In August 2022, I quit my dream job. Looking to heal my burnout and find happiness beyond work, I spent a year and a half — and $34,000 — exploring South America and Asia. For the first several months, I dashed through my bucket list destinations, hiking to snow-capped peaks and glacial lakes in Patagonia … Read more
My husband Martin and I met in Brussels in 2012, when I literally stepped on his toes at my neighborhood farmer’s market. At the time, I was working as a security manager at NATO headquarters, and he was on a business trip from his home in the Netherlands. Three days later, we went on our … Read more
After three decades researching human hope and happiness, I discovered a method you can use to measure your happiness. It’s based on this simple equation: Hope ÷ Hunger = Happiness This math formula — hope divided by hunger equals happiness — says that the more hopeful and less hungry you are, the happier you become. … Read more
As the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute, my work is dedicated to measuring and understanding what improves people’s wellbeing and overall quality of life. We’re based in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, one of the countries that is consistently ranked the happiest in the world. Danes are often surprised by this fact. As someone … Read more
As a faculty member at Yale, I teach hundreds of people every year. I’ve observed that although all of my students have extraordinary qualities, only some of them go on to live extraordinary lives. What makes them so special? They have a healthy relationship with themselves. Most people, however, have the opposite: a toxic relationship … Read more
In July 2020, my husband and I left Los Angeles with our two small kids, to visit his family in a small town in the Danish countryside. We didn’t realize the trip would result in a permanent move and a new adventure. When a 1700’s farmhouse came on the market, we took a chance and … Read more
The resort town of Mazatlán, Mexico — where I lived from 2006 until last month — is one of the best spots to witness the total solar eclipse on April 8. Hordes of people are traveling there to experience the event. There was a 1,000% surge in searches for Airbnb listings in North American cities … Read more
As a leader at the education nonprofit Khan Academy, I was thrilled when ChatGPT came out in November 2022. It meant we could use generative AI to provide personalized tutoring to more kids than ever. But as a hiring manager and cofounder of a career development business who’s trained first-gen students at CUNY and MBAs … Read more
I’ve been an expat for most of my life. Originally from Japan, I’ve lived in a total of six countries. For the past 15 years, I’ve called Geneva, Switzerland, my home. When my then-husband and I decided to move here, to his hometown, our first child was just 10 months old. We wanted a change … Read more
As emergency medicine doctors, we clock in and out at all hours, making it tough to get enough rest. Physicians also come from a culture where boasting about getting by on little or no sleep is common or even boasted about. But we want to push back on that idea. Sleep is fundamentally important to … Read more
