The Socratic Method To Great Living (5 Simple Steps) | Zen Habits
http://zenhabits.net/2009/01/the-socratic-method-to-great-living-5-simple-steps/

“Be as you wish to seem.” ~Socrates

Zen Habits

Lots of journal writing prompts hidden here!

excellent post on power of twitter and transparency

It pays to play....

12 Surprising And Productive Brain Exercises - The Huffington Post

12 interesting exercises from writer/editor Dorothea Brande, who also wrote a book called "Wake Up and Live."

Cracked waxes downright philosophic. I love it. Mostly because they're right. We spend far too much time thinking about what we want, scared to admit that we don't know, worried that means we'll never get anywhere, when sitting and worrying about it all is doing less to help us than virtually any other activity except killing ourselves.

according to experts, it says almost everything we think about what would make us happy is dead wrong. Let's look at the five things we're most wrong about, with some pictures of adorable animals for good measure.

http://zenhabits.net/2009/02/10-ways-to-beat-the-cant-get-no-satisfaction-syndrome/ zen zenzen selfimprovement lifehacks lifestyle psychology inspiration Tips Life

th the world. 2. Banish ne

study of success and happiness or the lack of same

"the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.” “What we do,” Vaillant concluded, “affects how we feel just as much as how we feel affects what we do.”

Article on a book I'd like to read

“The beat of my heart has grown deeper, more active, and yet more peaceful, and it is as if I were all the time storing up inner riches…My [life] is one long sequence of inner miracles.”

Well written piece.

If you’re the kind of person who prefers freedom to security, who feels more comfortable in a small room than a large one and who finds that happiness comes from matching your wants to your needs, then running to stand still isn’t where your joy lies. In New York, a part of me was always somewhere else, thinking of what a simple life in Japan might be like. Now I’m there, I find that I almost never think of Rockefeller Center or Park Avenue at all.

happiness, like peace or passion, comes most freely when it isn’t pursued.

Way to dolve pressure

Thesis?

The 10 Essential Rules for Slowing Down and Enjoying Life More | Zen Habits - 061309 1235PM

The joy of less.

Lists several articles...

If there’s an underlying theme throughout Zen Habits, besides simplifying your life, it’s finding happiness. I’ve written dozens of articles on different ways to be happy, but it all boils down to one thing: be happy now — don’t wait for it

If there’s an underlying theme throughout Zen Habits, besides simplifying your life, it’s finding happiness. I’ve written dozens of articles on different ways to be happy, but it all boils down to one thing: be happy now — don’t wait for it. Still, for those who want more depth, I’ve compiled a couple dozen of my favorite happiness articles from the archives. I hope you enjoy them! (If not, you’ve missed the point.)

artists illustrations from a visit to Monticello

an important piece on Thomas Jefferson

a visit to Thomas Jefferson's residence

One artist blogs about the impact visiting Monticello had on her and her impressions of Jefferson.

3. Happiness Must be Shared The other night I was watching the movie adaptation of Into the Wild, the true story of Chris McCandless (see above photo which is a self-portrait found undeveloped in McCandless's camera after his death). Fed up with the rat race, McCandless graduated college in the early 1990's, left his worried parents in the dust, sold all his belongings, and ventured deep into the Alaskan wilderness. Before dying of starvation, he seemed to regre

3. Happiness Must be Shared The other night I was watching the movie adaptation of Into the Wild, the true story of Chris McCandless (see above photo which is a self-portrait found undeveloped in McCandless's camera after his death). Fed up with the rat race, McCandless graduated college in the early 1990's, left his worried parents in the dust, sold all his belongings, and ventured deep into the Alaskan wilderness. Before dying of starvation, he seemed to regret his isolationist ways and wrote these last words in his journal, “Happiness only real when shared.”

We’ve all heard countless studies, articles and TV interviews on happiness. But the other day I stumbled upon something that is just now being revealed to the media for the first time.* It's a 72 year old study that began all the way back in 1937 when 268 Harvard University sophomores were asked to participate in a study measuring “a formula-some mix of love, work, and adaptation-for a good life.” And while many of those who were college sophomores in 1937 are now dying or in their fading twilight, this study continues to be diligently maintained to this very day.

This collaborative site allows you to improve your happiness - and that of those around you - with some handy and helpful tools

Psychologist Philip Zimbardo says happiness and success are rooted in a trait most of us disregard: the way we orient toward the past, present and future. He suggests we calibrate our outlook on time as a first step to improving our lives.

