Tag Archives: satisfaction

Chasing Happiness

The thing I have heard the most during the years I have been counseling clients is, “I want to be happy.” I have heard that refrain even more than I have heard, “I want to find my soul mate.” Even when people are tired of living alone, they want to be happy more than they want to find a partner. I came across a quote by an unknown author who said, “When I was in grade school, they told me …

Don’t Give Too Much

Someone looking at this title might think about all the sermons he’s heard over the years about how it’s better to give than to receive, but there is a downside to this concept. When you give too much to a child, you take away his motivation to try harder for success; you’re depriving him of the need for him to live up to his potential. By giving him everything he could want before he even realizes he wants it, he …

The Gratification of Rewards

I have always believed more in the power of rewards than the power of punishment. When you are constantly being punished, no matter what the punishment is, it loses its effect. Rewards, on the other hand, keep growing exponentially, often becoming a bargaining chip, either with yourself or with someone else. Someone I knew went into real estate and every time she sold a house, she bought herself an expensive piece of jewelry. In all the time I knew her, …

The Thanks in Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been a difficult holiday for me. From the time I was a very little girl and only wanted to eat a turkey with feathers . . . to when I became an adult and knew, with absolute conviction, that cooking would never be one of my better skills . . . to becoming an aware adult, that we only think about feeding the poor and homeless at holidays when we can feel magnanimous and spiritual, and seldom …

Following Your Passion

I came across an article that debunked the idea of following your passion, saying that it’s very narrow-minded and it limits your approach to life. It went on to say that we should train ourselves to feel passionate about our job even if it’s a terrible job, otherwise we’ll make ourseves miserable. In a sense, I can understand the writer’s point of view, but in a larger sense, it is very far from what I believe is the road to …

Follow Your Passion

I Just read an article by someone who, in my opinion, couldn’t ever have had a passion for anything, at least not a passion for the kind of career he wanted to pursue. According to the author, high school and college graduates are being given the wrong kind of advice when they are told to follow their passion. He said that it’s “feeding into some destructive tendencies that new graduates should be trying to overcome.” According to this author, “The …

Do You Know What Happiness Is?

This may sound like a strange question but, since we don’t go around taking our happiness temperature every day, many people don’t know whether they are happy or not. Many people know when they are unhappy, but they often don’t know when they are depressed. And, no, unhappiness doesn’t always cause depression and depression doesn’t always accompany unhappiness, even though it may seem impossible to separate the two. If you ask someone if he is happy, the response is often, …

The Tail Wags the Dog

It doesn’t seem to matter which generation you’re born into, people spend a lifetime weighed down by regrets. For many, it’s not having taken the road less traveled because they let the opinions of others dictate their lives. Unless you’re prepared to be the master of your own destiny and not be swayed by the opinions of family and friends, all too often you find yourself taking classes you don’t like and entering into careers that don’t interest you. By …

Purchasing Happiness

Purchasing happiness? Is such a thing even possible? People who don’t have money and who work at unfulfilling jobs certainly seem to think so. We always hear that money doesn’t buy happiness but is that really true? While it is true that there are many millionaires and billionaires who aren’t happy, they can at least pay for treatment if they are clinically depressed. Not so with the people who live from paycheck to paycheck. But is that really a good …

Connie H. Deutsch