Millions of Americans resolve each year to get into shape, with weight loss as their number-one goal. This is laudable, to be sure, as obesity is a growing global epidemic that compromises health in myriad ways. Unfortunately, dieting and exercise regimes often emphasize appearance over wellbeing. Since our youth, we have been bombarded by media
AuthorJuliana Essen
Global Volunteer: Observations of a Tsunami Aid Organization in Thailand
It’s International Volunteer Day, so I’d like to share my story about volunteering in Thailand after the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, with a bit of academic analysis (sorry, I can’t help it), plus some theorizing to begin to sketch out how volunteering might contribute to social progress and wellbeing. The tsunami of December 26,
Give Money, Not Stuff: How to Fight Poverty More Effectively
I have a confession to make: I used to think that donating money to charities was just a way for affluent people to feel good about “doing good.” I silently chided them: “If you really care about people who are less fortunate than you, you should get out there and help them.” You know the
A Setting for INTENTional Wellbeing: Srisa Asoke Buddhist Center
The places people live, whether by choice or circumstance, can offer clues as to who those people are: an intentional community like the Srisa Asoke Buddhist Center in Northeast Thailand speaks volumes about its residents. Srisa Asoke was the main site for the ethnographic research I conducted for my PhD (published as Right Development by
No More Small Talk: INTENT Brings Big Ideas about Wellbeing into Action
I spend a lot of time thinking about how to achieve a Good Life for All—how a life built on a strong foundation of wellbeing would actually look in practice. While this may not make me the life of the party, I’ll gladly trade small talk for BIG ideas any day. The challenge now is
I Don’t Want My Daughter to Be Happy…
(I want her to be well!) I took this photograph of my daughter this summer: we are in an alpine meadow about an hour outside Munich, hiking up to a hut where some friends would be married. These two girls were thrilled to be together, climbing the mountain and communing with cows, carrying all they
Why Is the Pursuit of Happiness Making Us So Stressed?
The “pursuit of happiness” is a phrase Americans know well. The United States Declaration of Independence established it in 1776 as an inalienable right for all citizens. Fast forward to 1955, and happiness becomes a national pastime, epitomized by Disney’s “Happiest Place on Earth.” Now in the first quarter of the 21stcentury, happiness is a
How to Save Seeds from Your Garden (workshop recap)
I’m a seed-saving convert! I’ve always shied away from seed saving — it seems like so much work! But last Saturday, when I volunteered at a seed-saving workshop at The Ecology Center (TEC) in San Juan Capistrano, I discovered that it’s actually fairly easy. And in the long run, it’s much better than planting your veggies
Specifying Elements of Wellbeing…Democractically
As I was writing the last post, How to Thrive: Specifying the Universal Elements of Wellbeing, I started thinking about a paper I had presented at the International Conference on “Happiness and Public Policy” in Bangkok several years ago. It elaborated a democratic procedure through which communities could create a list of capabilities they wanted
How to Thrive: Specifying Universal Elements of Wellbeing
Although wellbeing can be subjective—the specifics of what makes a good life for one person surely differ from another’s—it seems safe to say that there are universally necessary elements. On a broad level, we must attend to all six dimensions of wellbeing: an individual’s mental/physical, material, social, and existential wellbeing, as well as that of
Measuring Wellbeing: Exploring Alternatives to GDP
The Gross Domestic Product, or GDP measures economic growth on the national level, but it doesn’t actually measure the wellbeing that nation’s citizens. Fruitful discussions on better measures have been increasing, not just on the fringes of public discourse but in initiatives sponsored by world leaders in government and premier global organizations like the United
