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Browse published articles attributed to Jonathan Huie, with full-archive search.
We all want to be happy, but something always gets in the way. There is never enough time... or money. Somebody is always failing to do what they are "supposed" to do... or not do. Our boss, our spouse, our kids, our parents, our friends, government, big business, whoever... "They" aren't doing ...
Your relationship has gotten so bad that you are talking about divorce - when you are talking at all. Should you consider a trial separation? Why and why not. A trial separation is a huge step to take - an acknowledgement that your marriage is on the brink of collapse - a public statement of ...
Loneliness is a state of mind rather than a measure of how many people you interact with. You can be overwhelmed with a feeling of loneliness in a bustling restaurant or a cheering football stadium, in a business meeting or a family gathering, even while having sex. You can feel contented, complete, and at peace with the world deep in a forest far from the nearest human. So what causes feelings of loneliness and how can you overcome them? Loneliness is really a form of neediness, the feeling of needing some expression of companionship and support that you don't feel you are getting.
You can't live a joyful life until you learn to let go of your past. Whether you have gone through a break-up, lost a loved one to death, had a feud with friend or family, or have lost a job, you must learn to move on and let go. Life can be rewarding and joyful again. Avoid making your situation even worse... 1. Don't spend a lot of time or energy mou ing what has happened. Let a broken romance or friendship go. Learn from losing a job. Even when you have lost someone to death, take enough time to mourn, and then move on with your own life.
Are you conce ed that you may not sleep well tonight? Getting a good night sleep is important to your health, but falling asleep easily and sleeping well are complex and can be interrupted by a wide range of factors. Insomnia can be a symptom or a result of a serious medical condition. For example, sleep apnea, a sleep disorder characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep, is a serious condition. If your insomnia is associated with other symptoms or is severe, please see a doctor.
Perhaps you are recently divorced or separated. Perhaps it has been a long time since you have been in a meaningful relationship. Or perhaps you are stuck in a relationship that doesn't provide you with the emotional intimacy you need. In any case, you are feeling lonely - very much alone, unloved, and unsupported. What can you do? Here are seven steps you can take to better understand and cope with your feelings of loneliness.
Don't wait to make a big change in the quality of your life. Eight of these ten little ways to happiness can be done in less than five minutes. 1. Smile. Raise the corners of your mouth. Soon your smile will become genuine. The smile that begins as an effort and a pretense quickly grows to become genuine, and given time, a habit of happiness. In the words of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." 2. Breathe deeply and slowly. Focus your entire attention on each in-breath and out-breath.
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.rn - Albert Einstein Perhaps you have heard of zero-based budgeting as a technique for governments, businesses, and occasionally individuals. Zero-based budgeting is in contrast to traditional incremental budgeting.
Your relationship broke up and you are heart broken. What should you do now to heal the hurt and move on with your life? First, examine what Not to do. These are things that will make your situation worse.
Stay Happy, never let anyone get your goat Whether phrased as "push your buttons," "get your goat," "get you riled up," or "annoy you," it's no fun to be on the receiving end. How to cope? 1. Don't take it personally. Even when someone criticizes your actions or demeans your very nature, ...
If you are clear that you are miserable in your relationship, don't procrastinate on getting a divorce "for the sake of the children." While some experts would argue that having one parent move out of the home increases the stress on young children, consider the likelihood that the benefit of ...
The questions keep coming... "How can I forget all the wrong things that have been done to me throughout my life. How can the thoughts that are in my brain be erased so that they do not keep popping up over and over again. It is not easy to forgive what my brain cannot erase. Who knows the secret? Please tell me!!!" Complete forgiveness of everyone, including yourself, for all actions and inactions is the key to happiness, but... How to do it?
One of the most common causes of arguments between couples is disagreements over money, mostly about how it should be spent, or not spent. Arguments over money generally fall into two general areas, differences in fundamental attitudes, and bickering over day to day details. Sometimes the ...
Happy people tend to be found in the company of other happy people, while unhappy people are likely to spend time with unhappy people. You are probably saying, "Yes, that's right." You may have thought about this relationship before, or you may just now be scanning through a mental list of ...
“Unconce ed” doesn’t sound so great at first. “Living the Unconce ed Life” may seem that we are advocating living unconsciously - without attention, thought, or compassion. Shouldn’t we want to be “conce ed” about the affairs of our lives and ...
