Dear Community, A few weeks ago, I took a red-eye flight from Boston to Memphis to meet my family and visit Graceland. Why Graceland? Well, a number of years ago, when I was just starting in academic administration, a colleague invited me to a conference at the hotel next to Graceland. I decided to take the tour of the house while I was there...and it has haunted me ever since. Y'all, I was not prepared for Graceland back then. I didn't know much about it, other than it was Elvis's house. I...

Dear Community, I am a yoga teacher, a meditation teacher, a researcher of happiness, an academic dean, a professor of English, and a respected member of my communities. I am also a human being with anxieties, worries, doubts, and insecurities. But because of all of the above, people become rather uncomfortable if I display any of these emotions in a noticeable way. When confronted with difficult situations, I need to remain the calmest in the room for the people who work for me or who look...

Dear Community, When discussing happiness with people, one of the misconceptions I come across the most is that happiness to elusive. People feel like it exists somewhere--as if happiness is Where's Waldo--and they just haven't had the good luck to find it yet. That's not how happiness works, though. Happiness is a set of practices that we choose to engage in. These practices are not always easy, though. In fact, they often feel difficult to do, especially when life is hard and we need these...