Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts I’ll admit I have a lot of mixed thoughts about using the New Year as an occasion to make change. On the one hand, I’m deeply interested in, and a big believer in the importance of self-reflection and thoughtful decision making regarding our life choices. To the extent that we engage in this type of work on the occasion of the New Year, I’m a fan. But I also am a keen observer of our...
10 days ago • 3 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts For many people, the holidays are great. Getting together with family and friends, taking time off work, exchanging gifts– the whole thing fills some people with joy– but not all of us. Unfortunately, the expectation is that everyone will be filled with joy. This expectation can be difficult to navigate. The expectations that we carry are often unrealistic, and so when they are not...
17 days ago • 2 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts A couple weeks ago, I wrote about key virtues– what are the most important virtues we carry. I’d like to focus on one virtue today: courage. I understand courage best as acting in spite of our fear. I think this is important, because having courage is not about being fearless. Instead, it is about choosing the right path even though we are afraid. In order to be courageous, we have to...
24 days ago • 3 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts I had a conversation at a family function over Thanksgiving. “I have total freedom,” the person said to me. “I get to wake up in the morning, every day, and do whatever I want. There’s nothing planned.” I contrasted that to my own life. I am not free – I hold myself to meditation and yoga before the day gets started, and then am obligated by patient appointments, meetings, and family....
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts Virtue is a quality or trait that is morally good, desirable, or admirable. It reflects a standard of behavior that aligns with ethical principles, contributing to personal character and the well-being of society. Virtues represent ideals that guide us in our interactions with others and in how we live our lives. It is the ideal to which we morally strive. Religions, philosophies, and...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts Being a victim means experiencing harm, suffering, or loss due to another person’s actions. Being a victim often arises out of an uncontrollable event, though sometimes it can arise from our own decisions. All of us, at some point, suffer setbacks or pain from forces largely out of our control. Recognizing this fact is essential, both for personal understanding and for society as a...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts Where we put our attention—what thoughts we allow to occupy our mind—is perhaps the most important decision we make on a daily basis. Our thoughts drive our feelings and actions, so what we spend time thinking about impacts our day-to-day well-being. For example, when we center our thoughts on money and finance, we tend to view the world in financial terms. We see our work more...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts TLDR: Big external shocks, while impactful at first, generally don’t permanently alter our happiness– we tend to adapt and return to baseline. Long-term happiness is more influenced by strong relationships, meaningful activities, gratitude, exercise, and mindfulness. When we encounter significant shifts and disruptions to our daily life– good or bad– they often trigger a profound...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts Last week, I wrote about how the things that are most meaningful to us are generally hard and difficult. The idea was not that hard things are inherently better, but instead that the most meaningful things tend to be hard. Our general preference is for the easier, less energy intensive path, which means that we tend to gravitate to easy things that do not bring us much happiness. This...
2 months ago • 3 min read