<img src=

Make things simpler.

Your Life, Simplified http://bit.ly/2RSMk [from http://twitter.com/inti/statuses/3356473760]

TIME MGMT

p your desk. Re-arrange furniture. Add some color to that space. Make the place where you work really enjoyable. So enjoyable that work there won’t be perceived as

Two scientists suggest that depression is not a malfunction, but a mental adaptation that brings certain cognitive advantages

"Two scientists suggest that depression is not a malfunction, but a mental adaptation that brings certain cognitive advantages"

Life change may seem to take years to achieve but there are steps you can walk today and in the next week that perhaps can change your life forever. Most are

A Beautiful Method to Find Peace of Mind

See it as part of the adventure.

very well-written article by Tim Kreider on using alternate life paths as a way of gauging and judging the choices we have made.

Most of my married friends now have children, the rewards of which appear to be exclusively intangible and, like the mysteries of some gnostic sect, incommunicable to outsiders. In fact it seems from the outside as if these people have joined a dubious cult: they claim to be much happier and more fulfilled than ever before, even though they live in conditions of appalling filth and degradation, deprived of the most basic freedoms and dignity, and owe unquestioning obedience to a capricious and demented master.

on how people judge others out of jealousy or fear, and on the different choices we all make, and on how one choice cancels out other choices and on how that's hard. See comments for great discussion.

happiness most often comes from experiences...

Cars that make you happy: BMW 325, 535, M3, and X3, Audi A4, Jaguar, Mazda Miata, Subaru WRX, Toyota Matrix, Prius, and Corolla, Honda Civic.

http://audio.sxsw.com/2009/podcasts/D2%20SXSW_PODCASTS/031409_PM1_BallA_OpeningRemarks_Simul.mp3

I'm into Tony now.

Great presentation about brand values, customer service, and motivation. Audio is available too in a link provided in the comments section

Most productivity blogs and books will teach you how to do more, to get more done, to be more productive. I want to teach you to do less, to get less done, to be less productive.

Leer y traducir con calma.

Great stuff to remember, links to other posts

good post

slightly annoying, but still good ideas for uncluttering your life.

"Clusters of happy and unhappy people are visible in the network, and the relationship between people’s happiness extends up to three degrees of separation (for example, to the friends of one’s friends’ friends). People who are surrounded by many happy people and those who are central in the network are more likely to become happy in the future. Longitudinal statistical models suggest that clusters of happiness result from the spread of happiness and not just a tendency for people to associate with similar individuals. A friend who lives within a mile (about 1.6 km) and who becomes happy increases the probability that a person is happy by 25% (95% confidence interval 1% to 57%). Similar effects are seen in coresident spouses (8%, 0.2% to 16%), siblings who live within a mile (14%, 1% to 28%), and next door neighbours (34%, 7% to 70%). Effects are not seen between coworkers. The effect decays with time and with geographical separation."

I am a fan of the physical act of writing before committing goals to the digital medium.

Other researchers have looked at how exercise alters the activity of dopamine, another neurotransmitter in the brain, while still others have concentrated on the antioxidant powers of moderate exercise. Anxiety in rodents and people has been linked with excessive oxidative stress, which can lead to cell death, including in the brain. Moderate exercise, though, appears to dampen the effects of oxidative stress. In an experiment led by researchers at the University of Houston and reported at the Society for Neuroscience meeting, rats whose oxidative-stress levels had been artificially increased with injections of certain chemicals were extremely anxious when faced with unfamiliar terrain during laboratory testing. But rats that had exercised, even if they had received the oxidizing chemical, were relatively nonchalant under stress. When placed in the unfamiliar space, they didn’t run for dark corners and hide, like the unexercised rats. They insouciantly explored.

I know it isn’t easy, but I also know that it’s possible. Looking back on these times in my life, when I overcame discontentment, I’ve realized there are three things you can do: 1. Change your attitude and perspective. 2. Take some kind of positive action. 3. Do something that gives you meaning. And you can do one of these things or all three, all at once, one at a time, or in whatever combination works for you. They can work alone, or together. Let’s look at each one of these solutions.

