Happiness in this World » Personal Development

When You Don’t Like Yourself

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:00:21 +0000

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 [...]

The Importance Of Tone

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 22:00:58 +0000

Photo: tawalker

Several weeks ago, I was editing together some video footage for a home movie and was surprised to discover how irritated, negative, and just plain mean I sounded when talking to my wife. I remember most of the interactions that were filmed but not any of the feelings I was quite clearly [...]

Discipline

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 22:00:18 +0000

Photo: Robert S. Donovan

I once made a determination to call a friend on the phone every day for one year. He was new to the practice of Nichiren Buddhism and struggling with a misery of an intensity I’d rarely seen. Anxiety and depression were overwhelming him and ruining the quality of his everyday [...]

The Difference Between Easy And Difficult

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 16 May 2010 22:00:15 +0000

After meeting with an attending physician in a Physical Diagnosis class when I was a second-year medical student, I remember thinking how impossible it seemed that my brain would ever contain as much medical knowledge as his. And even if somehow one day it did, how would I ever be able to call on it, [...]

Listening To Your Inner Voice

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 09 May 2010 02:31:50 +0000

A patient who held an upper-level management position in his company once told me the following story: he was interviewing a candidate for a mid-level management position and thought, on the surface, the candidate was a star: enthusiastic, mature, intelligent, articulate, prepared, experienced, and visionary. After consulting with his other upper-level management peers who also [...]