Whether your idea of excitement is jumping off an airplane, cooking up exotic dishes, playing music in a band, or merely staying at home reading a gripping book, you should do whatever lights up your soul. Life is too short to set our passions aside for a rainy day. Do them today. Do them now! Focusing on those things we love to do not only makes us happier, it keeps us from dwelling on the negative. Believe it or not, directing one's attention to something positive (e.g., a funny meme or an inspiring video) over the course of the day can make the difference between a decent day and an abysmal one. Distractions can be our friends. Those who insist they don't have the time to cultivate their passions are just making excuses for themselves. We can all squeeze in a little time for hobbies, even if only a few minutes each week. We all have our problems and worries, and, as much as we'd like to, we can't just sweep them under the rug. Still, we can't allow th...

Whether you desire a career in journalism, a trip to China, or a relationship with a wonderful man, your dreams are never out of reach. As long as you work hard and never cease believing in yourself, you can achieve anything you aspire to. Rest assured, on the road to success, you will experience setbacks along the way that'll test your mettle. The key is never allowing such challenges to faze you. When you want something badly enough, nothing or no one can get in your way. Unfortunately, our own negative thinking is often the single biggest obstacle we're up against. For example, you might feel tempted to throw in the towel because: You're hard up on cash. You've applied for several promising jobs and seem to fall short each time. You've had bad luck with a string of recent dates, convincing you that you'll never find true love. Instead of calling it quits, why not use such struggles to drive you to work harder? Maybe you need to get somet...

In life, you can mourn the loss of a friend in two ways: 1. He or she passes away 2. He or she becomes a completely different person over time, diluting and possibly ending your once-fantastic friendship. (The friendship may also end as a result of simmering conflict or following a big argument between you two.) For this post, I'll focus only on #2. As I have noted in prior posts, with people, the only constant in life is change. Changing circumstances -- a new career, marriage, children, relocation -- redirect our energies and either leave us with limited time for friendships or prompt us to forge new ones. People like me, despite whatever life throws at us, make the effort to keep in touch with close friends. I'd like to think that I haven't changed much since high school, except for the obvious (married, full time job, mortgage, etc.). Unfortunately, some people are better than others at balancing the demands of work, family, and a social life. Several people ...

We've all been at a crossroads at certain points in our lives where we've had to make one or more life-altering decisions. Here are just a few examples: Deciding whether to take one job or another  Deciding whether to ask out/date one person or another Deciding whether to have kids Deciding whether to buy a house and choosing among alternatives Deciding whether to get married or divorced Deciding whether to end an old friendship And so on... Many times, the decision is forced upon us because of circumstances beyond our control. For example, if we're laid off, we have no choice but to jump back into the job market and look for work. That, of course, assumes that nothing fortuitous happens in the interim -- like winning the lottery!) Then again, many of us make decisions that we later realize were poorly planned out -- if at all. I have friends who wound up having kids at a younger age than they'd anticipated. This in turn has put a serious financial str...