If you run, fools will tell you running is bad for your knees. One of the downsides of running is that these fools get excited to tell you that. So they do. I think they think they’re helping, telling you something special that you don’t already know. Let’s get to the point. All exercise risks injuring you. All of my greatest injuries came from exercise or sports. Athletes get injured[…] Keep reading →

Most of my posts try to present ways to create more happiness and emotional reward. For once I’ll write the opposite, from which one can learn just as much. In the list below the items seem to clearly hurt relationships and your mood. For some reason when people do these things on their own they act like they’re acting productively, like when they give people unsolicited advice, they genuinely seem[…] Keep reading →

The great satirical online newspaper The Onion illustrated one of my favorite stepping-stones to creating the life you want. I wrote about it in this relevant post, “A model that will bring you happiness.” They didn’t realize they were onto something more effective than they thought, but their description of how deeply changing your environment can change your mood shows a great way to start changing your life — whether[…] Keep reading →

Sometimes readers write with questions, suggestions, and feedback. It helps me improve what I write for them. I value what they write and use it to improve my writing. I don’t yet have an experienced editor. What you’re reading is better for what they shared. Based on that, plus the principle in my post “Sharing what you love fills your life with sharing, love, and stuff you love,” I can’t[…] Keep reading →

I’ll share today an unexpected and curious way to tell how much intimacy you have with someone and an effective way to increase it. By intimacy, I mean any kind of intimacy, which could be in a professional, friendly, romantic, or any other type of relationship. Intimacy increases trust and decreases friction between people so it’s valuable to have. Knowing how much you have tells you how closely you can[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Storytelling seems so common to all cultures it’s probably in our genes to like a good story. We love hearing messages in the format of a[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] I once spoke with a psychologist who specialized in intelligence. She told me that flexibility in how one sees the world is a major part of[…] Keep reading →

Last year we tried teaching our guide, Ms Yu, the phrase “You’re so money and you don’t even know it.” So this year when Jordan was busy doing something else, I decided to teach it to Ms Han, then have her say it to him. I don’t think she quite got the meaning of the phrase, but I think the fun came across. About halfway through the video switches to[…] Keep reading →

If you want to see the most amazing kids, you might be surprised to find some in this country schoolhouse in North Korea. Yes, we only see what the government lets us see, and the government seems to have learned showing off its kids shows off a part of the country the world will love, but this did happen and it’s part of North Korea. Watch this video. You won’t[…] Keep reading →