Author Archive

Mottos that Inspire Greatness: The Power of Personal Mottos, Part III

Countries have constitutions. Companies have corporate mission statements. Clubs and other organizations have vision statements, taglines or mottos. So why not us? I recently asked some blogging friends to share their mottos here at M2bH. The result is 15 mottos that inspire and motivate.

4 Mottos You Can Look at, but Can’t Keep: The Power of Personal Mottos, Part II

Our mottos become guide posts and verbal beacons along the road we travel. They are the street names on the map of life. They are the rhetorical equivalence of a compass to help us get our bearings and stay on course. They also reflect the heart of our hearts. They are terse statements of deep value, of what we aspire to be. They also help teach the fundamental ideas we want to pass on to others, especially our children.

What’s the Motto with You? The Power of Personal Mottos, Part I

Millions upon millions of corporations, nations, cities and states, government agencies, non-profit organizations, clubs and events have created and adopted mottos as expressions of what they want to be and how they want to be seen, what they strive for and as a reflection of their core beliefs and values and as a way to infuse into the organization those values they want absorbed into the organizational climate. Why not individual and family mottos as well?

Sometimes Broken is the Best Fix

Have you ever revisited your priorities because of some unexpected external shove? That recently happened to me. It all started when my router coughed its last breath and went off to router heaven. I was stranded, alone, disconnected, afloat in the sea of internet loneliness. Until, well, you’ll just have to click on in to read the rest …

What’s on the Dashboard of your Life?

If you’re a blogger, you know a dashboard is more than the place you instinctively glance to check your speed when you pass a police car. A blog’s dashboard is where much of the behind-the-scenes work of a site happens, allowing us to individualize the appearance and functionality of our blogs. But these same characteristics can also be found in our own lives as well. What’s on the dashboard of your life?

Ideas that Matter: Part II

Great and noble ideas have led to great and noble lives doing great and noble things. They have led to the creation of nations built upon the conviction that freedom is the heart and soul of good government. They have led to the exploration and discovery of the inner workings of the human mind. They have gone far to uncover the mysteries of life. Ideas truly matter. They also matter on a personal, human developmental level.

Ideas that Matter: Part I

Ideas matter. They have consequences. They lead to great civilizations doing great things or to human depravity on monumental scales. They also change us on a personal level as we discover what they are and apply them to how we live, how we think, what we do, what and how we believe. The following ideas are some of those that can change your life. Forever.

How to Keep Love Alive: 12 Principles for Nurturing Love in Your Marriage

I’ve been married for over two decades now. And while I don’t have all the answers or do the “love and marriage thing” perfectly, I’ve learned a thing or two over the course of that time. By applying these timeless principles to our most cherished relationship, we can deepen the love and happiness we feel in our families. We can have happy marriages as we learn and apply these lessons. Come on in to see!

Four Reasons Happiness Ain’t for No Sissies

Happiness can be a difficult thing to attain. It requires living your life according to principles that create it. It requires uncovering the internal obstacles and overcoming them. It requires developing certain traits that are conducive to it. And it requires establishing some habits and attitudes of thought and perspective that can take some sustained effort over time to acquire. Bottom line, happiness is no wimpy trait. Come see what I mean!

Happiness is not for Sissies

A Letter to You from Me

Today’s post is very different from my usual writing. This is a letter written directly to you, my reader. I want you to know how I feel about you, that I’m proud of you, believe in you, appreciate you and believe you can become just about anything you decide to become. You are important and beautiful. You were meant to be happy and amazing, after all. Thank you all for the honor and trust and interest you’ve given to the principles and ideas I share here at Meant to be Happy.

How to Live Daily, Filling Each Moment with Meaning and Purpose

While a new year is a nice benchmark of sorts, its really only one day after the day before. It holds no magic. Perhaps better than endless New Years Resolutions that seem so often to start and stop and start and flounder and start and end, would be to daily resolve to live that one 24-hour chunk of time to its fullest. Maybe by carving out an amazing day, all those amazingly meaningful days would add up to an amazingly beautiful life.

45 Ways to Be a Better Person

In the spirit of the New Year and as a reflection of the human desire to rise to the moral occasion, here is a list of 45 suggestions to become a little more devoted to timeless principles in our ongoing effort at becoming a better person in 2012.

Life 101: Life Lessons from a Decade of Teaching Teens

I’ve been a high school teacher for about a decade now. I’ve been touched by the number of students who have shared their personal histories, both successes and heart aches, some of them gut-wrenching. But I’ve learned some valuable lessons about life along the way. Here, I present four of them.

Life can Hurt. But YOU Don’t Have to Indefinitely.

Life has a way of hitting us upside the head at unexpected moments. Sometimes we stumble. Other times we fall and struggle to get back up again. Some people never do. Battered by circumstance, they become bitter and angry or depressed and despondent. An indescribable ache fills their hearts. A cloudy haze drapes their minds in indifference to anything but their own pain. Even their souls seem to become worn, ragged, ripped and broken. Others, however, seem to bounce back relatively quickly. There are reasons for that difference.

Overcome Despair

6 Obsessions that Will Make you a Better Person

Obsession is a lot like holding a flame in your hand. It is powerful and can produce the heat of passion and power and drive. But it can also consume and destroy. The trick is to keep the flame burning without succumbing to the temptation to aim the heat too exclusively at a single target. But to be obsessed with life is to be obsessed with making use of every moment, of appreciating the ebb and flow of living. I recommend 6 obsessions here that can improve your life and make 2012 an amazing year.

The Sexiness of Happiness

Have you ever seen someone you couldn’t keep your eyes off? And then, after getting to know them a bit, you wonder why you ever found them sexy in the first place? Have you had the opposite experience where you didn’t find someone sexy UNTIL you got to know them? There is a sexiness more profound than shape and form. It’s a sexiness or person, of personality and character. In a word, it is the sexiness of happiness.

Simple Answers to Life’s Hardest Questions

Do you struggle to make sense of life? Does happiness seem fleeting and distant? Is emotional pain eating you from the inside? Read my interview with Lori Deschene of Tiny Buddha and see why her site has such a huge following! Also, participate in a free hardcover giveaway of Lori’s new book, “Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions! Two books will be given out. Come see what all the buzz is about!

25 Tips for Making Christmas More Meaningful

Has Christmas and the holidays lost some of the depth and meaning you remember it having in the past? Make Christmas once again feel like it did when you were young. Add meaning and purpose to your Christmas celebrations as you try one or two of the best tips provided here. And then share what you do to add significance to a significant holiday.

Random Acts of Wisdom II: Living by Principles

Second in an ongoing feature here, excerpts from comments left by readers are used to introduce topics. My readers comments are about as eloquent and insightful and pithy as the most famously quoted. Come see what I mean and discover the passion to live higher and bolder, taking action in your life to build something out of the clay of your life that will be richly rewarding, deeply happy and profound.

5 (more) Beliefs that will Change your Life

Every choice, and thought and action, our habits, ideas, interpretations, assumptions and attitudes all combine to create an unmistakable trajectory for our lives. They point us down a particular path. Our beliefs create the context within which we think and interpret and assume and act. To change our lives, we must change our beliefs: what we believe is possible, what we believe is important, what we believe about ourselves and about life.

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