At a recent session with my psych-girl, she closed with three "suggestions": Lower your expectations Reduce your drinking Censor yourself Is there a better prescription for unhappiness? Or is it one for happiness? Christopher Hitchens once said: It's not true that you shouldn't drink alone; these can be the happiest glasses you ever drain. I … Continue reading The Pursuit Of Happiness
Tag: happiness
Health & Well-Being Inventory
The Health & Well-Being Inventory is an assessment tool to quantify the health and well-being of an individual in comparison to their nation. I break down "health" into six categories: physical, mental, psychological, emotional, social, and economic. An individual, or nation, is scored using a typical five-letter grading system - A to F. An A … Continue reading Health & Well-Being Inventory
Krystal Ball is wrong
Krystal Ball is wrong and Donald Trump is right. Stay with me, I'll make this brief. I watch Krystal daily. For three reasons: She and I share a birthday, and thus some general personality traits. Krystal is an attractive, young, expressive, and smart woman. Ball is fun and entertaining (because she is naive?) Ms Ball … Continue reading Krystal Ball is wrong
Gone but not forgotten
Gone but not forgotten is singer songwriter John Prine. He died Tuesday of the virus. He was seventy-three and in poor health. I was introduced to John Prine's music in the early 70's by my neighbor, friend, and drinking buddy, Mike. Mike was a Vietnam vet and a postal worker - as was Prine, a … Continue reading Gone but not forgotten
Relief day
Relief day, Wednesday 25 March, 2020. Even the Magpies know it! It's been exactly two weeks (Wednesday, 11 March, 2020) since doomsday. That was the day "When The World Stops", according to Time magazine's "Special Report: COVID-19" (vol.195.no 11.2020). Errg. My mood has never been this high (8.5 on my mood scale), since I can't remember … Continue reading Relief day
The Magpie Cafe
The Magpie Cafe is a dream. Ever since I began working in the restaurant industry some fifty years ago - I've imagined having a cafe that integrated where I lived with that which I love. Mostly, of all things - I love people and conversation, good food and spirits, music, wood and wild country. So … Continue reading The Magpie Cafe
2020 Democratic Candidate Quiz
The Washington Post has devised a quiz to see who you most agree with regarding policy positions amongst the Democratic candidates. I took it, and so did my friend Max. (Max is a fictional composite of real people I know who first appears in Election 2016: The Great Divide, The Great Debate.) Max and I debated … Continue reading 2020 Democratic Candidate Quiz
My Year-end Inventory
My Year-end Inventory is something I've been doing ever since I began journaling daily twenty years ago, in 1999. My journal began with a Christmas present from my father: Morning Pages Journal. I'll tell ya - neither he nor I had any idea the wildfire that simple gift would ignite. Twenty years ago today A … Continue reading My Year-end Inventory
Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho
Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho. Or maybe that ought to be - merry impeachment. Ho, ho, ho ... Pictured below is my first Christmas tree in my first home as a young man. I was barely twenty-seven and on my second marriage. We lived in a small cabin, in Conifer, Colorado, on a quarter acre … Continue reading Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho
Christmas comforts me
"It's coming on Christmas, They're cuttin' down trees, They're putting up reindeer, And singing songs of joy and peace", are lyrics from 1971, Joni Mitchell's famous song "River". It's the third track on the second side of her even more famous album Blue. The picture above shows my record, an original and constant companion, as well … Continue reading Christmas comforts me