FaithBalance

Lessons from a Whirling Dervish

2009-06-14T16:09:05Z

Have you ever seen Dervish whirl? Take a look at this brief video from Cairo and see for yourself. Believe it or not, the man in the middle spun on stage for almost thirty minutes. People became dizzy just watching him!

The dervishes actually come from the mystical Sufi mystical sect of Islam. When they whirl, they re-enact a turning towards the truth, during which the follower symbolically grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth and arrives at the "Perfect".

The dervish also provides a wonderful metaphor for balance. We all feel that sometimes we are spinning out of control. Yet the Dervish somehow maintains calm at the center, balanced. He does this by concentrating inwardly, on his own core, rather than the crazy world around him.

At the same time, the spinning itself provides a pathway to God. In this sense, we need to realize that spinning is part of life. We cannot stop the spinning. To stop spinning would be to stop life. And it is through life that we learn to embrace God.

The next time you feel like life is spinning out of control, picture the whirling Dervish. Spinning is the way the Dervish arrives at the "Perfect." And, by remaining calm at the center, he is able to let the perfect into his heart, mind and soul - without getting dizzy!

Trip to Mt. Nebo - Part II

2009-06-04T05:34:20Z

Imagine Moses. He has freed his people from slavery only to wander 40 years in the desert. He has quelled his disgruntled followers with manna from heaven and brought order from chaos with the Ten Commandments. But he dies before he can lead his people down from Mt. Nebo into the promised land. In the end, did he feel like a failure?

It's important to note that the ascent of Mt. Nebo is very gradual. We drove from Amman south to Mt. Nebo on a very gradual slope that seemed almost flat. As we travelled, it almost seemed like we weren't making much headway. It was only when we reached the monument to Moses at the top of Mt. Nebo and looked over the edge, did we realize how far we had come.

Granted, it helps that we were looking down at the Dead Sea, which is below sea level and one of the lowest places on earth. Nevertheless, the trip and the view at the end reminded me of our own journey through life.

As we travel through life, we forget to notice how far we have come, or how high we've climbed. We place almost impossible goals before ourselves without realizing how much we have already achieved. And this warped definition of our own journey, and how we measure our progress, can throw us out of balance. It can lead to feelings of failure.

So try a quick exercise. On a piece of paper, write two goals for the week. Write two more for the month. And write two more for the year. Make the goals realistic, achievable and NOT NEGATIVE, like losing weight, but something POSITIVE, like eating healthy or doing something nice for a friend. Put your goals in a safe place and review them at each designated time. Then, in all likelihood, give yourself a pat on the back. You've come farther than you thought you could.

In the story in the Bible, we hear how Moses was allowed to look into the Promised Land, but was not allowed to enter. My only hope is that, before Moses died, he was able to take a look back as well - and see just how far he had come.

Escaping the Trap of Fear

2009-05-14T22:21:27Z

We are happy to share another fantastic video in the Freedom from Fear series. These are a series of sermons by Rene Schlaepfer, who is the pastor of a large community church in Santa Cruz, CA called Twin Lakes Church. In our first edition, we shared a funny and wise video that begins with a Blair Witch Project insert. In this video, we share Escaping the Trap of Fear

Here, we gain a clearer understanding of the many ways that fear can throw us off balance, including ways that will be completely surprising to many people. Since fear can have such an enormous impact on our sense of life balance, we hope that you will visit this link and enjoy this powerful message.

The Pope is Coming!

2009-05-08T01:14:58Z

On May 8, Pope Benedict XVI is traveling to the Middle East for a tour of the Holy Land. During his trip, he will visit Jordan - where I am now - Israel and the Palestinian territories. The whole region is gearing up for this trip. Why? Because it represents an important opportunity to promote religious balance and tolerance in the region. Everyone knows we could use more of both in this part of the world.

There is a direct relationship between tolerance and balance. While it is important to hold to our principles, intolerance pushes us to extremes. We lose sight of the humanity in others, and in ourselves. As the Pope has said, "True tolerance always presupposes respect for the other, who was created by God, whose existence was wanted by God."

Clearly, just as we are all children of God, so must we show respect and tolerance for all of God's children. And as we show tolerance of others, so might we begin to show more tolerance of ourselves, and of our own failings. And this, I believe, lies at the heart of life balance.

George Washington Carver sums up this connection, between our own life path and our tolerance of others. "How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these."

