Happiness in this World » change

The Unlived Life

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 23:00:13 +0000

Photo: wonderlane

By nature I’ve always been an excessively introspective person. My entire life I’ve believed, as Socrates said, that “the unexamined life isn’t worth living.” Even now, my wife frequently accuses me of living mostly in my own head. But in my first year of college, in response to my voicing my [...]

How I Met And Married My Wife

Alex Lickerman — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:20:12 +0000

I am the eldest of four boys. In 2002, my second-youngest brother and his wife announced they were going to have a baby. The news absolutely floored me. This would be the first baby of our generation and represented a significant life change for us all.

I left their apartment that night thinking about [...]

The Power Of Resolve

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:34:22 +0000

Photo: Randy Son Of Robert

People all over the world know the story of Helen Keller, the deaf-blind girl Annie Sullivan taught to communicate by spelling letters on her hands, whose story was depicted in the play and movie The Miracle Worker. What most people don’t know is the story of how Helen’s [...]

5 Steps To Changing Any Behavior

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:56:47 +0000

Photo: The U.S. Army

From quitting smoking to eating healthier to exercising regularly to getting more organized, most of us have a list of behaviors we’d like to begin (or end) that resist our attempts to do so. As a physician, I find myself giving advice about changing habits on a daily basis. Even though many of my [...]

Cigarette Smoking Is Caused By A Delusion

Alex Lickerman — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:56:39 +0000

Photo: P.13

I leaned back in my chair and breathed a heavy sigh. My patient, Mr. Rodriguez (not his real name), noticed my discomfort. “I know I should quit,” he told me with a guilty shrug of his shoulders.

“Have you ever tried?” I asked.

“Once,” he replied, “but it didn’t stick.”

Mr. [...]