The Buddha's mandate was to try to end suffering. My goal is much less lofty: to share tools that help people cultivate ease, harmony, peace, love and understanding.
Artists create and critics analyze; few artists analyze well and few critics create good art. That was my reaction to Martin Seligman's new book Flourish: A New Understanding of Happiness and Well Being.
We often confuse genuine happiness with merely seeking enjoyable feelings. Happiness is a state of inner fulfillment, not the gratification of inexhaustible desires for outward things.
What if we did appreciate the simple things all the time, in an authentic way? What kind of an impact would that have on our lives, our work and our relationships?
Johnny was a Vietnam War vet and one of my first patients. There was no question his life as a "normal young American," much less his life as a robust young Marine, was over.