In the end, it is a virtuous circle. We tolerate others, they tolerate us and, in so doing, we learn to tolerate and accept ourselves for who we are. It is the beauty of faith balance.

The College Years - Work Life Balance

2009-05-05T15:39:08Z

Introducing Sir Richard Burton

On a trip this year to teach at the University of Edinburgh, I was introduced to Sir Richard Burton. Not the Richard Burton of Hollywood fame, but the perhaps an even more intriguing Richard - Richard Burton who is the CEO of HoodEasy.com, a fast-growing start-up in the online retail space.

Of course, meeting an entrepreneur who is ramping to millions of dollars in profit, and creating a global business is nothing new - but meeting an entrepreneur who is a Sophomore in college and ramping up something this significant is something completely different.

Richard's story is captured nicely in this video snippet...

The dilemma of the college entrepreneur

Perhaps you can feel Richard's pain - he is a very intelligent young man who would likely do well in school, just resting on his cognitive abilities, but Richard has another problem. Every waking moment of his day, he is faced with the reality that at a start-up the work is NEVER done. Quite impossible therefore to every feel complete. Add on top of that a healthy does of homework, classes, paper and reading and you have the recipe for IMBALANCE.

How to balance college life and work life

From my experience in teaching thousands of students and working with hundreds of entrepreneurs in the past year, there are several ways to bring work & life into balance in the college environment:

1) Set reasonable goals: Is it reasonable to graduate magna cum laude AND grow a start-up company to $10 million in revenues at the same time. Probably not. So, take a look at which priorities are more important (money or degree) and accept the fact that doing 2 or more "big ideas" at once may not be workable. In Richard's case, he has several options - he can postpone/defer school for 2 years, he can shift to a more manageable school (community college for example) where less time/energy is needed to pass, or he can hire a CEO to run his company and keep equity in his company as the founder.
2) Learn how to delegate - if you have a business that is doing well, and you happen to be in college at the same time, then use the profits coming in from the business to delegate key workings of the business to a staff. Then use YOUR available time to managing the process. In Richard's case, he can hire a seasoned worker to execute on his plans, or he can hire a CEO (by giving away equity) to run the company.
3) Run the company for school credit - believe it or not, I've run into several students over the years who managed to find a school and specific classes where they got school credit for analyzing, strategizing, and executing on plans that directly benefited their company. Richard, for example, might use his Marketing Course to work on a paper outlining the benefits of SEO, SEM and social media marketing campaigns for e-commerce sites - at the same time directly benefiting his company. A related idea is to enter the company into a university business plan contest. Of course, students in an MBA-like environment would be in the best position to try this advice out.
4) Leverage other students - It is possible to get interns to help with some of the tasks of the company at no/low wages. Where possible, create programs that reward the students, give them valuable work experience and make their college life more "practical". Richard, for example, might train several U Edinburgh MBA/PHd students to relieve his day-to-day tasks by taking on small management roles, analyzing the business, or helping with administrative tasks.

Many would argue that there really is no way to balance entrepreneurship and college at the same time. When a truly great idea comes along, you do as Jerry Yang/Dave Filo of Yahoo, or Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook did - you leave college to focus on the singular thing of your passion. Steve Jobs, perhaps one of the most famous entrepreneurs exemplifies this - Steve has a reputation for building Apple Computer on his obsession for focus, details, and work - for many years at the exclusion of friends, family and hobbies.

You decide - option for balance, or need for focus?

Lessons from Moses and Mt. Nebo

2009-04-30T19:51:15Z

According to the Old Testament, God allowed Moses to climb Mt. Nebo to see the promised land after wandering for forty years in the dessert. However, before Moses could realize the final objective of decades of work, he died. I always thought this was profoundly unfair.

Fortunately, while working in Jordan recently, I was able to see for myself. I traveled with several colleagues to see the beautiful view from Mt. Nebo. One can only imagine the simultaneous pride and disappointment Moses must have felt - to have led his people so far, but to have been unable to share in their great glory. Which leads to Lesson #1.

1. We do not always realize our own dreams. Yet we can focus on realizing our journey.

I would bet that if Moses had to choose between realizing his journey or his dream - between leading his people to freedom or entering the promised land - he would choose the journey every time.

The next lesson will be offered up in a blog next week. Hint: it's about getting to the mountain.

