Browse published articles attributed to Shaya Kass, with full-archive search.
I just read an astonishing article. It gives us one of the keys to happiness. And we all want our kids to be happy! What makes people happy? What leads people to say they are satisfied with their lives? Is it money? - NO! It's time. Having time leads to happiness.
Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. Abraham Lincoln I heard a very interesting interview with Dr. Bruce Lipton, a cellular biologist. He gave a very simple yet powerful explanation of why happiness is important.r
You pick up 5 year old Jimmy from soccer practice, 8 year old Alice gets dropped off from ballet lessons and 11 year old Zach comes in from Little League. It is 5:30 and you have to start dinner. While you are working on dinner you have to help Zach with a report on Italy and you have to help Alice with math homework. Finally at 6:15 you are ready to sit down to dinner. But are you ready to enjoy dinnertime with your family? Or are you hoping to just get through it? Just hoping to survive?
When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.” Unknown Last year, when my sister-in-law came to visit from Los Angeles, my little one missed a few days of fifth grade. While missing a few days of fifth grade is hardly the end of the world, he did have a feeling of being overwhelmed when he was trying to make up the work that he had missed. So what is the best way to help your child when they are feeling overwhelmed?r
I have good friends who have three kids that are very close in age. The other night I was over at their house and the parents, let’s call them Randi and Mason, were telling my wife and I that they feel like there is a mob mentality in the house. They felt that the kids gang up on them to get their way. I was a little taken aback.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. -Ambrose Redmoon Courage is certainly a character trait that we want in ourselves and in our children. But what makes someone courageous? How can we foster courage? And, perhaps most important, Can we even agree on an answer to “What is courage?”r
I just heard some fascinating research about positive psychology and cities. We all know the stereotypes. We all think that New Yorkers are brusk, perhaps even obnoxious. We think of Los Angelenos as friendlier if not a little shallow. And we think of Atlantans as very warm and welcoming southerners. The first question we should ask is whether these stereotypes are true. The second question we should ask is, “If it is true, how does it affect us and our kids?”
Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live. Jim Rohn
In part one of this article, I wrote about the reading environment you should create to help your child become a better reader. But what about how you should actually be reading? First, some good news, DON’T WORRY, you cannot do it wrong. As long as you read to your child, it’s good. You cannot mess this up.
Most of us know that our children will need to know how to read when they grow older. Reading will lead to some of life’s greatest pleasures. Do you remember reading the beautiful love letter your spouse sent you? Do you remember reading your favorite novel? You certainly realize that you can gain new knowledge and be inspired by reading, your doing it now.
The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as In am, then I can change." --Carl Rogers I just finished reading Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. I had read about the book many times and finally got around to reading it. Victor Frankl was a psychotherapist living ...
I am now reading a new book written by Mark Victor Hansen (of Chicken Soup For The Soul fame) and Robert G Allen (of Nothing Down Real Estate fame) called Cash in a Flash. Their book has about 15 chapters, and the first 8 have almost nothing to do with making money. The first half of the book is about changing your mindset and how you think. They believe, and I completely concur, that most of being wealthy is between your ears, not in your bank account and wallet.
Winning is overrated. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war. ~Al McGuirer We all want our kids to be successful. And we are willing to do just about anything to make that happen. Here is a way to help your child succeed that is a lot of fun. Simply put, get them involved in sports. It is amazing how many researchers have studied the effect of sports on academic achievement and how almost each and every study found the same thing – kids who are involved in sports are more successful.
In part one of this article, I spoke about why we should change our parenting mindset. How it will help us to control our reactions to situations. But how can we change our parenting mindset?
Last weekend, families in the United States celebrated Mother's Day. I actually just learned that some 70 countries celebrate Mother's Day on the second weekend of May. Of course, in those families that forgot to get a present, the refrain is, “Every day is Mother's Day!” And every mother would like to believe that every day is Mother's Day. So how can we do that? What would that look like?r
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~Plato I just read a fascinating article about some research about being kind. I had never really thought of it, but the authors make a good point that kindness is the “other side of the coin” of gratitude. In their words, they said “Whereas gratitude results when people receive kindness from other people, kindness entails enacting kind behavior toward other people.” Having said this, it is no surprise that kindness makes people happy since we already know that gratitude makes people happier.r