This last summer, my wife and I had a fight.  As with many fights between married couples, the surface issue was inconsequential but housed an important issue underneath.  I’d accidentally burned the hamburgers I was grilling for our dinner (because we hadn’t cleaned our barbecue for some time, grease had [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/12/26/how-to-admit-youre-wrong/feed/ 20 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/12/05/if-not-now-when/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/12/05/if-not-now-when/#comments Sun, 05 Dec 2010 23:00:33 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=6145 Photo: zoutedrop

A few years ago, a close friend of mine was struggling with his job.  He worked in a large corporation he couldn’t stand:  unethical business practices, employee backstabbing, and sexual harassment all seemed to occur on a regular basis.  He wanted out.  Not only that, for years he’d harbored a secret [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/12/05/if-not-now-when/feed/ 13 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/11/28/the-danger-of-early-closure/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/11/28/the-danger-of-early-closure/#comments Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:00:40 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=6113 Photo: gustaffo89

I had a patient once—a fellow physician—who came to see me complaining of mid-back pain.  When I examined him, I found I could reproduce his pain by pressing firmly on the spot he said was hurting him.  He said pressing there also made the pain radiate around to his stomach, a [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/11/28/the-danger-of-early-closure/feed/ 25 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/10/10/the-problem-with-turning-the-other-cheek/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/10/10/the-problem-with-turning-the-other-cheek/#comments Sun, 10 Oct 2010 22:00:36 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=5868 Photo: Anamorphic Mike

In a previous post, The Three Realms Of Confidence, I told a story from my childhood (how I was bullied in seventh grade because I was Jewish) to introduce the concept that confidence exists in three separate realms.  In response to that post, a reader commented (on the Psychology Today [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/10/10/the-problem-with-turning-the-other-cheek/feed/ 21 http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/09/26/how-to-thwart-panic/ http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/09/26/how-to-thwart-panic/#comments Sun, 26 Sep 2010 23:05:51 +0000 Alex Lickerman http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/?p=5810 Photo: oddsock

I’ve had one panic attack in my life.  It happened when I was a first-year medical student and taking my first biochemistry mid-term exam.  Everyone agreed that all our teacher’s lectures had been virtually incomprehensible.  And unlike most of my classmates, who’d majored in biochemistry or biology in college, I’d majored [...]]]> http://www.happinessinthisworld.com/2010/09/26/how-to-thwart-panic/feed/ 20