Free from Fear

2009-04-28T10:26:08Z

Fear can throw us completely off balance. In times of trouble, such as the global economic crisis, fear of the future can send us into depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behavior. We are pleased to share a series of outstanding videos on how we can use our faith to face and ultimately overcome our fears.

Free From Fear - Deep Faith for Dark Valleys

This video opens with a hilarious clip that mimics the Blair Witch Project. The following discussion, however, is truly profound. This link will take you to a discussion page on the video. We will share other videos in the future on how to use faith to balance our fears.

The College Years - 6 Ways to Achieve Balance

2009-04-23T16:03:56Z

As a professor at U.C. Berkeley's Haas School, I see a variety of students throughout the year - each of them with their own issues of work and life balance. I've come to realize that the College Years present their own unique set of life balance issues.

Why Am I In School in the First Place? The typical student is at college for one of three reasons: (a) to get that degree so they can move on into the working world (checking education off the list), (b) to "find themselves", or (c) develop a specialized skill (typically this is the graduate student, but not always).

The student who is in the "finding themselves" model often dives deeply into a variety of classes, readings, discussions, activities and social settings, often experimenting and testing new ideas or life-styles out. This seems normal and healthy to me, and is one of the wonderful things about the typical "liberal arts" college - the university presents a smorgasbord of activities, courses, and cultures - and it's up to the student to navigate their way through, explore, play, have some fun and eventually choose a life course. Typical focus is class work, social life (think fraternity, sorority), and physical fitness. An emerging focus on many campuses is politics, social causes and community-based projects or programs.

Students in the "finding themselves" mode often seem out of balance. But, is this a good thing or a bad thing? At this stage of life, there is definitely less focus on prioritizing making money, work/career, and could be less focus on family as well. Depending upon the student, there could be more or less focus on God and the spiritual side of life.

This video of a student shows that it's possible to actually have some balance while in the exploration mode at school.

In the video, Elise - a student at Baylor University in Texas - points to six ways to achieve balance while at college:

1. Have an action plan -- do some thinking before arriving on campus, talk with friends and family and come up with an action plan for how you'd like to balance out your life...
2. Friends to hold you accountable -- Idenfity friends and/or family who can help hold you accountable to your plan.
3. God Can Help You Through Any Situation -- Know that your relationship with God or a higher being can help you get through any situation.
4. Keep Things in Perspective - it's ok to work your hardest and achieve good grades if that is part of your plan - but keep in mind that there is more to Life than just school
5. Serve Your Community -- Helping others in need, in the community, through community or church programs can be a great way to contribute to society and keep yourself balanced at the same time.
6. Pray for Guidance -- remember you are not alone and you can always seek Him for guidance on any life balance issue.

In the end, the college years may be purposefully out of balance, but there are always ways to keep a check on the things that are most important to you and use your Faith to center yourself in your college years.

Puja and Productivity - Connecting Faith and Work in India

2009-04-20T19:26:33Z

When I worked in India for a year, our office manager suggested we have an office puja. The program that I managed was going through a difficult time and our local staff believed that a puja, or prayer and blessing, for the office would help. I was skeptical, but wanted to be supportive. So a few days later, I found myself sitting on the floor with a Hindu priest and our entire office staff.

The priest conducted an elaborate ceremony around a small pot with burning incense. He added bits of fruit, yogurt and other items around a small pot of burning incense. Ocassionally, we were invited to add fruits and to recite calls for health and success as the priest chanted a lengthy prayer.

I don't know whether the ceremony made a difference, though our program did improve through the rest of the year. But I was struck by the great power of integrating prayer with work.

In India, religion seems to permeate every aspect of life. So it is not surprising to see faith in the office. During times of stress, I would see staff invoke their faith to remain calm, to ask for divine intervention, or to seek solace. In all cases, faith brought spiritual balance to an intense work environment.

Just as important, we had fun! The prayer service created a sense of community that we desperately needed at the time. We joined together in faith and forged a common bond that helped us through tough times. And that common bond dramatically improved office morale and productivity. We were no longer working just for ourselves, but for something higher.

Sometimes I think every office could use a puja. Admittedly, that prospect is not likely in the U.S. But we can incorporate prayer into our work life. As one example, a friend started praying at work and now steps outside for a few minutes each day with colleagues to pray for guidance and wisdom. This prayer has helped forge closer relationships with friends at work and with God - and, in these stressful economic times, we could all use more of both.