Read and remember

How to Beat the Misery of Discontentment

“There is no greater sin than desire, No greater curse than discontent, No greater misfortune than wanting something for oneself. Therefore he who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.” - Lao Tzu

Seneca, a Spanish-born philosopher of Rome who lived in the first century A.D., was one of the prominent sages of the Stoic school. He's chiefly remembered today for his Moral Essays, a collection of twelve articles on various ethical themes. "On The Shortness Of Life" is an essay addressed to a friend, and it is excerpted and condensed here from Moses Hadas' fine work, The Stoic Philosophy Of Seneca.

True.

That is, if you can work hard to have self-discipline in one, small area, you create self-discipline almost effortlessly in other areas. The most famous study about this phenomena is from Baumeister, who found that students who walked with a book on their head to fix their posture ended up eating better, studying harder, and sleeping more. Without even noticing they were making those changes.

This all rings very true for me.

To find the path to long life and health, Dan Buettner and team study the world's "Blue Zones," communities whose elders live with vim and vigor to record-setting age. At TEDxTC, he shares the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits that keep them spry past age 100.

TED talks video

Interesting, research-driven lecture on health and longevity.

In the low self-esteem group, those who repeated the mantra felt worse afterwards compared with others who did not. However people with high self-esteem felt better after repeating the positive self-statement - but only slightly. The psychologists then asked the study participants to list negative and positive thoughts about themselves. They found that, paradoxically, those with low self-esteem were in a better mood when they were allowed to have negative thoughts than when they were asked to focus exclusively on affirmative thoughts. Writing in the journal, the researchers suggest that, like overly positive praise, unreasonably positive self-statements, such as "I accept myself completely," can provoke contradictory thoughts in individuals with low self-esteem. Such negative thoughts can overwhelm the positive thoughts.

BBC NEWS | Health

Repeating affirmations which are, in your perception, not true will not actually help. Just the opposite, in fact.

A UK psychologist said people based their feelings about themselves on real evidence from their lives.

"...thinking fast made participants feel more elated, creative and, to a lesser degree, energetic and powerful."

thinking and happiness. Annotated link http://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciam.com%2Farticle.cfm%3Fid%3Drapid-thinking-makes-people-happy

Rapid Thinking Makes People Happy

This morning I found myself lying around, enjoying a lazy weekend with my wife and kids, basking in the peaceful simplicity of today. It’s in these moments that I find not only my greatest happiness, but my purpose in life. I am here not to achieve or even to change the world, but simply to live. Life is a gift, and I’m happy to accept every moment of it. And so, in this spirit, I thought I’d dig through my archives and share a few favorite posts, to help others find this peace. A lot of Zen Habits readers are new, and haven’t taken the time to peruse the 800+ posts I’ve written. Shame on you! :) Here’s a good way to get started. If you want more, check out the Beginner’s Guide to Zen Habits, or see the newly revamped Zen Habits archives for every post ever published here. 12 Classic Posts You Might Not Have Read Don’t read these all at once: 1. Peaceful Simplicity: How to Live a Life of Contentment 2. The Four Laws of Simplicity, and How to Apply Them to Life 3. The Cu

goal setting, motivation

Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our "experiencing selves" and our "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy -- and our own self-awareness.

Fascinating discussion of happiness from a behavioral economics standpoint; hold on for the Q&A session afterwards, which is also interesting

Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our "experiencing selves" and our "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently

Vidéo TED : La mémoire et l'expérience par Ted Kahneman, Nobel d'Economie

"We think of our future as anticipated memories." Read about this talk on Bobulate.

TED Talks Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our "experiencing selves" and our "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy -- and our own self-awareness.

RT @cheth: Interesting read: How to Be a Positive Person, in Under 300 Words - http://j.mp/ba7nCM

Interesting read: How to Be a Positive Person, in Under 300 Words - http://j.mp/ba7nCM

"... Don’t compare yourself to others. ..."

Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek has created quite a buzz recently in the blogosphere. The book focuses on lifestyle design, which is designing your dream lifestyle with the least possible effort. It’s not necessary to wait until your retirement to live the lifestyle you want. In fact, doing so might waste 20-40 years of your life. Instead, you can live your dream lifestyle much, much sooner

63 Life-Changing Quotes on Lifestyle Design

from Tim Feriss's 4 hour Hour work week. All the major quotes.

Why do you get up in the morning?

Thoughts on how to use positivity to shape your existence

Read it crab.

acquire

In Seed Magazine, Jonathan Gottschall, a leading Literary Darwinist, reviews Geoffrey Miller's latest book, Spent, which argues that most of what we do, especially what we buy, is a kind of marketing designed to signal our power and secure our (genetic) place in the social hierarchy. That's all well and good, but it seems awful reductive.

