Let’s talk today about our second most popular thing to fear! (Number one is speaking in public; most people would rather die than talk in front of other humans.) Death is apparently a pretty unpopular topic for everyone other than me (and the Grim Reaper). Being annihilated from the surface of the earth isn’t a...

Where are you on the Life Edit Scale—ranging from “Mild pontification of minor life changes” alllllll the way over to the “Detonate my life in a three-sticks-of-dynamite-kind-of-way”? Whether you’re thinking about starting to think about tweaks here and there, or whether you’re yearning to enter the Witness Protection Program for a full-scale life start-over (OMG...

I’ve been trying to convince people of several things for years now—like how they really need to make an all-red bag over there at the Skittles factory (because life’s too short to waste our precious Mondays sifting through the yellow ones). I’ve been on a soapbox about other meaningful matters, too, including but not limited...

Summer! It’s happening on June 21st! The season of our dreams is (almost) here for the taking and it’s up to us to not screw it up. We’ve spoken here about whether to savor or squander it (the answer’s obvious), and remember that time back in 2020 when we spoke about not ruining the longest...

Good intentions: we all know a thing or two about those little buggers, don’t we? Something about a road to hell? Yes (*heavy sigh*). We’ve all paved a few miles on the road to our fiery futures. I’m less concerned about our well-paved roads to hell than I am about the emotional cost of our...

Once upon a very long time, well-being scientists agreed that “the good life” was comprised of both a happy life and a meaningful life. And then a few of those psychologists went off and did psilocybin or something, and came back from their trip with Revolutionary and Important Insights About Life (God I love it...

We all know about the Bucket List—the wish list of things we long to do before we kick the bucket. It’s the considerably more fun version of the will, which is our to-do list after the bucket has been kicked. Sit down and write a will? That’s distasteful. Sit down and write a Bucket List?...

Did you feel a tremble in the earth the other day? Sort of like an earthquake but way less ominous? That was probably from me, gawkily jumping up and down and making the high-pitched “squeeee” sound . . . because HOLY SHIT! I got a book deal! I did it! I’m going to have a...

Should we talk about you and your heyday? Those years or activities you look back on with fondness or pride? Those years that are (*insert audible wince*) . . . behind you? In workshops I often ask participants to play the Time Machine game with me, where I ask them to transport themselves back to...

Most research papers are soul-stabbingly boring, so when I came across one called, “How Fast Does the Grim Reaper Walk*,” I perked up. I love that guy! Grim’s motives are sinister, to be sure, but I’ve never met a more effective guru to crack the motivational whip of GETTING ON WITH THE BUSINESS OF LIVING...

There is such a thing as an existential vacuum, and if you’re like most people, you’re already feeling nervous that you might be getting sucked into one. Our fine friend Viktor Frankl (yes, the psychologist who wrote the exquisite Man’s Search for Meaning) coined the phrase, and if that sounds too soul-sucking for you, how...

Does the idea of completing a “life significance” scale sound . . . significantly intimidating? A life satisfaction scale—no problem! A life significance scale? Many of us just swallowed hard and wiped beads of sweat off our temples. Will the scale involve a panel of white-coated experts, meticulously assessing the lives we’ve been living, solemnly...