In a study conducted by Diener and Fujita (1995), the availability of “material” resources was 9 times less important to happiness than was the availability of “personal” resources such as family and friends. Imagine for a moment that today was your last day on Earth.  Now, make a list of all the things that you […]

To start your day off on the right track, try the “Trigger Note” technique. Find a spot somewhere in your morning routine that you know you’ll see every day. Mirrors tend to be a great spot (the bathroom mirror, bedroom mirror, even the car rear-view mirror works well), but almost any place where you know […]

How did you sleep last night? When you put your head on your pillow, did you go straight to sleep or were you suddenly wide awake?  It has been estimated that as many as 40 percent of Americans will suffer from some form of sleep disturbance at one time or another.  If you have trouble […]

Are you a Facebook fan?  If so, you’ll be happy to know PsychDigest has developed a Facebook fan page (PsychDigest Fan Page).  The PsychDigest Fan Page will contain the same updates that you can already receive via RSS feed and email as well as through PsychDigest’s Twitter site.  Please feel free to spread the word […]

Few people are prepared for the responsibilities and tasks involved in caring for loved ones who are ill, elderly, or disabled. The success of the relationship between you and your loved one depends on several factors. One of the most important is how well you take care of yourself, empowering yourself to be there for […]

This is the second of a series of two articles that explore the dynamics of procrastination. In my last article, you learned what procrastination is and why people do it. In this article, you will learn how to change your procrastination behaviors and enable yourself to be more productive. In the first article I explained […]

The first in a series of two articles, this one dealing with why we procrastinate. As I sit down to start writing this article, the time is 1 pm on Tuesday afternoon. I have until noon on Wednesday (tomorrow) to get it finished and submitted to the newspaper to meet the deadline. Oh yeah, it’s […]

It’s not uncommon to experience a number of difficult situations everyday…little aches and pains, slights made to you by others, mistakes you make (and get called on), upsetting news, etc.  It’s also not uncommon to become lost in some of these problems, giving them so much power over you that it’s almost as if they […]

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Published: January 16, 2010 (NY Times Article) Want to be happier in 2010? Then try this simple experiment, inspired by recent scholarship in psychology and neurology. Which person would you rather be: Richard is an ambitious 36-year-old white commodities trader in Florida. He’s healthy and drop-dead handsome, lives alone in a […]

The Gwich’in are a group of native Alaskan people who have lived in the northwestern part of North America, mostly above the Arctic Circle, for many centuries.  The word “Gwich’in” means “people of the land.”  Oral tradition indicates that the Gwich’in have occupied this area for as long as 20,000 years. Until the 1980’s, the […]