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Everybody wants something; we are hardwired that way. It is human biology; you have powerful dopaminergic reward systems that make you want to progress, to discover, to become; to get what you want.
So...
Ask people what they really want, and you will find that there are two main principles that underlie their initial list of material stuff: love and freedom. Both are important for long-term, sustainab...
I recently got some raised eyebrows from my musical accomplices when I told them I was taking guitar lessons. They know me as a long-time professional guitarist, musician and composer, and a music tea...
NOTE: This article is longer than my usual Mindset Monday posts, but there are a lot of new people coming to the Hardcore Happiness community, and I just (August, 2025, as I write this) launched a Har...
“Tide‘s coming in,” she said.
Looks like it.
He was a bit startled to hear the voice.
As usual, when he looked up, no one was there.
He was still alone here, at the End of All Things.
It had taken a long...
What would increase your well-being and satisfaction? More health? More wealth? Better relationships? Whether you want fame and fortune or just peace and quiet, it all starts with one question: Are yo...
The epistemological debate regarding free will is out of my philosophical wheelhouse; I will leave it to the theologians. But I do know this:
While we don’t choose our genetics or the circumstances of ...
Journitation is a portmanteau I created to highlight the importance of combining journaling and meditation. I believe that the whole of this practice is greater than the sum of its parts.
Journaling
...
I have three nice pens.
One is a Cross that my mother gave me many years ago. I told her, “I’ll write my Ph.D. dissertation with this.” (I did, when I was 29). Another is a Waterman Expert, still in it...
Everyone has a past.
Every past has some moments of triumph and some embarrassments, some great decisions and some regrets. As I have previously written, It is important to remember the people, places,...
I know people who “got old” in their 30s. I have friends who in their mid 80s still carry hundred-pound stacks of bricks to do masonry work, because it interests them and they’re good at it. If you fo...
A Framework for Making Good Decisions
I see it all the time. People work hard to achieve their dreams, but can’t seem to get out of their own way. I’m as guilty as anyone; it is a very human tendency...
This is a time of tremendous, life-altering transition for many people in my immediate circle. Some are family, some are friends; I love them all deeply. Some are dealing with the end of long-term rel...
You are more free than you think. The constraints you feel are more a product of conditioning than actual limitations. You can create your world to an extent much greater than you can probably imagine...
It’s like learning to drive a car or land an airplane: you look well ahead of the car or down the runway because you are going to end up where you are looking. Don’t believe me? Try to drive down the ...
