: living vicariously through people who are living decidedly livelier lives than yours. Was that an audible wince I just...

What if You Forgot What You Didn’t Like?
What if You Forgot What You Didn’t Like?

Admit it: you have a list of things you like, and things you don’t like, thank you very much. “I love murder mysteries!” you might proclaim with confidence—with just as much surety as “don’t even let cilantro touch my plate.” You’ve been around the block by your age, and you know what makes you tick…...

Are You Psychologically Safe… With Yourself?
Are You Psychologically Safe… With Yourself?

In an ongoing effort to remind you to live like you mean it before your eventual and inevitable demise (hi! I splash existential cold water in your face because I care!), I wanted to open up a whole new can of psychological worms with you today. Are you psychologically safe with yourself? I’ll back up...

Are You Just Flirting with Life?
Are You Just Flirting with Life?

Freud. For a while I just thought he was good for a bunch of oral fixation and penis envy jokes—but I stumbled upon this gem of a quote from the mommy-blamer when I was writing You Only Die Once, and now he’s back in my provisional good books: “This attitude of ours towards death has...

You’re Luckier than You Might Think
You’re Luckier than You Might Think

‘Tis the “get lucky” season… so how lucky would you say you are? A) “I’m permalucky—four leaf clovers are everywhere I look! I whirl them in my smoothies! I use them as toilet paper!” (So, you’re a lucky ass?) B) “I eat Lucky Charms for breakfast sometimes, so I guess that makes me kinda average...

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