How to Build a Life
A column about pointing yourself toward happiness
A column about pointing yourself toward happiness
Feeling conflicted can be even more distressing than feeling bad. Here’s how to manage it.
In the early days of the pandemic, many of us got used to solitude. It’s a habit we need to break.
Presents are generally terrible, but they can still bring you joy.
Three steps to get over your ex
Why we binge as a way of celebrating.
One of the most straightforward paths to happiness at work is to fight against the scourge of time-consuming, unproductive meetings at every opportunity.
The happiness we seek can require investing earlier than we think—and may help us align our expectations and reality at the end of life.
Approach disagreements with your partner not as a “me,” but as a “we.”
When parents avoid the complexities of independent decision making, they may fail to understand where analysis remains crucial.
Fighting over the facts is unlikely to convince anyone.
Even if you’re not religious
Eradicating this ugly emotion entirely would be impossible, but we can stop fueling it with our behavior.
Tech may not be responsible for all the woes of modern love and human connection—but it may reflect our innate desire to find simple solutions to complex problems.
Many people chase achievement, assuming it will lead to well-being. They should reverse that order of operations.
When addictive behaviors override our desires, it may be a sign to investigate the gap between what we crave and what’s really good for us.
Our instincts often steer us to love things and use people. We need to do the opposite.
But it’s all in how you use it.
The building blocks for realigning expectations and reality in happiness
Thinking of yourself as an observer is better for your happiness than obsessing over being observed.
The Roman philosopher Seneca’s essay “On a Happy Life” is full of lessons that are as pertinent today as they were two millennia ago.