Neil Pasricha

I wrote 'The Book of Awesome' and 'The Happiness Equation'. Please sign my petition to Prime Minister Mark Carney 👇🏾

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

7 science-backed ways to be happy:

1. Walk
2. Journal
3. Acts of kindness
4. Sing
5. Deep breaths
6. Write gratitudes
7. Read fiction

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

David Myers, a psychology professor at Michigan’s Hope College, has been studying happiness for over 70 years.

In that time, almost every "success of society" metric has soared:

- Education rates
- Lifespan
- Real income

Yet our happiness has remained flat.

So we’re living in the most abundant time in human civilzation.

And yet our happiness isn’t budging. And anxiety, depression, and loneliness are at all-time highs!

Why do you think this is?

(What’s getting in the way of our happiness?)

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

That’s a quick pull! I write longform reviews of 5-10 books every month—100% free and zero ads or AI. Sign up at https://t.co/VFdxoZLIV7

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

If you’re curious and always itching to know what else is out there, ‘The Explorer’s Gene’ by Alex Hutchinson (@sweatscience) is a wonderful read.

It will expand how you think about curiosity, risk, and exploration.

Here are some of my favorite pages:

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

“What makes exploring hard—the uncertainty, the struggle, the possibility of failure—is at least in part, what makes it rewarding.”

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

@Gerdamary @MarkJCarney I definitely don't mind! I haven't seen that survey. Where / how do we get it / spread it, etc?

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

Dear Prime Minister Mark Carney (@markjcarney),

I was on the Toronto Ferry last year staring at our majestic waterfront.

I saw paddlers, kayakers, dragon boaters, sailors, windsurfers, fishers, paddleboarders, water taxis, and cruisers all sharing the space in harmony.

When we docked at Hanlan’s Point on the Toronto Islands I was surrounded by hikers, joggers, cyclists, birders, picnickers, swimmers, photographers, beachgoers, frisbee golfers, naturalists, and thousands of tourists and locals enjoying this lush ecological paradise surrounded by our sparkling freshwater lake.

Please don’t destroy this by paving Lake Ontario.

Three weeks ago Ontario Premier Doug Ford (@fordnation) announced he will "seize" Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ) in order to expand runways into Lake Ontario (1), bring in jets against the legal contracts governing the airport (2), and nix 14,000 mixed-use homes slated to go up on the shore (which taxpayers have already spent $1.4B developing). (3,4)

Although this decision is not his to make — Billy Bishop is governed by the City of Toronto and the federal government (5) — Premier Ford says he will overrule the City to "bring in jets one way or another." (6,7)

Premier Ford says he has the "full support" of your federal government to do this. (8)

Prime Minister Carney:

It is not too late.

Please say no to expanding Billy Bishop airport into the lake.

We don’t need this, we don’t want this, and we can’t afford this.

We don’t need this.

We can already go anywhere we want to go.

I live right in downtown Toronto.

I can be anywhere I want in the world, tomorrow.

I can walk to bus, subway, streetcar, and UP express stations from my house and I fly 40x per year.

In the past year I have been to over 35 airports on 3 continents and YYZ is one of the absolute best. In fact, in the past month it has won "Best Airport Staff in North America" (9), been ranked 4th in all of the Americas in efficiency (out of 50 airports) (10), and won Best Large Airport on the entire continent (an award it's won eight times in nine years.) (11)

Right this second, checking Uber, I can get from my house by car to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport (YYZ) in 21 mins and to Toronto’s Billy Bishop Island Airport (YTZ) in 14 mins.

Right this second, if someone at Union Station wanted to get to YYZ on public transit it would take 28 minutes (UP Express) and to YTZ would take 22 minutes (TTC streetcar).

We are talking about a 6 minute time savings here.

If we want to serve southwestern Ontario’s population with expanded jet service we simply need to use the 7000m of existing, high-capacity, under-utilized jet runways within 2 hours of Toronto at Hamilton (@flyYHM ), Waterloo (@flyYKF), and London (@flyYXU) versus entertaining a "special economic zone" to force a jet-strip into the most environmentally sensitive and densely populated waterfront in the country.

We don’t want this.

This tiny speck of ecological paradise provides critical respite from our dense and urban concrete jungle and is vital for mental health, community, and happiness.

