Education and Purpose

Check out this video of Sir Ken Robinson talking about education, creativity, and purpose driven lives. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.h...

Talent as an Incubator of Strengths

            Recently, on a long car trip, my wife and I were discussing the role of talents in relation to strengths. Stefanie was wondering how one might be able to use talents as a way to further develop our characteristic strengths. In our conversation she hit on an important concept that I call the Incubator Effect. This idea explains how we can use our areas of talent as a launching pad for our strengths. Think of your areas of talent as Petri dishes where you can...

A Recap on Happiness

I would feel remiss if I did not reiterate what happiness is. While I have discussed the outline for happiness and what it is not, I think that more clarification is needed. Previously I have described happiness as the pursuit of meaning accompanied by virtuous pleasure. As I have demonstrated, popular belief is that happiness is the exact opposite. Hollywood and the media often argue implicitly and explicitly that happiness is nothing more than the pursuit of hedonistic pleasure in its plethora of variations. Thus the...

Developing Talents?

Though it may be wise to spend the bulk of our time growing our strengths, I still believe that we can and should develop our talents to the best of our abilities. We should see our talents as gifts to be used in as many areas of our lives as possible. Though I agree with much of the advice given surrounding focusing on our strengths, I do not believe that we should enhance our strengths at the expense of ignoring our talents. Our talents can lead us to new and fulfilling paths in our lives. The problem with talent is that...

What about Talent?

As a High School Senior I was voted “the most talented.” This of course was not so much of a nod to my many accomplishments, but rather an acknowledgment that I had become very adept at being mediocre in many areas. Though I was never stellar in many of my High School pursuits some people are. They have great talents in areas like sports, music, or in a particular academic field. I have a cousin, for example, who is very talented in playing the guitar. His fingers move across the strings in a magnificent way. While watching...

The Passion, Strength, Market Demand System

            Recently a friend of mine who has been trying to carve out his calling in life asked me “I know what I love to do, I have taken the strengths test, but I don’t understand how to put it together. How do you put this stuff into practice?” In reality, this is the hardest part of the whole process.             So far we...

Life Planning Part 2

“Look, if you can indulge in your passion, life will be far more interesting than if you're just working. You'll work harder at it, and you'll know more about it. But first you must go out and educate yourself on whatever it is that you've decided to do - know more about kitesurfing than anyone else. That's where the work comes in. But if you're doing things you're passionate about, that will come naturally.”- Richard Branson            Gary Buslik was a successful businessman....

Life Planning and Our Calling

In the Japanese culture everyone is expected to have a life purpose, something that drives ones life towards happiness and fulfillment. In Japanese the word that embodies the idea of “life calling” is “ikigai” (ee-ki-guy). “Ikigai” is the thing that wakes you up in the morning, that which gives your life meaning; it is “your reason for being”. The Japanese believe that everyone has an “ikigai” and that it is important to find ones life meaning through careful reflection.I believe that one of the most important steps toward...

Our Calling

            In the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (1993) the young protagonist, Santiago is in search of his life’s calling. In the book the term “personal legend” is used, but it denotes the same meaning as “calling.” While on his journey in search of his calling, Santiago meets King Melchizedek who explains what a personal legend is in these words:It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish.  Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that point...

Meaning and Gratification

Pleasure is part of happiness and learning how to increase our pleasurable experiences can aid in living a good life. Still, pleasure should be viewed as the pepper of life. It is the stuff that enhances an already meaningful existence. By experience most of us already know this: sex without love becomes empty, wonderful food without company is mediocre, and material wealth without the ability to share it or use it for good leads to hollowness. Interestingly, though we all can think of examples of people who have lead miserable...

What is Happiness?

Pleasure The media with all its daily noise tell us that happiness is one thing, when in our innermost hearts we know it is something quite different. Even though at some level we know that there is a better way to happiness we all often fall into the pitfalls of the latest fad, product, or chase.           Maybe you have experienced the let down from chasing something that you thought would make you happy? We all have. The question is not why we experience these...

What does Happiness Applied Mean?

I once heard a story about an American who was spending some time in Czechoslovakia. After a few days of acclimating himself, he felt like going out on a walk to explore the little village where he was staying. Strolling down the street he saw an old woman hanging clothes out to dry. Being in a cheery mood, the man exclaimed in his best Czech, “Good morning! How are you today?” To his surprise, and at length, the women began to answer his very question. Unable to understand Czech the man watched as the women moved her arms up...