People were forever asking me how I got to be so darned happy. So I started speaking
to school groups and blogging about choosing to view life more optimistically.
Smile. Be happy!
Ruth Kaiser
Have I Got a Cape for You. I write this as we approach one of my favorite holidays of the year, Halloween. But THE thing that has always made me love Halloween seems rapidly to be becoming a thing of the past. When I was growing up (the dark ages) we always made our Halloween […]
I swiped the title from a headline in the N.Y. Times. The article was by Ben Brantley, theatre critic (http://tinyurl.com/4s4hhga). I sent him fan mail that I loved the headline. I cut it out and taped it to my giant list of smiley, happy things. It’s the perfect fit for what I was thinking […]
Every day you are presented with choices regarding who gets something that’s better, you or the other guy?What if every time you could, you let it be the other guy? Specifically, let it be the other guy when you’re driving. And on the freeway, let the other guy pull in front of you. I’m always […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about how harmful perfectionism is and if it just might be something we are teaching our kids when we praise them. We’ve all been told to tell our kids what a great job they’re doing, but might we actually be sending a different message? Might all that praise come along […]
I love puns and double entendres and mondegreens and limericks and rhymes that don’t quite rhyme. Or rhymes that rhyme perfectly but the words look way different. Or words that should rhyme because they end the same, but actually don’t rhyme at all. You just might be right if you guess that I’m a big […]
Ruth’s little happiness project sandwiched between Steve’s little computer company and Mark’s little social network in Personal Branding for Dummies.
I’m betting at least half of you thought the picture would be . . . (click)
I have a giant list of Smiley things taped to the wall in my office. I started it when I took the class Awakening Joy (featured in O Magazine Jan. 2008). Discussing ways to be more joyful was a very pleasant way to spend one evening a week. I highly recommend the class. Payment is on a sliding scale; […]
Today I overheard the conversation of a group of young people talking about the things they miss since graduating last year. No more Halloween Parades or Pajama Days or field trips. Oh, did I forget to mention, they were graduates of Elementary school. I was struck by the idea that we stop going on field […]
Google alerts connected me with a man who gave one of the most-listened-to-ever TED Talks. A couple friendly emails back and forth and I was invited to do one myself. Yep, a virtual nobody got a TED Talk by exchanging silly, playful emails with a fellow Smile enthusiast. The funny thing was nobody asked if I’d ever […]