7 Questions to Ask Yourself for a Happier New Year; The New York Times, December 26, 2025

 Jancee Dunn , The New York Times; 7 Questions to Ask Yourself for a Happier New Year

"At the end of every year, I like to reflect by asking myself a question. This year, I’m mulling one recommended by Kandi Wiens, the author of “Burnout Immunity.”

Dr. Wiens told me to ask myself: What is worth remembering from 2025?...

Now it’s your turn. I asked experts for other reflective questions that could provide a framework for thinking about the year ahead. Pick one or two that resonate, journal about them or discuss them with a friend.

When did you feel the most joyful and carefree?...

What gave you energy — and what drained it?...

What seemed impossible — but you did it anyway?...

What habit, if you did it more consistently, would have a positive effect on your life?...

What did you try to control that was actually outside your control?...

Is there anyone you need to forgive in 2026?

Hanging on to anger and resentment can take mental and emotional energy, said Anthony Chambers, a psychologist and the chief academic officer of the Family Institute at Northwestern University. Deciding to forgive, he added, doesn’t mean forgetting.

Instead, it’s a “choice to stop letting a past action control our present emotions,” he said, and it can be good for your mental health. To help his patients get started, Dr. Chambers frequently recommends the book “Forgiveness Is a Choice,” by Robert Enright.

“Forgiveness allows you to move forward feeling freer and fulfilled instead of filled with bitterness,” Dr. Chambers said. “And what better way to bring in 2026 than to have a sense of freedom?”"

Trump’s America is a rotten place; Washington Post, 1/20/17

Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post; Trump’s America is a rotten place

"President Trump delivered a campaign speech, not an inaugural address today. That he and his staff do not understand the difference goes to the heart of his insufficiency as a leader. Addressing a shockingly sparse crowd, he painted a picture of a hellish America that can only be restored by turning inward, deciding the world is a burden and our allies are thieves...

What was missing was virtually any vision of what he wants America to be. The most we got was a promise to “build new roads and highways and bridges and airports and tunnels and railways all across our wonderful nation” and to get “people off of welfare and back to work, rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor.” Beyond that he cannot describe a renewed America. More opportunities? More productive? More understanding between segments of America?

There was one brief positive moment in the speech when he offered an olive branch to our allies. “We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and reform the world against radical Islamic terrorism which we will eradicate from the face of the earth.” He unfortunately followed it with a creepy statism in which we define our personal relationships through nationalistic loyalty. “At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other.” We actually have relationships, loyalties and bonds with one another that are the fabric of society and do not need to be redefined as an outgrowth of a new sort of nationalism. Conservatives  who value civil society free from government should be horrified — if they have intellectual integrity.

There has never and will not be a better Trump. His vision is dark, false and frightening. He leads by stoking nativism, protectionism (which actually makes us poorer) and seething resentment. God help us all.

Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for The Post, offering reported opinion from a conservative perspective."

Cracking the Code That Stalls People of Color; Harvard Business Review, 1/22/14

Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Harvard Business Review; Cracking the Code That Stalls People of Color:

"It’s a topic which corporations once routinely ignored, then dismissed, and are only now beginning to discuss: the dearth of professionals of color in senior positions. Professionals of color hold only 11% of executive posts in corporate America. Among Fortune 500 CEOs, only six are black, eight are Asian, and eight are Hispanic.

Performance, hard work, and sponsors get top talent recognized and promoted, but “leadership potential” isn’t enough to lever men and women into the executive suite. Top jobs are given to those who also look and act the part, who manifest “executive presence” (EP). According to new CTI research (PDF), EP constitutes 26% of what senior leaders say it takes to get the next promotion. Yet because senior leaders are overwhelmingly Caucasian, professionals of color (African-American, Asian, and Hispanic individuals) find themselves at an immediate disadvantage in trying to look, sound, and act like a leader. And the feedback that might help them do so is markedly absent at all levels of management.

EP rests on three pillars: gravitas (the core characteristic, according to 67% of the 268 senior executives surveyed), an amalgam of behaviors that convey confidence, inspire trust, and bolster credibility; communication skills (according to 28%); and appearance, the filter through which communication skills and gravitas become more apparent. While they are aware of the importance of executive presence, men and women of color are nonetheless hard-pressed to interpret and embody aspects of a code written by and for white men."