Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now

by Gordon Livingston

Before we can do anything, we must be able to imagine it. This sounds easy, but I find that many people do not make the link between behavior and feelings. I blame modern medicine and the advertising industry for much of this problem. We have become used to the idea that much of what we don’t like about ourselves and our lives can be quickly overcome with little effort on our part. The marketing of medications that favorably affect our mood, changing our appearance through plastic surgery, and self-improvement through consumption all play into the fantasy that happiness is for sale. Malcolm Forbes famously suggested that, “Anyone who thinks that money can’t buy happiness is shopping in the wrong places.”