Over 400 peer-reviewed studies show urban forests and parks mitigate depression and anxiety and enhance overall mental well-being. (12)

I know you agree because four days ago on March 31, 2026 you announced your "Force of Nature" strategy with the vision of "protecting, restoring, and valuing nature." This wonderful program declares a federal investment of $3.8 billion dollars into "protecting critical habitats and aligning industrial strategies with biodiversity conservation." (13, 14, 15)

Also, I looked into the runway expansion into the lake that Premier Ford has promised.

Right now the shortest jet runway in Canada is 1832m (YHM Hamilton, ON) and the shortest jet runway in the world is 1508m (LCY London City Airport, UK). There are also new Canadian Aviation Regulations (RESA) stating all runways need to add 150m on each end for safety. (16, 17, 18)

Today the Billy Bishop runway is 1216m. (19)

Even the most conservative assumption — building the shortest jet runway in the entire world! — still requires a minimum of 600m more runway to land jets.

Here is a current aerial view of Billy Bishop Airport. (Photo 1 / attached)

Here is an aerial view of Billy Bishop Airport with the smallest possible runway extension of 600m added. (Photo 2 / attached)

(Of course this photo doesn’t include additional parking, hangers, gates, aprons, tarmacs, fueling stations, de-icing stations, blast fences, control towers, baggage carousels, taxi pickups … )

We can’t afford this.

Premier Ford was first elected in 2018 as the right wing candidate (PC) with 40.5% of the vote (left wing side of NDP and Liberal was 53.2%) and campaigned as a fiscal conservative. (FN) He attacked the Liberals for their $6.7B deficit and vowed a "return to balanced budgets" that would "begin in 2019." (20, 21)

Since then Premier Ford has won two more elections — with a nearly identical right / left vote split and record lows in voter turnout — and has now presided over 8 budgets. (22, 23)

In order from 2019 to 2026 those eight budgets have been for *deficits* of $8.7B, $16.4B, $13.5B, $5.9B, $5.6, $1.1B, $12.3B, and, most recently, just announced last week on March 26, 2026, coming in at a 77% increase on his own 2025 forecasts, $13.8B. (24, 25)

Since Premier Ford was elected he has *increased* Ontario’s debt from $338B to $485B. Ontario now pays $17.2B a year … just in interest payments. (26, 27, 28)

Notably, Premier Ford’s most recent $13.8B deficit budget does not include any money for the projected $1-2B cost of expanding Billy Bishop airport.

(Prime Minister, you and Premier Ford are both 61 and have a seemingly warm relationship despite wildly different education and business paths. (29, 30, 31, 32) Might you have time for some evening finance tutorials?)

Prime Minister Carney:

We don’t need this, we don’t want this, we can’t afford this.

Please say no to this expansion plan.

Please allow the legal agreements governing the airport to remain in the hands of those who legally own it — the City of Toronto and the federal government — and not with Premier Ford’s provincial government who is attempting to autocratically rule something in which it has no stake.

At the Junos six days ago on March 29, 2026 you praised 82-year-old @jonimitchell and justifiably called her "one of the greatest artists of all time." (33)

Joni warned us about "paving paradise to put up a parking lot" and now that’s exactly what Premier Ford is proposing we do.

The Toronto Harbour, Toronto Harbourfront, and Toronto Islands are a crown jewel for the functioning of our great city, our great province, and our great country.

Would New York City pave over Central Park?

Would Paris put runways on the Seine?

We absolutely should not pave the paradise of Lake Ontario to put up runways and parking lots we don’t need, don’t want, and can’t afford.

It's not too late.

Please say no.