It's that time of year again. Perhaps the annual holiday party your boss throws is the highlight of your year, but for many of us the annual office holiday party is an event of discomfort, an awkward time we wish we could avoid but believe we must survive and make the best of. Whether the event is held in a lavish hotel ballroom, which is less likely in these economic times, at the office itself, or at the home of the boss or someone else, most of the challenges and opportunities remain the same. Here are a few suggestions for surviving the annual office holiday party... 1.
To reduce the effects of stress in the workplace, take an emotional and spiritual, as well as a physical break, at least every two hours, preferably every hour. Here are five de-stressors you can do in thirty seconds each... 1. Stretch your hands, arms, and shoulders. In addition to unwinding the kinks, this exercise provides a good warm-up for any of the other emotional exercises. Stand and hold your arms out to your sides so your body and arms form a cross. Gently bend each hand back at the wrist until the fingers point straight upward.
Does it feel as if the whole world is conspiring against you? Does it seem that everything that could go wrong is going wrong right now - and is directed against you personally? You got fired. Your credit card is overdue and is in collection. The bank is foreclosing on your mortgage. Your spouse or love is leaving you. And that phone call was from the hospital informing you that a close relative just had a stroke. Is that a pretty good summary of your life recently?
If you have been divorced, you know it hurts - especially if your marriage had lasted many years. Whatever the circumstances of your relationship, and whatever the nature of its ending, there is always grief and regret - perhaps regret over the ending or perhaps regret over not ending the ...
Of course you want to be happy, but life is hard. Your job's a pain, your family nags, and sometimes your body hurts, so how can a Joyful Life be a choice? It isn't an easy choice, but Joy IS a choice that you can make. Some choices are easy, because clearly defined alte atives are available. ...
First, let's define both "Cynic" and "Believer," as both words are more likely to provoke emotional reaction than thoughtful analysis. When I use the term Cynic, I simply mean someone who holds the opinion that people are motivated wholly by self-interest. Do not confuse the factual definition ...
If you have lived in the same home for years, you probably have a lot of stuff stored away. However neatly packed, anything you haven't put to good use for more than a year is probably a burden rather than a blessing. In a similar way, you likely have old stuff tucked away in the corners of ...
This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.n - William Shakespeare If Bill were around today, I think he would appreciate hearing the flight attendant say, "Put on your own oxygen mask first." Before any of us ...
Mae West - known for her wit and double entendre - said "too much of a good thing can be wonderful," but for the rest of us, "too much of a good thing" tends to be a confusing situation. It’s Autumn and the ground beneath our apple tree sports an abundance of fallen apples. The deer, ...
Why do some couples stay happy together for a lifetime, while others are in conflict almost from the beginning? Part of the answer is compatibility - making the initial choice of a partner with whom you share common values. Equally much, however, depends upon the choices each partner chooses ...
Sometimes it appears that life throws more obstacles in our path than we can handle. However, even in the face of the most challenging circumstances, you can make the choice to be happy by following these 9 paths to happiness. 1. Honor Yourself: Remember what the flight attendant says, "Put ...
Most unhappiness comes from resisting life. Occasionally, we have such a strong commitment to changing the world order that it is worth struggling against the flow of life. Perhaps you have a cause such as universal veganism - your life is committed to preventing even one more animal from ...
Falling in love with love has been the subject of parody from the time of ancient Greece, to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, to the present. The 1938 Rodgers and Hart show tune describes falling in love with love as "falling for make-believe" and "playing the fool." Do real life people actually ...
"Alcoholic" is one of those words that raises high emotions. We tend to think of an alcoholic as someone who is violent, dangerous, and self destructive. We may also visualize an alcoholic as being selfish and not caring about anyone but themself. Sometimes those stereotypes are appropriate, ...
Could there be a silver lining to the crisis of losing your job? Actually there are several. Understand that being downsized, cut back, or just plain fired isn't likely to make you feel good. It creates fear - How will I pay the bills? How long will it take to find another job that pays as ...
As I write this, the house is quiet. My wife and her good friend are attending a funeral. Their long-time mutual friend and fellow artist, who I never met, died suddenly at 62, leaving a husband in chronic ill health. I first became aware that death - for anyone - is never far away when a ...
