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?”"

'This is the new reality': Panelists speak for Pitt cyber security institute; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2/3/17

Chris Potter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; 

'This is the new reality': Panelists speak for Pitt cyber security institute:

[Kip Currier: This was a fascinating and informative panel at the University of Pittsburgh on February 2, 2017, discussing cyberhacking, efforts to identify hackers and hacker-sanctioning actors/nation states, and responses to hacking threats and incidents.

Two comments (which I'll paraphrase below, without benefit of a transcript) by panelist and Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov, stood out for me:

1. Vladimir Putin's Russia has deftly understood and exploited the distinction between "cybersecurity" and "information security" (the West, Soldatov contends, has focused more on the former).

2. Under Stalin, technical training in Soviet universities and technical institutes did not include study of ethics and the humanities (largely relegated to those in medical professions).]

"The precise identity and motivations of the hackers who leaked sensitive Democratic emails during last year’s presidential election may never be known. But they left fingerprints that were familiar to Andrei Soldatov, a journalist who has written about Russia’s security state for the past 20 years.

Like much of the propaganda back home, Mr. Soldatov said at a University of Pittsburgh panel discussion Thursday, “It’s not about building the positive narrative, it’s about building the negative narrative. … To say everyone is corrupt and no one can be trusted — people will accept this.”

Mr. Soldatov was one of four panelists convened by Pitt’s fledgling Institute of Cyber Law, Policy, and Security and its new director, former U.S. Attorney David Hickton. The discussion drew a few hundred people to the first public event for the center, which focuses on cybercrime and cybersecurity."