Roger K. Allen's Blog, page 18
June 14, 2019
The Power of Kindness
Most of us have ideas about how to improve our nation and the world. And yet we recognize that so many of the political and economic forces at work in the world are beyond our ability to influence. So we watch…and we wait…we hope…and we complain…forgetting that nothing will make the world better than simple acts of kindness.
Kindness blesses others. It lifts them emotionally and spiritually and helps them not only feel better in the moment but instills, in them, a sense of goodwill and trust...
Acts of Kindness
Most of us have good ideas about how to improve our nation and the world. And yet we recognize that so many of the political and economic forces at work in the world are beyond our ability to influence. So we watch…and we wait…we hope…and we complain…forgetting that nothing will make the world better than simple acts of kindness.
Kindness humanizes us. It not only lifts others emotionally and spiritually but also unleashes chemicals in our own brains which literally change us physically and...
May 17, 2019
Stillness
Our world is filled with so much noise and so many distractions that we have become uncomfortable with stillness. If things get quiet, we look at our phones. Or if we’re driving down the street, we turn on the radio. We arrive home and turn on the television or keep ourselves continually busy.
This is a huge problem with our children and teens. Childhood anxiety, depression, and suicide are at an all-time high. And it’s scary to think that the trend is still moving upward. Technology (smart...
May 8, 2019
Honoring Women
Mother’s Day is just a few days away and I want to take a few moments to write about honoring women, particularly those women closest to us.
Here is one of my earliest memories. I was four years old. My mother was working at an ice cream parlor that my parents owned and my father was home with the kids. I went to bed not feeling well and recall a number of strange dreams in which I felt like my body was huge in a tiny room. I slept fitfully and awoke, tossed and turned for what seemed to be...
April 22, 2019
Appreciating-A Key to Happiness
In my last blog I talked about what science teaches us about how to feel happy. I also introduced the ABCs of happiness—Appreciating, Becoming, and Connecting as three patterns of happiness that I’ve identified from my research on this subject. In this article, I want to talk about strategies related to appreciating, an important key to happiness.
Another word for appreciating is gratitude. I could have called this theme gratitude but then my model would be the GBCs rather than ABCs. It didn...
A Meta-Strategy for Happiness
In my last blog I talked about what science teaches us about happiness. I also introduced the ABCs of happiness—Appreciating, Becoming, and Connecting as three patterns of happiness that I’ve identified from my research on this subject. In this article, I want to talk about strategies related to appreciating.
Another word for appreciating is gratitude. I could have called this theme gratitude but then my model would be the GBCs rather than ABCs. It didn’t sound quite as good so I’m sticking...
April 9, 2019
What Science Teaches us about Happiness
I’ve long been interested in the understanding happiness and so have studied the research over the last several years. Here is what science tells us happiness looks like:
Notice that 50% of our happiness is hard-wired. This has been determined by studies on identical twins. The first of these studies was conducted in the mid-seventies by researchers at my alma mater, the University of Minnesota. (As an aside, one of the lead researchers, Auke Tellegen, sat on my disser...
March 26, 2019
I Can Only Make One Person Happy
One of my children gave me a T-shirt with this slogan on the front: “I can only make one person happy; I pick me.” I suppose my child was trying to send a message, not only to me, but perhaps a warning to others who may have to deal with me. So that you don’t misinterpret what I’m saying, let me clarify.
I like my T-shirt and I wear it a lot. But I don’t wear it because I want to send a negative message. On the contrary, I want to send a positive message. I have come to realize that what...
March 20, 2019
What I Got Wrong about Depression
In early January I published an article entitled Understanding Depression. Since then, I’ve continued to think about and read the latest science about depression. I realize that I got something wrong and so wanted to publish this post to set the record straight.
I said in my article is that “…depression is not a sign of personal weakness but an illness (like kidney failure, high blood pressure, or cardiovascular disease) in which the brain lacks chemicals like serotonin and norepinephrine th...
March 13, 2019
The Power to Choose
Kenny Rogers, may 10. 2013
Like most people, I love music and frequently find myself humming a tune over and over in the back of my mind. I’ve learned to pay attention to the words of these songs because they have significance to what is going on in my life at the moment. Rarely is the entire song relevant; just a line or two that my subconscious mind is telling me to pay attention to—perhaps a lesson I need to learn.
Lessons from The Gambler
One song that periodically plays in my mind is Ken...