The Pope, the Holy Land and the Search for Balance

2009-04-13T21:45:39Z

Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Holy Land, En'shallah - which is Arabic for "God willing." Yes, God willing, the Pope will visit the epicenter of three of the world's great religions. Having worked in the Middle East recently, I see this visit from a unique perspective.

The visit, which is planned from May 8 to 15, is the first papal trip to the area since 2000 and only the second official trip by a pope to Israel. And, having been in Jordan and Egypt recently, I see this visit not as a voyage to some far off land, but as a return to a very holy place that is also full of intense conflict.

In some respects, this is a land that is out of balance with itself. A place of great history and potential. A seat of holiness for much of the world. Yet it is divided by internal hatred. An inability to forgive past grievances. An absence of the love and compassion that God has placed in our hearts.

The land may also mirror our own lives when they are out of balance. We have great potential as children of God. But sometimes our own pettiness prevents us from realizing that potential. Our own inability to forgive others, and ourselves, can be an obstacle to life balance. If we stretch this analogy a little farther, the results become clearer.

As with the Holy Land, we must address our inner conflicts head on if we are to find peace. If we listen to God's call to love our neighbors as ourselves, we must first learn to love ourselves. For love - of God and self - is the fulcrum upon which life balance must rest.

So, what will the Pope say during his trip? As the seat of inspiration and culture for the early Jews, Christians and Muslims, the Holy Land is a source of great blessing and turmoil. Much of this is due to misunderstanding between cultures and mutually inflicted suffering throughout the ages. While we cannot change history, we can promote better understanding.

Will the Pope try to heal past wounds? Highlight the shared call for peace and care for the needy that is at the heart of these religions? I wonder what each one of us might say if we could be Pope for a day? If we could stand at the pulpit for thirty minutes, before a crowd of thousands in the Holy Land, and speak from our heart. What would our message be? Would we clarify our unique positions? Emphasize the unity in our love of God? Offer reconciliation of past grievances?

Now let's turn these pronouncements toward ourselves and our relationship with others. If we were to issue a decree about our own state of mind, and of heart, and of soul, what would we say? Is there a need for forgiveness? Is there a need to overlook past differences or conflicts with others? Are we so focused on our own position that we fail to see the wisdom in other people, and their unique perspective? Balance, in many respects, comes from perspective. The Holy Land, it seems, could use more of both. So can we.

We invite you to share your perspective about the Pope's visit and about the challenges of finding balance and reconciliation within our personal landscape.

Unlikely God Moments

2009-04-01T16:57:31Z

This is a true story, told by my friend, Becky:

"This morning at 8:00 I was driving the kids to school. We saw the neighborhood flock of wild turkeys in the middle of the street. Two of them ran onto the sidewalk at our approach. But the third was lying completely lifeless in the middle of the road. And the fourth was standing tenaciously by his side pecking and prodding him. He refused to move for our car (Yes, i did swerve around him!). We were all so sad to see this dead turkey and his friend next to him. But then the "dead" turkey jumped up and the two of them followed their friends onto the sidewalk and up the hill.
Was this a 'Divine Turkey Easter?' Either that or turkeys like to play dead. I can just hear the conversation:

Turkey 1: 'Get up you stupid Turkey! This is no time to lie down. That car is going to flatten you like a boneless turkey TV dinner! If you get me flattened too I'm never speaking to you again!'
Turkey 2 (after my van swerves and misses them): 'Ha! I told you she would move for us. You owe me $5! And did you see the look on her face just now? She really thought I was dead! Priceless!'
Turkeys 3 and 4: 'Just keep trotting and pretend you don't know those two fools...'

Either God has one weird sense of humor or I need another cup of coffee!"

I'm convinced God has a sense of humor. And a sense of timing that seeks to throw us off. How else do you explain a turkey reenacting the resurrection? I mean, it's not even the right animal/holiday combination; and it's the middle of Lent, for God's sake. We aren't supposed to be witnessing resurrections. Certainly God is aware of that!

And what about this woman who dares to tell us such an outrageous story? Who is she to be speaking of God and resurrection in this manner? Imagine the looks that Mary Magdalene must have gotten when she told her unlikely story on that first Easter morning. "He is risen!" Yeah, right... Her friends, I suspect were skeptical, to say the least.

What God moments do we miss, because we are not willing to believe that the holy is actually in our midst?