In Spent, University of New Mexico evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller contends that marketing—the jet fuel of unrestrained consumerism—“is the most dominant force in human culture,” and thus the most powerful shaper of life on Earth. Using vivid, evocative language, Miller suggests that consumerism is the sea of modern life and we are the plankton—helplessly tumbled and swirled by forces we can feel but not understand. Miller aims to penetrate to the evolutionary wellsprings of consumerist mania, and to show how it is possible to live lives that are more sustainable, more sane, and more satisfying.

Where in the world do people feel most content with their lives? According to a new report released by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, a Paris-based group of 30 countries with democratic governments that provides economic and social statistics and data, happiness levels are highest in northern European countries. In Depth: See All 10 of the World's Happiest Places Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands rated at the top of the list, ranking first, second and third, respectively. Outside Europe, New Zealand and Canada landed at Nos. 8 and 6, respectively. The United States did not crack the top 10. Switzerland placed seventh and Belgium placed tenth.

World&#39;s Happiest Places http://tinyurl.com/omxf5u [from http://twitter.com/fullfilth/statuses/1751512594]

They enjoy TV, but watch it a lot less!

Happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers — but they don’t spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds.

via Lifehacker. "But the researchers could not tell whether unhappy people watch more television or whether being glued to the set is what makes people unhappy."

Just as our bodies are wired to react to stress, we're all also programmed to know how to wind down, whether it's by watching a funny movie, sitting in the sauna, sipping some chamomile tea (while dunking a cookie, of course!) or drinking a glass (or two) of wine with dinner. These activities switch on the brain's pleasure centers, blocking the production of the stress hormone cortisol and churning out happiness-inducing chemicals like serotonin instead.

Try a few of these instant soothers, and watch your own stress go from ARGH! to Ahhh.

"What's "striking and paradoxical" about this research, he says, is that it shows that reaching materialistic and image-related milestones actually contributes to ill-being; despite their accomplishments, individuals experience more negative emotions like shame and anger and more physical symptoms of anxiety such as headaches, stomachaches, and loss of energy. By contrast, individuals who value personal growth, close relationships, community involvement, and physical health are more satisfied as they meet success in those areas."

zappos culture

"social experiments"

Tony Hsieh built his online shoe retailer into an e-commerce powerhouse. But with credit tightening and investors eyeing the exits, Hsieh was forced to ask: Was selling Zappos really the only way to save it?

Why I Sold Zappos Tony Hsieh built his online shoe retailer into an e-commerce powerhouse. But with credit tightening and investors eyeing the exits, Hsieh was forced to ask: Was selling Zappos really the only way to save it?

pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

RT @draenews: Del Letting Go of Attachment, from A to Zen | Zen Habits: http://bit.ly/anTfzc

I liked this article. talks about letting go of bad attachments. Relationships, feelings.....

All Joy and No Fun | Why parents hate parenting (parents are more depressed than nonparents no matter what their... http://ff.im/-nq6wU

read this when I have time...

particularly those of us who find moment-to-moment happiness a bit elusive to begin with.

Via Ben. Fascinating analysis of parenting, expectations, happiness, the history of parenting, etc.

"From the perspective of the species, it’s perfectly unmysterious why people have children. From the perspective of the individual, however, it’s more of a mystery than one might think. Most people assume that having children will make them happier. Yet a wide variety of academic research shows that parents are not happier than their childless peers, and in many cases are less so. This finding is surprisingly consistent, showing up across a range of disciplines."

Why parents hate parenting.

oh dear,

All Joy and No Fun

Find information on wellness, diet, fitness, weight loss, mental health, anti-aging, conditions & diseases, drugs & medications, and more on Yahoo! Health

RT @arkarthick: The End of Busy (Zen Habits) http://bit.ly/cGmzUp #work #job #tips RT @nonkanya

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing Stop being busy and your job is half done

RT @arkarthick: The End of Busy (Zen Habits) http://bit.ly/cGmzUp #work #job #tips RT @nonkanya

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing Stop being busy and your job is half done

Reading: How to be Insanely Productive and Still Keep Smiling http://bit.ly/dnVQs5 via @zen_habits

Excelentes tips para una mayor productividad (más allá de la onda NA del post)