without sounding trite..you are what I have been looking for brian!!! I have spent soooo much money on books that i havent had a chance or gotten around to reading... but the need to figure all this out has been scratching its way to the surface of my soul for many years now. You seem to have a perfect way of breaking it all down so I GET IT!!!! I am so excited to be learning from you and your wisdom... the p.n.'s are FABULOUS...it has helped me decide which books I am ready to sit down and read and make the time for... but most important is the fact that you keep bringing up the fact that they all really do have the same basic ideas... I think we tend to try to make things so much harder than they are... and in the end it truly comes down to this video!!
I am SO grateful that i found you...(thru your goddess whom I found thru IIN...hmm universe at work???:)) keep it coming!!!!

this post is actually more centered around something from the new earth note... the whole concept of arguing with reality..that is SO HUGE!!! This concept first came to me when I saw a video for work about the men who throw the fish at seattle fish mart. They were saying how it is all in your perception, ie. if you havent slept and you have to go to work that next day. You have to work no matter what and you are going to be exhausted no matter what.. HOWEVER you have a choice: to be exhausted and happy or exhausted and miserable. When you choose the prior your day is so much better... that was a life changing concept for me to be sure.
when I got divorced and became a single mom who relied on customers for her paycheck I became a tremendous worrier... every week, if someone cancelled I thought my world was fallling in etc. Then one day my boyfriend mentioned that this was a form of trying to control the circumstance...if I worried enough things would change??? another light bulb moment to be sure!!! SInce then I have been much more aware of my thoughts vs reality and have become much better about reeling it back in when I have gone to the "dark side".. I love Byron Katie;s quote "When I argue with reality I lose 100% of the time"...so amazing!!
Now on to Tal Ben-shahar.. I have never read him as I figured a Harvard professor would be above my head... after hearing your clip and seeing him on the Daily show... i see that is not so and have already placed the order to amazon!! SO thank you for widening my horizon and keep bringing home the major happiness points of life!!!

my top 5 strengths are :
love of learning
humor/playfulness
gratitude
modesty
appreciation of beauty and excellence
I think the number one strength I have to work on is my modesty. I think I am modest to a fault!... I dont give myself any credit for anything...I have a hugely hard time accepting any good or that I am any good. THAT is all going to change in 2010! I am not sure how to go about that right now as it literally feels uncomfortable to think of changing it.. but I am going to meditate on this and hopefully an answer will come!

brian.. i so so SO love all the good you and your goddess are putting out on the web! It is how I start my day. your enthusiasm literally oozes thru the computer!
My favorite reminder from this note is that it takes PRACTICE....those of us with a "lower" set point for happiness just have to practice more. Sometimes i get down on myself if I have a "bad day" that I forgot to do any of the positive things I read about... this reminds me that it just takes PRACTICE... so today my babystep is going to be to practice seeing all the good as much as possible!