About the blogger

This blog space is lab, a resolution, and a realization of a personal mission to make the world a happier place. It’s big and it’s lofty but that’s the point. Truth is we all have a sense of why we’re here and what we’re meant to contribute but we filter and we hesitate. I think we should do that less. The richest source of “enduring” happiness (for ourselves AND others) is created when we live in the space that we find a little daring and a little scary but that speaks to us deeply.

Why me? The obvious answer is that I’m a clinical psychologist and I ought to know things about happiness (which I do by the way).  I chose to study “what makes people happy” when psychologists were still dominantly studying how to make people undepressed which I always knew without all the weight of evidence in just yet, was not the same thing as happiness (you can dig my research out in the 1997 pile if you’re suffering from insomnia but I’ll be giving you what I hope are the more interesting points here).

The other reason is rooted in the enduring accusations of being a “suspiciously” happy person. I’ve never nailed down exactly what I’m being accused of (chemically-induced happiness I suspect). While this may suggest I spend my days traipsing through daisy fields I assure you that my happiness comes from a lifetime dedication to it. The real underlying trait that’s served me is a willingness to try stuff, see what happens, repeat the stuff that worked and make every effort not to repeat to the stuff that really didn’t.

Why this now? Fast forward to 2014 and the research on what defines enduring “happiness” and more importantly how to achieve it have flourished beyond wildest expectations. My aspiration is to join the ranks of the happiness propagators. People who pursue enduring happiness are more resilient, more productive, more creative, and more generous to name just a few qualities. From what I’ve seen we need more of all of it if we are to respond to the trends that we’re observing (we can all name the ones we feel most strongly about) and create a universe we’re all happier to live in.

So here I go again, trying something, intentions aligned, seat belt fastened…want to ride with me?