On any given day, if you ask me whether I want you to tell me what to order for dinner (or wear, or how to get to work, etc.) or whether I want to choose for myself, I’ll of course say I want the freedom of choice. And you probably would, too. One of the unquestioned assumptions of our modern world is that choice is good. Choice, in fact, is essential to happiness. After all, choice equates freedom, ability, authority, power, possibility. Lack of choice is therefore equated with oppression, depravity, powerlessness, and monotony. Choice is good…always…period. Or is it? In this very engaging TED Talk, Swarthmore psychologist Barry...

I love New Year’s resolutions. They have this way of making you feel like anything is possible. Part of it is the wholly arbitrary and yet incredibly powerful event of the start of a new year itself. Even though we could conceivably start a new year on any day (February 1…or 28th, for that matter), once you choose to count from a certain place, it gives the impression of a new start. January 1st, of course, flows with absolutely no disconnect from December 31, but that’s beside the point. What matters is that we’ve decided to count 1/1 not simply as a continuation of 12/31 but as something new. The other delicious part of New...