Inspiration: Finding truth is not the same as finding happiness
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Fall/Winter 2016 In this age of wild politicians and violent, disrespectful debates, it’s a sign of hope that someone like the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh—also known as “The other Dalai Lama”—is so popular with so many people. Thich Nhat Read More...
Meeting the guru
From The Optimist Magazine Summer 2014 Author of international bestsellers, including The Pilgrimage and The Alchemist. paulocoelhoblog.com I met Mick Brown at Frankfurt airport. He works as a journalist on The Daily Telegraph in London and had been sent to interview me during a stopover between Read More...
Back to nature
From The Optimist Magazine Summer 2014 For most of my life, I have enjoyed taking long walks by myself in the woods and fields. When I was a young girl, these walks might have lasted a couple of hours. We lived in the Berkshire foothills, so the woods were hilly and full of boulders. As I grew into Read More...
Turn up the stress
From The Optimist Magazine Summer 2014 Even as we anxiously try to avoid and suppress it, more and more research shows that stress is actually beneficial. It results in better performance, keeps us alert and is even good for our health. BY ELLEKE BAL One morning in 2007, Arianna Huffington awoke Read More...
Possibility: One Last Thing: “We find the void in our minds”
From The Optimist Magazine Fall 2015 At sea, Henk de Velde has discovered something on his many solo voyages around the world: the void. Now the Dutch sea-farer tries to find it on the land as well. And he recommends everyone do the same. What do you mean by void? “Void is space. I Read More...
Optimism Is More Than Positive Thinking
Psychologist Elaine Fox believes optimism isn’t a choice, but a habit. She has some advice on how to develop it—because it’s not just good for you, but for everyone else. By Marco Visscher From The Optimist Magazine Fall 2015 It’s the perfect day for a conversation about optimism. Read More...
Remaking Work
How to find your inner economy in an outer economy that, more than ever, is willing to let you be you. By Valerie Andrews From The Optimist Magazine Fall 2015 Imagine no more drudgery—just years of doing what you love, stretched out before you. Work is never boring, because it keeps evolving. Read More...
Lessons from the Chinese Warlord
By Rob Hartgers From The Optimist Magazine Fall 2015 The Art of War, by Sun Tzu, is 2,500 years old, but it’s still one of the most widely read books on strategy and leadership. What makes this work so relevant after all these centuries? And what can we learn from it? Henry Kissinger recommended Read More...
Turning poverty into peace
What the Nobel Peace Prize means to Muhammad Yunus - and how it shows the way new ideas come into the world. Jurriaan Kamp and Marco Visscher| December 2006 issue When Muhammad Yunus began to lend money to hard-working poor people back in the 1970s, he wasn’t exactly following the crowd. At that Read More...
Perspectives on trials and loss
Three stories about dealing with loss. Paulo Coelho | May 2009 issue When life makes us face difficult situations—such as a personal loss—we have to understand that eternity is taking one more step. Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges wrote something beautiful about this: You are cloud, sea, Read More...