The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey is an extremely popular book that has inspired many people’s lives. While it’s primarily about personal development and productivity, the fundamental concepts also apply extremely well to improving your health and well being.

Much of what we appreciate most in life we produce ourselves. As such, our capability to produce is a key factor in the value we experience from life. By improving our capability to produce what we appreciate most, we increase the satisfaction and fulfillment that we experience. This is the nature of being highly effective and is the focus of the 7 habits.

(more…)

A very knowledgeable friend and colleague, Antonio Valladares, has asked me to write about my top 3 tips for healthy and inspired living. It will be part of a series for his Healthy Urban Kitchen website and I’m honored by the request!

Antonio is one of the most knowledgeable experts on nutrition and lifestyle in New York City and has written an excellent cookbook that’s full of extremely healthy and very tasty recipes. Not only does this cookbook prove that it’s possible to follow an excellent diet without sacrificing taste, it also provides priceless insight for living a healthy lifestyle. Here is a link to Antonio’s Healthy Urban Kitchen Cookbook.

Healthy and Inspired Living

In my opinion, living a healthy and inspired life means that you’re getting the most out of your time on this planet. That’s a very broad concept, and as such, my three tips are somewhat general in nature. However, they’re what I consider to be the three most important aspects of living a satisfying life, and each tip serves as a foundation for the next.

(more…)

Many of us get so caught up in the stress of day to day life that we become irritable and forget how to be happy. At one time or another, we’re all guilty of it, but that’s no excuse. We all have the ability to be happy, even in the face of adversity.

It’s Your Choice

We’re all born with the power of choice, but many of us take this gift for granted and let it’s potential go unrealized. Although we can’t always control our surroundings, we can certainly choose how we perceive them.

Regardless of how bad something may seem, it’s always possible to embrace it with a positive outlook. Whether it’s something as simple as getting stuck in traffic or as tragic as losing a friend or family member, we can choose to perceive it in a positive way. Making this choice can be the difference between being miserable and being happy.

(more…)

Do your birthdays come with the sadness of another year passing by? If so, then now’s the time to do something about it.

Think about the excitement that kids anticipate their birthdays with. Even teenagers welcome birthdays in anticipation of the freedom that older age brings. But once we hit our twenties, the excitement fades, and as years continue to pass, birthdays may even bring depression. This is because they tend to remind us that we’re getting older, losing our vitality, and running out of time.

Same Routine, Different Day

Most people mindlessly go through the motions of life every day and resign to letting other people dictate their experiences. This often leaves a feeling of emptiness and a lack of purpose that can easily cause someone to become depressed. Until you take control of your life and figure out what fulfills you, this emptiness will grow each year and make each birthday feel worse.

(more…)

Christmas is over and many people are dreading tomorrow’s return to work. If you’re one of them, have you ever considered how much of an impact your job is having on your health and happiness? Most people spend their entire workday doing work they have no interest in. By the time they get home, they are tired and barely have enough time to eat dinner and run a few errands let alone do something fun. They eagerly look forward to the weekend, only for Monday to reemerge it’s ugly head far too quickly, and they begin the cycle all over again. That’s far from the image I have of a happy and fulfilling lifestyle.

But with the current economy, you should be grateful just to have a job, right? Nobody wants to be unemployed and have a hard time paying bills, but this line of thinking just makes you feel guilty about wanting a better life and undermines your health and happiness even further.

(more…)