Appreciation

Happiness

All Good Things Come to an End

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, May 7 2025

There is a famous saying, “This, too, shall pass.” Whether you are going through good times or bad times, those times will change. The interesting thing about that is that it is a double-edged sword: if you’re suffering, you (of course) want them to change; if you’re are having a blast, you don’t want the fun or joy to

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Desire

Is Never Being Satisfied a Good Thing or Bad Thing?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, April 30 2025

“Always be content; never be satisfied,” is a statement that I like to use to explain the ideal attitude that you should have toward life. It’s a succinct way to explain the (seemingly paradoxical) relationship between two things that you need to do simultaneously: you want to always be grateful for what you have (which should make you feel...

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Emotions

Everybody Needs Somebody to Care About Them

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, January 29 2025

We are a social species. The evolution of life led to cooperative organisms because the life forms that worked to deliberately help each other and not hurt them were more likely to survive. But you can't just have organisms behave like that randomly; for the behavior to occur regularly, there has to be an incentive to do

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Ethics

Value

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, November 27 2024

“I know my worth.” “All humans have value.” “What is this property value?” “Of what value are you to me?” One of the biggest challenges with language is that the same word can mean several different things, and several different words can mean approximately the same thing. As such, the word “value” is used a lot when discussing relationships,...

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Meaning

Accomplishments, Awards, and Asterisks

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, August 14 2024

What matters? It seems like a simple question. But here’s the thing: people every day ask themselves what they want in life or how they can find more meaning in life and never really face that question. They often end up looking around at what other people like and following them. With that approach, they had better hope that they like the same...

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Happiness

Ask, Believe, Receive? Or Desire, Believe, Work, Achieve?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, July 3 2024

I presented my findings on the eight drivers of someone’s sense of meaning and purpose in life, and someone immediately said that they could summarize it all in one idea: The Law of Attraction. Although the statement was incorrect—the Law of Attraction only covers 3-5 drivers at most (desire, belief, emotions, and as a stretch support and choice...

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Desire

Taking Things for Granted

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, May 22 2024

We are grateful when we initially receive things and we know that it makes us feel good, yet we lose it over time. What gives? Unfortunately for us modern humans, emotions are an evolutionary system that tells the body and mind how to react to given stimuli. So, if there is a threat, your fear drive kicks in and you act accordingly. If you eat...

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