Thank you,

Neil Pasricha

//

(1) https://t.co/lgQ5WdNcwV
https://t.co/A74NIBBFil
(2) https://t.co/B3ujtqHAxs
(3) https://t.co/Heig4pdd1T
(4) https://t.co/iQuAopsifd
(5) https://t.co/Daj6zWY9mC
(6) https://t.co/AgBbiwy2R9
(7) https://t.co/QFNa94c4sn
https://t.co/3O9To68MN1
https://t.co/QFNa94c4sn
(8) https://t.co/3O9To68MN1
(9) https://t.co/I3kBjq6thM
(10) https://t.co/kgRl5vJV8W
(11) https://t.co/8stbfkcmcm
(12) https://t.co/VJiYAGJ9JJ
(13) https://t.co/7ZiPrHlVxa
(14) https://t.co/dqg5ldemUZ
(15) https://t.co/ytJ0iv8ymB
(16) https://t.co/jwQm4JzTUN
(17) https://t.co/LMheI43DKb
https://t.co/8YX8IF1gqi
(18) https://t.co/Ci7qMEMpMw
(19) https://t.co/KmhPvr48Ir
(20) https://t.co/PCk3ah5cR0
(21) https://t.co/ZuviVaCKVF
(22) https://t.co/xSk5kvX4Ym
(23) https://t.co/DwJHjj05BY
(24) https://t.co/JVmlSC4Y1z
(25) https://t.co/NXBsJyGS8g
(26) https://t.co/e2kIIzuMsy
(27) https://t.co/jKAUVglOoB
(28) https://t.co/08PLVXXUJI
(29) https://t.co/doLO2tbShf
(30) https://t.co/r98N6I0ahT
(31) https://t.co/LcMIgaigwB
(32) https://t.co/y0wFa9L42e
(33) https://t.co/HvMafmRLtK
//

CC: Minister of Transport @SteveMcKinnon, Minister of Environment @JulieDabrusin, Mayor of Toronto @OliviaChow, MP @RunChiNguyenRun, MP @J_Maloney, MP @JulieDzerowicz, MP @Coteau, MP @Rob_Oliphant, MP @Vgasparro, MP @Yvan_Baker, MP @Jzerucelli, Ontario Minister of Transportation @PrabSarkaria, Ontario Minister of Infrastructure @KingaSurmaMPP, @PortsToronto, MPP @MaritStiles, MPP @JessicaBellTO, MPP @ChrisGlover, Councillor @BravoDavenport, Councillor @DianneSaxxe, Candidate @Massey_Toronto, @Nieuport, @JenniferQuinnTO, @Envirodefense, @BirdsCanada, @NoJetsTo, @CycleTO, @TheGlobeAndMail, @TorontoStar, @CBCToronto, @TheCurrentCBC, @BlogTO

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

My mum told me:

To keep my options open and add a dot-dot-dot to the end of every sentence I begin with “I can’t…”, “I’m not…”, or “I don’t…”.

I'll never forget that.

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

'Cup or no cup, the world is already here'

The Globe and Mail
June 6, 2026
By Marcus Gee

Canada is going through a rough patch. Our best friend in the world is suddenly acting like an enemy. Our economic productivity and standard of living are lagging. Our famously livable cities are looking ragged around the edges. In two of our provinces, separatism is rearing its ugly head again.

But there is one way in which, for all our faults, we are doing exceedingly well. Over the past couple of generations, we have welcomed and absorbed millions of newcomers. It is the greatest success of our recent history, a glowing example in a world torn by renewed tribalism, prejudice and conflict. The 2026 World Cup is the perfect occasion to celebrate it.

The World Cup is the biggest event in the planet’s most popular sport. This year, as co-host with the United States and Mexico, Canada is putting on 13 matches: seven in Vancouver, six in Toronto.

The country that welcomed the world is welcoming the world’s game. It will be something to behold.

For a few weeks, this country will be part of a global extravaganza followed by billions. Watch parties, fan fests and victory celebrations will make Canadian streets teem with life. Throngs of visitors from soccer-mad nations as disparate as Germany and Senegal will flock to our shores. The first match, in Toronto on June 12, will feature Canada’s own national team, playing in the tournament for only the third time, this one on home soil.

Yes, the ticket prices are obscene and, yes, the cost to taxpayers is outrageous: more than $1-billion, according the federal government’s Parliamentary Budget Officer. But we need this. The world needs this.

At its best, says Franklin Foer, the American author of How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization, the World Cup is “this incredible, beautiful, joyous festival of nationalism. Whatever rivalries and historic hatreds exist are expressed in a mostly harmless way.”

We will see that truth up close on the streets of Canada this month. Generations of mass immigration on a scale few nations have ever seen made sure of that.

You can find people from every corner of the world in Vancouver and Toronto – or Calgary, Halifax and Kitchener, for that matter. The captain of Canada’s team himself, Alphonso Davies, was born in a refugee camp in Ghana after his parents escaped a civil war in Liberia.

The result will be a multinational celebration of the world’s most multinational sport. In France, they will be flying the French flag to support their national team; in Algeria, the Algerian. Canadians will be waving 48 flags this World Cup: one for each contender – Canada included.

