happiness Archive

  • Savoring (or failing to savor) the Present

    Posted on August 15, 2012 | 19 Comments
    On one of the nights in the last two weeks when the Olympics were on, I got up from my home office chair, left the computer, and went into the TV room where all three of our kids were blissfully watching whatever Olympic event was […]

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  • Happiness Project 2011/12

    Posted on November 30, 2011 | 11 Comments
    I’ve read a number of challenge books this year. You know what I mean-a new genre seems to have emerged wherein the author decides to do something for a whole year and then write a book about it. Someone publishes it. And then I buy […]

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  • Favorites: Heroic Aspirations, Gay Marriage, and the Mormon Church

    Posted on October 9, 2011 | 8 Comments
    This is a guest post I wrote nearly a year ago. . . DHO is still running around arguing that the proper practice of our religion requires us to work to prevent marginalized groups from exercising their basic civil rights. . .

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  • Find Your Tribe

    Posted on April 14, 2011 | 4 Comments
    Over a decade ago I read this article in Mothering Magazine about a woman who is far from family and friends and meets up with another woman to share household projects and childcare over the course of a day several times a week, alternating households. […]

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  • Parallel Journeys

    Posted on March 24, 2011 | 20 Comments
    By Claudia On my personal blog, I am known as “The Faithful Dissident.” For the past three years, I’ve been hiding behind that alias. Afraid of what, I’m not exactly sure, but some of my experiences during the past yearhave made me realize that I’m […]

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  • “Do you want to end up living under a bridge?”

    Posted on March 17, 2011 | 10 Comments
    This is, reportedly, what my daughter’s second grade teacher asked her class during a fit of frustration over their less-than-enthusiastic preparation for the looming standardized testing.   Several other parents and I were concerned, but felt trapped in the status quo and didn’t really see […]

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  • C’mon, get happy

    Posted on February 6, 2011 | 7 Comments
    If you asked a Mormon what the purpose of this life is, you would probably get an explanation of the Plan of Salvation. Something along the lines of coming to earth to get a body, to learn and grow, and to be tested in this […]

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  • I Want

    Posted on December 5, 2010 | 5 Comments
    Happiness comes from within. It may be one of the most overused spiritual statements, and most of us would agree with it — despite evidence to the contrary. Seriously, what evidence do we have that happiness comes from within? When I think about the things […]

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  • Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Seven Deadly Sins or the Seven Vices - Avarice

    Penelope’s List

    Posted on December 4, 2010 | 12 Comments
    Is the desire to be happy a human universal? Or is it just another one of those preferences that arise from the murky depths of some personalities? On its face this question seems to have an obvious answer. I mean, who doesn’t want to be […]

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  • Top 10 Principles of Happiness That I was Never taught at Church

    Posted on November 7, 2010 | 30 Comments
    1. Don’t believe everything you think. Putting aside all past conditioning — if that’s even possible – ask yourself, “Who am I?” At the core of your human experience, who or what are you?   As you engage the question, attempt to answer it without […]

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