6 habits of happiness

The Berkeley Greater Good Science Centre reminds us the 6 habits of happiness:  the one I like the best but is easily forgotten is gratitude.  Gratitude helps to bring you back to the present moment, appreciate what you have and not overly focus on what you don't have or your misfortunes.  This is especially important among couples who may easily complain what the better half is not doing right but forget to give thanks or praise to what the other is doing great.  It is good to quickly think about 3 things (whatever comes to your mind) on a daily basis you are thankful for, and try to tell your better half as often as possible: I appreciate it when you ......

Eating Mindfully

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!

I hope to write about eating, one of the favorite activities during the holiday season.  Like many people, I  am concerned about what I eat, to make sure what I eat makes me healthier and stronger and on occasions brings me great pleasure and memories.  But then I realized I spent little time to think about how I eat.  I don't mean using forks or chopsticks to eat, but in what state of mind do I eat.

In October, when I was visiting my parents in Hong Kong, while we were having dinner at home, they commented that I ate too fast, did not seem to chew my food and even made slurping sound as if I were eating Ramen noodle!  Then I started to observe some other Chinese people eat say in a professional conference luncheon setting.  To my surprise, men and women alike usually do not eat that fast; they pause in between bites.  I was surprised because I thought Hong Kong is such a fast-paced city that every one is pretty much stressed and focused on efficiency and wants to finish her meal quickly. Now I found out I was the one who is stressed out!