Amy Sluss is an author and a health & health care consultant. A registered nurse by trade, she knows that active consumers are the real solution to our health care crisis. She teaches individuals and businesses how to leverage this knowledge to become healthier and to control health care costs. Check out her website, chartyourhealth.com

Balancing the Present & the Future

2009-03-29T03:26:58Z

In a previous blog entry, I wrote about the Strengthfinder profile that is available through the book Living Your Strengths, a book originally written by Don Clifton. I found that my top strengths from the assessment were: Futuristic, Relator, Significance, Arranger and Connectedness.

The assessment told me that my top personal strength area is "Futuristic" (according to the book interpretation, this is the kind of person who "loves to look over the horizon". Yep, that's me.

While I wish that I could always live in the present, but I tend to enjoy predicting what is going to come and I love planning for it. (That's probably one reason why being a venture capitalist and angel investor for so many years fit my talents).

Admire the "Present" people

I've always admired people who live in the PRESENT - those that seem content as it is, who are not dreaming so much about the future, but enjoying what life has to bring in the current moment (my wife is one of those who is strong in this gift). But I find that often I have conflict in my mind: I'd like to be more balanced : both coming up with good plans for the future AND enjoying the present moment.

One of my daughters clearly has the same issues, and likes to feel in control of the present. I recall when she was younger, she once asked why she has to study so hard for school tests...what's the point, she asked, of doing well in classes in order to get good grades, in order to get into a good college, in order to do well in classes, in order to...(well you know the rest of the progression if you're an adult - it never seems to end).

I think my daughter's point is that people need her in the present moment: friends, family, loved ones - and each moment spent on something to "build the future" detracts from the PRESENT.

The Grass Always Seems to be Greener

Growing up as a young man from a divorced family, and as only child, I developed a terrible disease that I like to refer to as "grass is greener" syndrome. A person afflicted with this dreaded disease never quite seems to be happy with their present situation. They are always wondering about "pruning the tree" - if they prune opportunities off, and go with just one, they might have cut off key opportunities that might lead to much prosperity, happiness in the future. Yet, this person is not happy because they are always looking to the future in hope.

Stop and Smell the Roses

So, what role does Faith plays a big role in assisting us in balancing out present in future? When we spend time in prayer, or meditation, being thankful for what God and Life have given us, it tends to anchor us more to the present. Maybe listening to God's voice helps us to simply stop and smell the roses more often?

When we talk with God, it also helps us to determine what is truly important to us - which often we find is those around us - our relationships, our health, our present being. So, God can help to anchor us to the Present. The Lord helps us to realize what is truly important ...and that will help us to decide between the present and the future options. God teaches us to learn about our "core" and who we really are. He can teach us what are our unique talents, gifts and strengths - and them participate in the present and the future with a knowledge that we are making informed choices about what things will ultimately bring us happiness. And, when we ask God for guidance, and really listen to what He is telling us, we can go forwrad with our future plans knowing that "God will provide".

There really is no "wrong" choice. Life is a series of choices and what matters is how we feel about the process, not the outcome.

A Look at Jordan

2009-03-16T05:56:48Z

I am writing this latest blog, in our series on what we can learn from the world's great religions, from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Yesterday, I saw one of the most unique images in my life: Palestinian musicians playing a British tune on Scottish bagpipes in an ancient Roman amphitheater in the center of the Arab world. And then, from overhead, a military transport helicopter flew low over the amphitheater to land nearby to drop off relatives of the royal family.

What an incredible world we live in.

We were touring the ancient Roman ruins of Jerash, which are truly spectacular. We wondered among temples dedicated to Zeus and Dionysus, visited several churches from the 5th and 6th century A.D. and heard regular calls to prayer from various mosques throughout the city - all within a stone's throw of each other. As we journeyed, I was struck by two things.

First, the passing of times, and kingdoms, and civilizations is inevitable. Only the abiding presence of God is constant.

Second, the world has always been, and always will be, a dynamic place. Cultures and religions have always bumped up against each other, and they will continue to do so. Sometimes those bumps have resulted in wars or other acts of violence. Sometimes, they manifest themselves - almost unconsciously - in the music of Palestinian musicians on Scottish bagpipes.

What does this mean to the question of faith and life balance?

God works through us, throughout the ages, in many and mysterious ways. He forces us together, into relationship, so that we make see the full truth of God's grace. If we can be open to these relationships, to see God's grace within them, we may well find a greater understanding of faith within ourselves. And with that understanding, of God's presence in all of us - regardless of our culture differences - may come the balance that we all seek in the world.

