Being creative is hard.  Thinking up ways to connect disparate elements into a whole that not only hasn’t been seen before but also delights us with surprise, meaning, or beauty requires a great deal of energy—”executive function,” as psychologists put it.  Not to mention the time it takes to create [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2012/01/29/the-problem-with-living-a-creative-life/feed/ 18 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2012/01/15/why-raising-children-is-so-hard/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2012/01/15/why-raising-children-is-so-hard/#comments Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:00:35 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=7031 Photo: limaoscarjuliet

You don’t really know what an experience is like, of course, until you have it yourself.  I remember thinking to myself when my wife and I first began discussing the idea of having children that this was especially true regarding parenthood.  In the past I’d been able to predict with reasonable [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2012/01/15/why-raising-children-is-so-hard/feed/ 16 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2011/12/25/belief-contamination/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2011/12/25/belief-contamination/#comments Sun, 25 Dec 2011 23:00:15 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=7845 Photo: DVIDSHUB

The abhorrence we feel when encountering beliefs that contradict our own is so universal and so powerful that it’s hard to imagine it’s the result of anything other than natural selection, programmed into us by evolution because it gives us some kind of survival advantage.  Even if we’re able to tolerate [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2011/12/25/belief-contamination/feed/ 14 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2011/10/09/living-alone/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2011/10/09/living-alone/#comments Sun, 09 Oct 2011 22:00:08 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=7609 Photo: Keoni Cabral

I remember thinking when I was lying on my bedroom floor, bleeding internally so badly that I’d lost the ability even to crawl, that if I hadn’t been married I would have bled to death.  I was home after a laparoscopic appendectomy, had awakened at 3 a.m. with projectile vomiting, [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2011/10/09/living-alone/feed/ 30 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2011/08/14/the-courage-to-hear-the-truth/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2011/08/14/the-courage-to-hear-the-truth/#comments Sun, 14 Aug 2011 22:00:59 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=4424 Photo: pichado photography

Years ago, I was having lunch with a friend who’d developed a reputation for being difficult.  He complained frequently and bitterly, often about things no one else found bothersome.  In general, he was perceived as negative and over-entitled.  I thought most of the time the points he made were valid [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2011/08/14/the-courage-to-hear-the-truth/feed/ 55