Happiness is a Choice

Key to happiness is understanding it is purely a state of mind, not depending on any particular condition or circumstance. Every life has highs and lows. Happy people characterize their life in terms of highs; Unhappy people, the lows. – Michael Josephson Happiness is a choice. Everyone can be happy.

Shopping carts and character

– There are two kind of people: those who return their shopping carts and those who don’t. – When we think about character, we tend to envision really big things, like taking heavy risks, committing bold acts of integrity, being grandly generous, or making tough sacrifices. Such noble choices indicate character,

We’re all ethical in our own eyes

-When it comes to our self-perception of our ethics, most of us have delusions of grandeur. – Think of the most ethical person you know. Do a lot of people come to mind or only a few? Are you having trouble thinking of anyone? If I asked that question of the people who know you well, how many would name …

COMMENTARY: Take Control of Your Life!

Our choices reveal our character, but more importantly they shape our character. Thus, the more aware we become of the choices we make every single day — choices about our attitudes, words, actions and reactions — the more power we have over our own destiny.

COMMENTARY: Be What You Want to Be

“What will you be when you grow up?” It’s a serious question. As kids, we knew we were going to be something and that to be something was to be someone. Even as our ambitions changed, we knew what we were going to be was important and our choice.

COMMENTARY 987.4: Keep Your Fork

When a pessimist is told there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, he’s likely to assume it’s an onrushing train. According to journalist Sydney Harris, “A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he’s prematurely disappointed in the future.” Pessimism and cynicism are fashionable these days, but it’s the people who see and …

COMMENTARY: Noah’s Term Paper

Noah really needed an ‘A’ on a term paper.  His friend Jason tells him that lots of kids “recycle” papers they don’t write and offers to give him a paper his older brother got an ‘A’ on three years ago. When Noah asked his for advice, his father hoped his son wouldn’t cheat but he didn’t want to be judgmental …

The road you take matters.

Where you go in life and whether you enjoy the trip will be determined by your choices, not your circumstances. In your work life and your personal life you will face choices not merely on what to do but on how you will react or respond to things other did. Life’s turning points are not marked and they are not …

WORTH SEEING: Poster – For most of my life, my disposition toward logic and rational thinking led me to guard against and discount emotions, my own and others. I believed that feelings obstruct good decision making. I’ve come to realize this was not wise. Sometimes our hearts know what our minds haven’t discovered and sometimes following our feelings is a smarter strategy than trying to figure everything out. Non-rationally motivated decisions are not necessarily irrational or unwise. — Michael Josephson

   

COMMENTARY: Making Good Decisions 757.4

More often than we like, most of us are faced with choices that can have serious and lasting impact on our lives. Do we go along with the crowd? Do we tell someone off, quit a job, end a relationship? Unfortunately, these decisions are not preceded by a drumroll warning us that the stakes are high and, even worse, we …

OBSERVATION: Michael Josephson on The Bare Essentials of Home-Run Decision-Making: Choices that Produce the Best Possible Result

In both our work and our personal lives, all of us regularly face situations that raise the most common and basic question: “What should I do?” In all these cases, we must first decide what we should do and how we should do it. Then, we have to decide whether we will, in fact, do what we should do. The best decision makers …