Self-improvement shouldn’t be a default way of being. When we improve at things, we feel better. And knowing how to do that occasionally requires us looking in, at our ‘self’. But we need to know when to stop looking in, and how to start looking out.

Doing our best to avoid all forms of stress isn’t a blessing, it’s a trap. We’re designed to response to short-term stress because without it, we only ever stay the same. And that’s far more dangerous.

Is happiness about ‘wanting what you already have’, or ‘having what you want’? The truth is… it depends. But the more important question is: are you willing to try to figure out what happiness means for you?

New scientific discoveries are revealing that certain patterns in our lives, such as our capabilities, attitudes or behaviours, are not as hard-wired as many might have you believe. Our brains are not blank canvases that become filled with a set picture for life. They’re a lot more like an Etch a Sketch. And that creates an exciting space for us to create new patterns.

Much of our time is spent worrying about making good or bad choices; trying to focus on the former and completely eliminate the latter. But these choices drive the arc of our life’s story, for better or worse. The road blocks in our story are not bad choices, but tragic ones; choosing to give up the power of choice.