Helpful = Happy: So this isn't actually news, but I think this blogger has a good idea: "Here's the step I've been taking lately to prevent from falling down a hole. It's going to sound smarmy and oversimple, so I'm almost embarrassed to mention it. But in conversations, with almost everybody, I've been asking the question, "How can I help you?" And I've meant it, with genuine curiosity, and eye contact. Not asking as a promise or an obligation, not undertaking, necessarily, to do what it is they'll say they need, but a simple inquiry -- what could someone like me do to help you with your current goals? And I'll tell you, that small habit is pretty cool. It magically shifts my frame of reference out of my own position as the center of the universe, and a shabby one at that, to a supporting actress who can shine in that role. I stumbled on it, not because I was trying to be saintly but because I was feeling so lousy about myself that I was desperate to shift the conversation back onto the other person. And it turns out to be handy -- people are surprised and pleased to be asked, it takes my own critical eye off of myself, and the requests are usually interesting and small and they make me feel like maybe it's not that hard to be a useful and good person after all."

Article from my favorite German publication, Der Spiegel, on: "the debate in Europe over whether to adopt the American free-market capitalist system or to preserve the lavish social net that exists in countries like Germany and France is the wrong one. Instead, Europe should be looking for a third way -- and Scandinavia provides a good model." I haven't had a chance to read the whole thing, but it looks promising to me.

Good reads: Older NYT op-ed about a girl who grew up atheist and her experience at Bible school.