Author and investment guru, Ray Dalio, strongly believes that we should not fear mistakes and instead use them as opportunities to learn and grow. He offers the following formula as one of his many life/work principles: Pain + Reflection = Progress. He says that our pain/discomfort are just signals that we are working through something that is important to us. If we can embrace our mistakes and reflect on what went wrong, then we can arrive to the pleasure (learning) that is

I always love to be inspired by people who have lessons to share with us about how to create more happiness in our lives. For my current book, I reached beyond the spiritual books I'm typically drawn to, to a book titled Principles by Ray Dalio, an American billionaire investor and philanthropist. What I love about Ray is how clearly he's defined what's important to him in his life and the systematic way he has set out to achieve those things. Ray decided early on what was im

In his book, The Mastery of Self, Don Miguel Ruiz Jr points out that every time we tie our self-worth and acceptance to a specific goal (i.e., looking/feeling a certain way), we attach our happiness to its achievement. When we reach the goal, our self esteem rises temporarily, but we are never satisfied for too long because we'll always raise the bar, once again pushing off our happiness to some far off destination. (Do you remember when your last hobby lost its fun?) And if

The Dalai Lama says it. Byron Katie says it as well. And the latest author I am reading, Jillian Pransky, proclaims the same in her book Deep Listening. Change does not come through thinking about something, but by taking action. Did you ever get excited about a new project, but overwhelmed by all the steps needed to accomplish that project? You start, think you have to do everything right away, procrastinate and then stop. Jillian says there is a better way and offers the f

When I first heard this from author and marketing expert, Seth Godin, I thought, "brilliant and so inspiring!" There is no such thing as "I can't." "I can't" merely translates into "I can, but I'm not willing to put in the hard work at this time." The important point is that you can do whatever you want…if you are willing. And it's perfectly valid to not want it! I used to get frustrated with myself for not wanting to put in the work to accomplish something, but now I recogni

One of my favorite authors is Byron Katie and I have recently been reading her newest book, A Mind at Home with Itself. Just as the Dalai Lama suggests that we take a "larger perspective" in moments of sadness, frustration and anger (see my previous post), Byron gives us a practical approach for doing so by having us work through a series of questions she calls "The Work" (thework.com): 1. Is it true? (Yes or no. If no, move to 3.) 2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true? (