Our expectation of the gratitude of others for what we've done for them is sometimes exaggerated because of our deep desire for appreciation and approval. When our good work or good deeds go unrewarded by hoped for praise, we feel like failures so we treat those who denied us our due as betrayers.

One of the greatest things about daughters is how they adored you when they were little; how they rushed into your arms with electric delight and demanded that you watch everything they do and listen to everything they say. Those memories will help you through less joyous times when their adoration is replaced by embarrassment or annoyance and they don't want you to see what they are doing or hear what they are saying. And yet, you will adore your daughter every day of her life, hoping to be valued again, but realizing how fortunate you were even if you only get what you already got.

I think Samuel Johnson had it right when he observed that hope is itself a species of happiness. So if we want to be happy it only makes sense to discipline ourselves to choose our attitudes, to think positively and to be hopeful.

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the many things we have to be thankful for, not so we feel guilty about what we have that others don't, but to be genuinely grateful for our blessings.

You can't escape moral judgment through a legal loop hole.

Not everything that is good for you is fun and not everything that is fun is good for you.

It isn't the absence of conscience or values that prevents us from being all we should be, it is simply the lack of moral courage.