Several years ago, my wife and I had to put down one of our cats.  Minnie was really my wife’s cat, having journeyed with her from Vancouver to Chicago almost a decade earlier.  At some point during that time Minnie had developed a urinary tract infection that had damaged [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/09/05/when-a-beloved-pet-dies/feed/ 15 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/08/22/pronouncing-someone-dead/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/08/22/pronouncing-someone-dead/#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:00:06 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=5470 Photo: Tim Green

When I was an intern in internal medicine, I admitted a patient to my service with pancreatic cancer.  Pancreatic cancer is a bad one; back then, only ten percent of patients with it would be alive within five years after being diagnosed.  My patient was a farmer in the full bloom [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/08/22/pronouncing-someone-dead/feed/ 20 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/08/15/when-you-dont-like-yourself/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/08/15/when-you-dont-like-yourself/#comments Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:00:21 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=5550 Photo: erix!

Some people have the misfortune to have been born to abusive parents who belittled them and prevented them from developing a healthy self-esteem.  Others are born predisposed to view themselves in a negative light because of their physical appearance, a disability, or for no reason anyone, including themselves, knows.  Research has consistently [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/08/15/when-you-dont-like-yourself/feed/ 22 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/06/13/the-diffusion-of-responsibility/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/06/13/the-diffusion-of-responsibility/#comments Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:00:32 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=5238 Photo: simminch

Once while I was jogging along Lake Michigan, I came upon a large crowd surrounding a middle-aged man lying supine on the ground.  I stopped to assess the scene and saw the man wasn’t moving—at all.  Two people were bending over him and trying to shake him awake.

“What happened?” I asked.

“He fell,” [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/06/13/the-diffusion-of-responsibility/feed/ 26 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/06/06/the-effects-of-technology-on-relationships/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/06/06/the-effects-of-technology-on-relationships/#comments Sun, 06 Jun 2010 22:15:37 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=5190 Photo: Steve Keys

Email, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Delicious, Digg, LinkedIn, blogs (of course), and scores of others—all part of the new and wonderful ways we can now connect with one another electronically, each with its own culture and unique set of rules.  In one sense, the planet has never been more interconnected.  And [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/06/06/the-effects-of-technology-on-relationships/feed/ 12