Inner Activism: Three Tricks For A Happier New Year

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12.21.09

This is great advice, but it needs to be put in a general perspective. So, please let me add that obsession with our own spirituality if it does not extend into living a life with others and a lifestyle revolving around micromanaging our own bodies and minds as a means ‘to be happy’ can often merely reflect an inability to form and keep relationships and truly be nourished by them. In well-developed people, social relationships are the means to happiness. That is how our brains are made. As and expert on kids and families in my office and the author of KIDS, PARENTS & TECHNOLOGY: A GUIDE FOR YOUNG FAMILIES, I emphasize the importance of relationships, community and collaboration in raising kids. Values education seems to be lost in the torrent of digital information and social noise flooding them. It is at home that they must put things in proper perspective.

hp blogger William Horden replied on Dec 21, 2009

“Dr. S,

Thank you for sharing your expertise, your book sounds fascinating.

And I couldn’t agree with you more: an obsession with spirituality would be as counter-productive as an obsession with social relationships.

Wisdom and Compassion, when cultivated diligently, seem to serve well to keep us from becoming obsessed with anything and to keep our feet firmly on the path of fulfilling our roles and relationships in the most profound and ethical manner possible. If that weren’t so, what “values education” would we have to authentically pass on?

The perennial truth has to be adapted to the historical age in which we live. “How” to value teaches greater adaptability than “what” to value.

Thanks for your thought-provoking comment & enjoy the holidays with your loved ones!

wm”


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