“Mirror, Mirror, on the wall …”

No, this isn’t about Snow White but maybe we can learn something from her. It is interesting when I stop thinking about wellness for the “other guys” and take a look in the mirror at those of us who write these periodic essays. I feel good about what Dr. Wagner has created and what we’re doing to make this website a fulfilling experience for those who visit and read our essays. But just the fact that we are creating interesting and guiding notes from our own lives means we ourselves are practicing wellness and increasing our own wellbeing.

Ever since I met Dr. Wagner back in 1967 I have been impressed with his devotion to education and continuing self-improvement. I can’t recall a time in …

A HAPPINESS CENTENNIAL

The slogan “Bread and Roses” is commonplace in progressive rhetoric.  And for those with a little background in labor history, it’s a reminder of a famous strike whose centennial arrives on January 11.  On that day in 1912, a group of women walked out of a textile mill to march in the streets of Lawrence, Massachusetts.  During the following days and weeks, thousands of workers, most of them immigrant women, joined them in the streets.

Led by the radical Industrial Workers of the World, the strike lasted for two months. The workers faced clubs, bayonets, and frequent arrests.  Many were hauled off to jail, children in tow.  But national sympathy for the impoverished strikers grew. American newspapers were moved to support the workers’ cause.  Finally, in March, the …

Economic Crises: The (Best) Light at the End of the Tunnel

A few days after the unfortunate events of September 11, 2001, and when uncertainty and fear reigned among U.S. Americans; the president of the country advised his fellow citizens “to go shopping” so that the country could keep a sounded financial situation. As a matter of fact the exact words from the president were: “Americans must get back to work, to go shopping, going to the theatre, to help get the country back on a sounder financial footing.” In December 2006, while facing a critical war situation in Iraq and when the first signs of an economic downturn were showing up, the same president came back with the same recommendation: “to go shopping more”. In this occasion his exact words were: …

Seeking Happiness at Middle-Age

I am 48 years old and I am in the unhappiest part of my life. At least that’s what the rapidly-emerging science of happiness says should be the case. Wellbeing, or “happiness” science is pushing its way from the halls of academia into the houses of legislators. The Happiness Initiative is a citizen action project designed to help individuals, organizations and policy makers make this happen.

On July 19th, 2011, the United Nations called on governments to measure happiness, or wellbeing, rather than just Gross Domestic Product (GDP) “with a view to guide public policy.” Daniel Kahneman, Nobel prize winner and sometimes called the “grandfather” of wellbeing science, agrees. He suggests that data about subjective wellbeing is exactly what policy makers today need. It is …

Wellbeing for the Body

I must say that keeping up my body’s well being this year has been a challenge. I have spent most of this year on the road for work and since my new love lives on a different continent I am now also traveling between homes.

Before all the travel, my routine was 4 to 5 Bikram yoga classes per week (1.5 hr each) and since I live in San Francisco, I normally walk to any destination that is within a 45min walk instead of taking the car. That combined with healthy food, meant that both my body and mind were in a great state. It has been proven that being active improves your state of mind as well. It definitely works for me. In addition, …

Trust in the Journey

The last time we met here, I had just returned from an amazing trip to Spain where I learned to surrender to the unknown. I learned to be vulnerable and open. I got back in touch with my inner artist, my inner voice. The inspiration I carried back from that trip was immense.

Before I left for that trip, I was still trying to sort things out in my new direction. I was taking on client work to keep bills paid and mouths fed, but really wanted to focus on building my own products. I took two months off, a big risk as a freelancer, to focus on developing my first idea. This was something I had never done before and when I …

A Supple Mind

My wife and I live in a small cottage in a Buddhist monastery in northern CA. We think there are a couple of field mice in our cottage, although we usually see only one at a time. One night I saw a mouse crawling up the bed towards me, during a dream. As I watched, he crawled right into my right hand, which was lying open. I quickly caught the mouse and jumped up and went to the back door intending to throw him out as far as I could. When I open the backdoor, the chill air made me almost trembling. I thought: “well, we have coexisted with him for some time now, and it would not be right to throw him out in …

Dreams to Reality

Dreams, we all have them, and of course I’m not talking specifically about the sleep time ones, but those wishes, desires, and fantasies that each of us has about how we would like our lives to be. They start when we are very young. What we wish to become when we grow up. What type of person we will partner with. Also, our desires to be parents, Olympians, movie stars, or any number of other things.

Some of these dreams manifest in our lives and some become obsolete and not as attractive as they had been. Yet, I believe that we all continue to have dreams for ourselves. They may remain grand, the “someday I’ll…” type of dreams or they may be the more mundane …

Putting Cancer Into Remission and Getting Back to Feelings of Well-being

We often read or hear that someone we know has been diagnosed with cancer. Based on past research, more than likely they are repressing their feelings and emotions and have low feelings of well-being.

Here’s how it works: When you withhold (or repress) your feelings and emotions it’s a form of lying that demeans you and lowers your self-esteem. As your self-esteem is lowered you begin to see the world around you from a negative perspective (“we see things as we are”) and create stress for yourself based on how you view your life’s issues. As a result of the stress, your body begins to give off hormones that impair your immune system. According to the “Surveillance Mechanism Theory,” which was first identified by Dr. …

The CLT – A Housing Model That Builds Community Well Being

With a professional background of financial counseling and mentoring, previous entries have discussed alternatives to contemporary financial stressors that often drain one’s well being.  One such post mentioned intentional or cooperative housing communities as residential housing trends that share resources and build community while decreasing the stress of undue financial obligations.  With one in four renters paying more than 50% of monthly income for rent and 20% of homeowners paying more than 35% of monthly income for mortgages, community housing options that effectively secure affordable housing are a welcome relief from the unsustainable housing options financed in the first half of the double-ought decade.

Another such housing effort is the growing community land trust movement. The community land trust (CLT) is an equitable, sustainable model …