Balancing on a 4-Hour Work Week

2009-03-15T23:33:34Z

One of the most popular books related to the topic of Life Balance to appear in the last few years is Timothy Ferriss's The Four Hour Workweek. If you haven't picked up a copy, it's worth the read. Ferriss made both the New York Times AND the WSJ best-seller list before turning 30 with a book that contains some unique approaches to Life's 80/20 Rule: finding a way to focus 20% of your time on making a living and 80% of your time on enjoying and experiencing life. His blog is worth checking out as well.

FOCUSED LIFESTYLE
The 4-Hour Workweek is about lifestyle - how to create work for yourself that takes minimal time and frees you up to fill your week up with the things you love to do and are truly passionate about. The book goes into details on ways to leverage virtual work-forces, choose a product to sell over the web, reduce your time on emails, and put your income on "auto-pilot".

EARNING A LIVING OR FOLLOWING A CALLING?
This book really is about *life balance* and those little tricks for gaining more time in life for the things you really value. We only have a set number of hours in our lives. Most of us spend 40-60 of these hours working to make a living. doing things we enjoy or find valuable for ourselves and others and sleeping. The "4-Hour Work Week" lifestyle is one that looks for ways to earn a living using less time in the week by being focused on ways to minimize money-making time by leveraging outside resources. Most of us don't want to spend our lives "earning a living". We'd rather spend time with family, friends or following a calling.

THE VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
An interesting example Mr. Ferriss uses in the book is the idea of leveraging a Virtual Assistant (a low-cost assistant living in India, Philippines or elsewhere in the world who is available via website and phone) to leverage time spent on the job. A Virtual Assistant can allow you to focus your hours on work that may help drive more revenue or pay, while allowing you to offload "tasks" to someone who can handle them for a fraction of your personal cost. Years ago something like this would not be possible, but today, if utilized *Smartly* , it is conceivable one can free up 80-90% of the menial tasks related to scheduling, research or purchasing. (Unless, of course, you happen to enjoy scheduling, research or purchasing).

I myself have a "virtual assistant" named Jennifer who is based several towns away from me. She's my eyes & ears - an extension of myself and I've worked hard to make us a "team". She is part-time and handles my scheduling, fact-finding, telephone calls, travel arrangements, some research. She's a terrific person and very helpful to me both professionally and personally.

GAINING BALANCE
When we feel out of balance, it could help to check the way we are spending time on the job and look for ways to leverage resources to reduce the time we spend on tasks that others can do. The *4-Hour Workweek* contains some useful clues as to where we can search for this leverage. How do you maintain balance in your 4 hour work week? Are you on your way? Send us a comment and let us know!

The Global Financial Meltdown - Feeling out of Balance?

2009-03-15T21:22:59Z

Over the past year, few of us have escaped the staggering losses in the stock market, real estate and global markets. If it hasn't directly affected our own families, it has affected our expanded families, our neighbors or our co-workers. We've witnessed families lose half their net worth, retirees watch their nest-eggs disappear, parents see their childrens' college funds dwindle. In the US, with 10% unemployment approaching, this is likely to get worse.

KEEPING PERSPECTIVE
How does one keep a perspective on life during difficult times such as these? The answer may be observing what those who far less than we do. My family, for the past 10 years, has been involved actively with a non-profit called Opportunity International. OI has been a way for each of us to learn more about global poverty and just how far ABOVE the global poverty line we Americans live.

As it turns out, nearly 3 Billion people on this earth live on $2 or less per day, and half of those on <$1 day. If you visit these people, as I have done with my daughters, you note three basic things:

1. They are hard-working and diligent
2. They actually can appear to be happier than the average American.

WHAT PRICE HAPPINESS?
How can it be that children living in dirt shacks with little more than a stick and ball to play with are seemingly more content than children in the US? One hypothesis: the poor learn to work with what God's given them and feel blessed by what is given to them. Their expectations are low and they learn to appreciate what they have.

By contrast, we tend to forget how much we have. The collapse of the financial markets underscores this. We focus on the loss of money and property, but perhaps forget that we still have much more than most of the rest of the world.

Will we be any less happy with less money? Sure, if we tell ourselves that we have suffered a loss. If we focus on what's truly important -- our health, the roof over our heads, the family that loves us, the friends that care about us - then the financial market melt-down takes on a very different meaning. It can serve as a reminder of just how fortunate we are.