May 19, 2012
The Four Levels of Happiness:
A Perfect Response to a Perfect Call
My Search for Happiness
Archdiocese of New Orleans Embarks on a Journey to Excellence
It’s observable and duly noted: “The chancery staff of the Archdiocese of New Orleans is a happy group.” So commented Jim Berlucchi, after delivering a Four Levels of Happiness day-long seminar to 140 staff members on February 17. The in-service day was the first step in the Spitzer Center's Journey to Excellence program, with a second day to be held in the fall. Read More �
Will an Office Crush Ruin My Life?
Q. I have developed a completely inappropriate crush on my new boss. He’s married, so I know he’s off limits. How do I deal with my feelings without causing problems at my job?
A. Feelings of attraction are commonplace and we all sometimes experience unruly desires. Sometimes the best way to conquer an inappropriate desire is to ask yourself – What it would be like if it were fulfilled? Read More �
The Really Unusual Thing About Tim Tebow
It would be quite a stretch to suggest that God is a Denver Broncos fan, but it’s not far-fetched to imagine that He takes pleasure in Tim Tebow. God honors those who honor him, which Tebow does unabashedly. Perhaps He repays that honor by answering Tebow’s gridiron prayers, and perhaps He doesn’t. I would guess that God has higher concerns than the outcome of sporting events. Despite his highly competitive nature, the same can be said of Tebow. Read More �
All Creation Rejoices: A Christmas Memory from Fr. Spitzer
In Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life, Fr. Robert Spitzer discusses the faith journey that led him to the priesthood. One memorable moment in that journey came on a Christmas Day when he was just 12 years old. Here’s the story as Fr. Spitzer relates it. Read More �
Penn State Scandal Reflects a Flaw Found in Many Organizations
Entering the gym last week, I was greeted by Ryan, the normally cheerful manager and head trainer. Ryan is a former college football player who volunteers as a high school coach. His chipper manner and optimism always pick me up, but on this day, I could see he wasn’t himself. “What a sad, sad story,” he murmured, with a nod toward a TV reporting the Penn State scandal. “And it’s only getting worse,” he added. Read More �
Fr. Spitzer's Three Steps to Accepting God’s Forgiveness
As Director of my parish’s RCIA program, it was my job to oversee the intellectual and spiritual formation of adults seeking to enter the Catholic Church. One year, I had a very interesting person come through the program, an elderly gentleman I’ll call “Douglas.” Douglas had been flirting with the idea of converting his entire life, but he told me that he had put it off because he had a lot of “unresolved issues” with Catholicism. Read More �
The Cure for Superficial Faith
Fr. Spitzer writes, "It’s impossible to know God and to love God if you’re not really sure He exists. This radical uncertainty is a problem for many Catholics, and our culture often makes the problem worse by belittling faith as unscientific. The result can be a faith so weakened by doubt it becomes “Pascalian” – a mere wager that God is real, as opposed to a deep conviction that He is at work in our lives. So how does one get beyond superficial faith to build a real relationship with God? I think that there are three blocks that have to be removed to make way for spiritual growth." Read More �
The Four Levels and Steve Jobs
The Four Levels of Happiness® provides a great lens for looking closer at people and news. For example, it can help to explain why the passing of Steve Jobs had such an impact on so many people around the world. Jobs was the preeminent icon of the digital revolution, and he has been likened to inventive and entrepreneurial geniuses like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Walt Disney. But I would suggest that his impact and success came down to happiness. That was Jobs’ real product, and he delivered quite a lot of it. Read More �
The Biggest Barrier to Ultimate Happiness
Happiness is the fulfillment of a desire, which is why the things we desire most in life define the happiness we pursue. When I talk about the Four Levels of Happiness®, people “get” the first three because nearly everyone has experienced them personally.We certainly understand the immediate gratification of pleasure (Level 1), and we relish the ego boost that comes from winning, receiving praise, or feeling superior (Level 2). We also appreciate the deep and enduring satisfaction we get when we’ve made a real contribution to others around us (Level 3). But people often draw a blank when I talk about Level 4 happiness, or the transcendent joy that flows from sensing the truth, the beauty, the goodness, and love of God. Read More �
Virtue and the Art of Living
Edward P. Sri writes that, "A number of years ago, my wife and I went kayaking on the Arkansas River in the Colorado Rockies. We had never been kayaking before, so we went with a group led by a guide who gave us lessons – lessons that included the warning about not standing up in the river. 'The river is not that deep,' he said. 'But it is very powerful. If you fall into it, don't stand up because the river will knock you right down. Just hold on to your life jacket and wade to the side.'" Read More �
The Secret of All Progress
“The rest of you boys…thanks for trying out and enjoy the rest of your summer.”The broad-shouldered football coach was a kind man. He was giving us few stragglers the bad news. We didn’t make the Immaculate Heart of Mary 5th grade football team. We could turn in our shoulder pads and go home. I lowered my head, got on my bike and surveyed the 40 or so guys still practicing. Rats. I had really counted on making the team. But before I got home an idea occurred to me. Why not show up tomorrow for practice anyway? That's how I learned the secret of all progress. Read More �
“Four Problems That Are Killing Us as a Community”
Archbishop Charles Chaput was recently named by Pope Benedict XVI as the new archbishop of Philadelphia. Archbishop Chaput has often spoken about the role of faith in building a stronger, more cohesive, and just society. Ten years ago, he gave a talk at Thomas Aquinas College that remains as relevant and insightful today as it did then. The core of the talk was devoted to the problems that arise when “we remove God from our public life.” As Catholics, we often fall prey to the same problems, and awareness of these traps is the first step in avoiding them, living our faith more fully, and helping others to do the same. Read More �
“He Has Done All Things Well”: A Tribute to Hank Frigon, Founding Chairman, Spitzer Center