Being angry is as close as a human being can come to experiencing hell on earth. - jlh Anger is something that each one of us has experienced - some of us only occasionally, some almost daily. Can we eliminate all anger? Probably not. We will always have expectations, and those expectations ...
You probably can't hit a baseball as well as Albert Pujols. Why? Certainly major league players were born with some level of physical advantage over the rest of us, but most of their skill comes from training - relentless training, year after year. Imagine a baseball coming toward you at a ...
The human spirit ranges across a truly amazing diversity of experiences and emotions - the highest peaks and the lowest valleys. Even cathedrals need toilets. - jlh One minute we merge in awe with the compassionate creative universal force,and the next minute the cramping in our intestines ...
Stress is to your emotional health as junk food is to your physical health. You need a certain amount of food to sustain your life, but overeating and eating the wrong foods are unhealthy and sometimes dangerous. As you need food to live, you also need a certain amount of emotional stimulation, ...
Behind all the issues that separate an ordinary relationship from a great one, is one common factor. Behind all the truly helpful advice on improving your life together, there lies one key to a great relationship. Many different kinds of problems can cause a relationship to fall apart. ...
When I was very young, my mother gave me gold stars whenever I did something she liked. Usually they were small gold foil shapes with sticky backs, but Mother also saved some really big ones - three inches across - for extra-special accomplishments. Together with Mother's love, those stars ...
By nature, we are all creatures of habit. We instinctively adopt familiar routines for most activities. We eat about the same number of meals each day - at more or less the same times. We have a regular pattern of sleeping - unless it is perturbed by illness or shift work. Most everything we ...
What if you lost your job, your house burned down, the creditors were closing in, and your marriage had become hellishly confrontational? No, that's not make believe. That's the real life of a real person. How can you maintain a positive outlook under such stress and strain? Six ways to find ...
n Being angry is as close as a human being can come to experiencing hell on earth. - jlh Anger is something that each one of us has experienced - some of us only occasionally, some almost daily. Can we eliminate all anger? Probably not. We will always have expectations, ...
You have the occasional argument. Sometimes you feel frustrated, and you have that uneasy sense that everything is not as it should be. Is your relationship in trouble? The answer may not be obvious. Take this quiz to measure the overall state of your relationship and highlight the trouble ...
From the way most people live, one would never guess that humans are beings of free will. Repetition can be a choice, but often it isn't. The athlete or pianist who practices the same routine day after day, year after year, has their eye on a goal. The unending repetition is a conscious ...
You really want to end your relationship, but you don't have the courage to say so directly. What to do? Here is a tongue-in-cheek list of ways to force your partner to make the break first. 1. Use the "Spousal We": "We need to remember to take out the garbage." ...
You are in love. Your hormones are surging, so you know this must be "the one." Besides, you are lonely and you want someone to hold you and make you feel cherished - now. "Mister Right" is saying all the things you want to hear. He says he adores you ...
The businessman looked around the vacation villa in Puerto Vallarta. Plain, but clean and well furnished. A good place to grab a few days away from his failing business and troubled marriage. He had brought a large supply of sleeping pills and had requested several bottles of ...
What images come to mind when you visualize Honor? Medieval knights jousting for the hand of a fair maiden? Sir Walter Raleigh laying his magnificent cape in the muddy street so his lady's feet don't get soiled? Soldiers riding off to war to defend the "honor" of their country? A working definition of Honor is, "respect or esteem that has been earned." Contemplate that for a moment. It would be very special to earn the respect and esteem of our family, our friends, our co-workers, our community, wouldn't it? If anything, it is of even more moment to honor yourself.
If you have never experienced the practice of daily jou aling, give it a try. I highly recommend it. When I say "jou aling," I am not referring to a diary in which to record the events of your life, I am talking about a place to record your feelings - a friend with whom to share your ...
Do you feel conce ed over what other people think about you? Do you find yourself worried about what others say about you? While it is normal for everyone to seek the approval of others, self-confident people with a high self-esteem are able to ignore the negative opinions of others and to remain confident of their own self-worth. To become less conce ed with what people might be thinking, and less upset by negative things others may say... 1. Never guess what others might be thinking.