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Further Secrets of Adulthood: I have Eight Splendid Truths about Happiness (very inspired by the numbered lists of Buddhism), and this is the Second Splendid Truth. People often talk about Part A, but much more rarely about Part B. But I think they’re both true–agree? disagree?
Further Secrets of Adulthood: One of my most effective resolutions is to Act the way I want to feel. It’s almost uncanny how quickly I can change my emotions, by changing my actions–and it’s a lot easier directly to change my actions than my emotional state. Have you found this to be true?
Further Secrets of Adulthood: This is one of those little actions that, for me at least, ends up making a surprisingly big difference in the quality of my daily life. I really, really, really dislike hunting for things like my keys, wallet, phone, or sunglasses. Do you have any similar Secrets of Adulthood — something as basic as this?
Further Secrets of Adulthood: This is very true, in my experience. If I do a little work during a vacation, say, I enjoy myself more. Also, studies show that interrupting a pleasant experience with something less pleasant can intensify your over-all pleasure. For example, surprisingly, commercials actually make TV-watching more fun, and interrupting a massage heightens the pleasure it …
I love paradoxes, parables, koans, aphorisms, fables, Secrets of Adulthood, and teaching stories of all kinds. Several months ago, I posted about the “one-coin problem.” This is my phrase to describe what’s also known as “the argument of the growing heap”: “If ten coins are not enough to make a man rich, what if you add one coin? What if …