This column regularly expounds upon virtue and how its cultivation brings human happiness and excellence. Virtue is glorious. Virtue is precious. Virtue is its own reward. And virtue also has a wonderful double effect. It both makes its possessor happy and spreads that happiness through that same possessor. I’ve always loved the succinct description of our Savior’s virtue: “He has done all things well” (Mark 7:37). And of his life it is written, “He went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). These are good summations of the life of Hank Frigon, Founding Chairman of the Spitzer Center. Hank died on June 18, at the age of 76. Read More �
Three Tips for Taming the Tongue
It was my worst day as a parish Director of Religious Education: the Third Sunday of Advent, 2007. For weeks, I had been preparing a presentation on Catholic Christmas traditions to give to all the children in our program. As a lover of history and Catholic culture, I was eager to share the humble beauty of the Polish oplatek wafer, the colorful and vibrant Mexican las posadas plays, and of course, the inspiring story of St. Nicholas of Myra, the 4th century Greek bishop who later morphed into Santa Claus. Unfortunately, during the segment on St. Nicholas, I let it slip there was no such person as Santa Claus. I had not meant to divulge this intelligence, but after it came out I thought, "Who cares? They're old enough to know the truth! Somebody's got to tell them." Read More �
When Good People Make Bad Choices: A Catholic Perspective on Jim Tressel’s Resignation
It pains me to admit it, but many people here in Ann Arbor were exulting last week when Jim Tressel was forced to resign due to ethical lapses. For those of you who don’t follow college football, Tressel was the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, one of the nation’s perennial top teams. In his tenure as coach, the Buckeyes won nine of ten games against the Ann Arbor-based Michigan Wolverines. As a lifelong Michigan fan – I once led a weekly bible study with Coach Bo Schembechler and his staff – I could understand the temptation to take pleasure in Ohio State’s embarrassment. But frankly, I was saddened by Tressel’s departure. From all I had heard about the coach, he struck me as a man of exemplary character. So what happened? Read More �
Am I Listening to God or the Other Guy? Three Rules for Discerning Spirits
We make decisions every day that require good judgment and prudence, but some decisions are simply too large to be left to our judgment alone. Important life decisions – choices that set our direction in life – require spiritual discernment as well as prudence. Life choices affect our journey with God, and discernment is essential to ensure we are living the prayer, “Thy will be done.” This raises the question, how do we know we are listening to God and doing His will? How do we know we’re allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us, and not just pursuing our own headstrong desires, or worse, being tempted and led astray by the enemy? Here's some of Fr. Spitzer practical guidance on the discernment of spirits. Read More �
10 Short, Spontaneous Prayers That Really Work
Adapted from Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life, By Fr. Robert Spitzer
Spontaneous prayers are short and effective vehicles for grace in daily life. They allow grace to come into our lives precisely at the moment we really need it with prayers that we can easily remember. What follows are a number of spontaneous prayers that have been very important in my life. Read More �
The Seven Deadly Habits of Highly Defective People
My first memorable brush with a few of the Seven Deadly Sins occurred when I was just 5. Lusting after some gum at the local grocery store, I stuffed a jumbo, multi-pack of Dentyne into my pants. When I got home, I feverishly replenished my mouth with fresh gum until my mouth and jaws grew sore from overexertion. To make matters worse, I was found out. My father escorted me to the store manager, and I cringingly admitted my crime. Dad paid the restitution, and I went to Confession. Read More �
Why the Spitzer Center Adopted a Catholic Mission
Here at the Spitzer Center, the last few years have been a lesson in the Lord’s wisdom. We have been challenged by trying to meet the needs of two very different audiences – faith-based, Catholic organizations and secular, for-profit organizations. We were founded on the hope the Center could meet the needs of both audiences. In practice, we found ourselves treading a middle path on which it was difficult to manage the different needs of both audiences. So we decided it would be best to serve the Catholic community through the Spitzer Center and the for-profit community through a separate new organization. Read More �
How Catholics Work Together: Ten Common Strengths and Weaknesses of Church-based Organizations
The Spitzer Center has worked with dozens of Catholic organizations, from parishes and dioceses to schools and health care systems. Our experience has shown us that there’s a constellation of traits – both strengths and weakness – that define the type of culture more typically found in a Catholic workplace. There are areas in which Church-based organizations do well but businesses tend to struggle. There are also practices more common in the business world that Catholic leaders might wish to emulate. Read More �
Why Willpower Isn’t Enough, and How to Augment It
Saint Paul and Oscar Wilde didn’t have very much in common, but there was at least one hard fact of human nature that each acknowledged, in his own way. In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul observed, “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.” Wilde dismissed the same universal weakness with a quip in one of his plays: “I can resist anything but temptation.” All of us fight the battle St. Paul referred to, and all of us yield to temptations to act in ways we wish we wouldn’t. The question is, why? Why can’t we simply program ourselves to live a noble life, only doing what’s best for us? Read More �
Canadian Couple Redefines What Winning the Lottery Means
What would you do if you won more than 10 million dollars? It’s a fantasy many people pursue by purchasing lottery tickets in the belief that winning would be a dream come true. But too often, that dream turns into a waking nightmare. People hit the jackpot, and then the jackpot hits them back Read More �
Video Story: Fr. Spitzer Debates the Question, “Did God Create the Universe?” on Larry King Live
Fr. Robert Spitzer’s interests go well beyond the focus of the Spitzer Center. In fact, they go all the way back to the creation of the universe. Fr. Spitzer’s latest book is called New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy. It was written in response to a spate of recent books that champion atheism while ignoring “the considerable evidence for theism provided by physics and philosophy during the last few decades,” says Fr. Spitzer. Read More �