Some places are like family. They annoy us to no end, especially during the holidays, but we keep coming back for more because we know, deep in our hearts, that our destinies are intertwined. Eric Weiner More Quotes by Eric Weiner More Quotes From Eric Weiner For me, a place unvisited is like an unrequited love. A dull ache that- try as you might to think it away, to convince yourself that she really wasn't the right country for you- just won't leave you in peace. Eric Weiner unrequited-love country thinking A confused mind is one that is open to the possibility of change. Eric Weiner possibility-of-change confused mind Normally, we think of the religious as people who care more, not less than the rest of us. This is not true, not exactly. The truly religious care more deeply about fewer things and do't give a hoot about the rest. Eric Weiner religious people thinking We can't love a place or a person if we always have one foot out the door. Eric Weiner persons feet doors Reason cannot account for those moments in life that "bewilder the intellect yet utterly quiet the heart," as G.K. Chesterton observed. Eric Weiner moments heart quiet Joseph Campbell, who when asked what spiritual practice he followed said, "I underline books." Me too. Eric Weiner practice spiritual book A mystery is not a puzzle waiting to be solved, but rather something for which there is no human solution. Mystery's offspring is not frustration but awe, and that sense of awe grows in tandem with knowledge. Eric Weiner frustration mystery waiting It's not what we believe that makes us happy but the act of believing. In anything. Eric Weiner believe When you drink coffee, you become very focused, and in fact, the key to creative genius is to be defocused. Eric Weiner coffee keys creative It is a fact of human nature that we derive pleasure from watching others engage in pleasurable acts. This explains the popularity of two enterprises: pornography and cafés. Eric Weiner human-nature two facts Believing in everything looks a lot like believing in nothing. Eric Weiner believe looks Where we are is vital to who we are. Eric Weiner who-we-are I would love to think there is a direct relationship between coffee and genius, but they've done studies, and if anything, caffeine probably makes you a little less creative. Eric Weiner coffee creative thinking Compromise is a skill, and like all skills it atrophies from lack of use. Eric Weiner compromise skills use We are shaped not only by our current geography but by our ancestral one as well. Americans, for instance, retain a frontier spirit even though the only frontier that remains is that vast open space between the SUV and strip mall. We are our past. Eric Weiner suvs space past Every country has its cocktail-party question. A simple one-sentence query, the answer to which unlocks a motherlode of information about the person you just met.... In Switzerland it is, Where are you from? That is all you need to know about someone. Eric Weiner party simple country You look around the world at geniuses, and they don't appear randomly, they appear in genius clusters. Athens in 50 BC, Florence 1500, Silicon Valley today. This is not a coincidence. Eric Weiner florence valleys looks I've spent most of my life trying to think my way to happiness, and my failure to achieve that goal only proves, in my mind, that I am not a good enough thinker. It never occurred to me that the source of my unhappiness is not flawed thinking but thinking itself. Eric Weiner goal mind thinking Part of positive psychology is about being positive, but sometimes laughter and clowns are not appropriate. Some people don't want to be happy, and that's okay. They want meaningful lives, and those are not always the same as happy lives. Eric Weiner laughter meaningful happy-life And yet, over the years I've met so many people like Jared who seem to be more at home, happier, living in a country on of their birth. ... Not political refugees, escaping a repressing regime, nor economic refugees, crossing a border in search of a better-paying job. The are hedonic refugees, moving to a new land, a new culture, because they are happier there. Usually hedonic refugees have an ephiphany, a moment of great clarity when they realize, beyond a doubt, that they were born in the wrong country. Eric Weiner jobs country moving