Twenty-first century Canada is a different kind of homeland. Not a “post-national state,” in Justin Trudeau’s mushy formulation – our sense of nationhood is strong – but a place where people can celebrate both their ancestry and their country without fear.

You don’t have to look hard to find the proof. I found it in a remarkable Toronto neighbourhood called the Esplanade, just around the corner from the headquarters of The Globe and Mail.

Tucked into a historic nook of downtown, steps from where the city was first established two centuries ago, it is a pleasant mix of townhouses, condos, apartments and co-ops holding people from all manner of incomes and backgrounds.

Its variety is astounding. The sandwich board for a local lunch spot offers chop suey, chicken soup, garlic bread and biryani, according to your taste.

New arrivals from places like the Philippines or the Punjab mix with older residents from Russia, Italy, Poland and Scotland.

Toronto has a Little Italy, a Little Portugal and a Little India, not to mention at least two Chinatowns. The Esplanade is more like Little Everywhere.

To mark the World Cup, a local arts group called Jamii (Swahili for “community”) had an ambitious idea: take photos of people representing each of the four dozen countries playing in the tournament and put them up in the neighbourhood – something that would be impossible in most places. The photos are now arrayed along the edge of a park named after a popular Toronto mayor, David Crombie.

One of them shows Jae Yang, 44, a photographer who took some of the shots in the series himself. His parents are Korean by origin. They moved to Argentina and he grew up there, living and breathing soccer the way people from the land of Maradona and Messi do. In Canada, where he moved two decades ago, he met a woman of Chinese ancestry who grew up in Peru. When this Asian-looking pair go up to Hispanic people and start speaking Spanish, says Mr. Yang, “they look at us like we have three heads.”

He will cheer for all of his “home” teams this month: South Korea’s, Argentina’s and Canada’s. He has a jersey for each. He just hopes South Korea and Argentina don’t end up playing against each other: “That would be bad.”

Another picture in the series shows Iris Unlu, 35. She came to Canada from Turkey in 2015, intending to stay a few months and improve her English. She is still here, living happily with her Toronto-born partner and her big fluffy white dog. She relishes the freedom she has here to live her life as an openly gay woman, something she says she could not have done in Turkey.

Countries from every populated continent are represented in the photo project, from Austria to Australia, Sweden to Ecuador. The organizers even found a couple to represent Curaçao, an island in the Dutch Caribbean with a population of just 158,000 – the smallest country ever to compete in the World Cup.

To Ms. Unlu, “it’s kind of crazy mind-blowing” that they could track down people from so many places. But that is Toronto; that, increasingly, is Canada.

The scale of this change is monumental. The Toronto that I grew up in in the 1950s and 1960s was a hidebound, provincial city where a dinner out meant spaghetti, checked tablecloths and wine bottles wrapped in straw. My North Toronto high school class had precisely one Chinese guy, who stuck out like a sore thumb in the sea of kids with names such as Rogers or Roberts.

By the time I was starting to raise a family of my own, the city, and the country, had changed beyond recognition. The waves of migrants from Southern Europe who settled in Canada after the Second World War were followed by new waves from Asia: India, Pakistan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam.

The downtown school my own children attended had kids from 32 countries. In today’s Toronto, seven out of 10 students in the public-school system list their race as something other than white. They and their families speak more than 100 languages.

In the Esplanade, the local elementary school, Market Lane, has kids from every background under the sun. When one teacher asked his pupils to show on a world map where their families came from, they placed stickers from Myanmar to Ukraine, Tanzania to Chile. In the school’s senior grades, 24 per cent identify as white, 19 per cent South Asian, 16 per cent East Asian, 12 per cent Black, 7 per cent Middle Eastern, 5 per cent Southeast Asian and 3 per cent Latino. Fourteen per cent list their background as “more than one.”

Two kids whose families fled the conflict in Sudan as refugees just enrolled. The school paired them with other Arabic-speaking students, but they are already picking up English. “Good morning,” one of them, a boy, sang out to Principal Laurie Jantzi in the stairwell this week.

Many of the kids are soccer fanatics, constantly kicking a ball back and forth at recess. One teacher wants to use the school foosball table to stage a kind of mini World Cup for them.

ood writer Suresh Doss never stops being dazzled by this country’s diversity. For 25 years, he has been exploring it with his taste buds.

He came to Canada when his Sri Lankan family settled in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough. His mother and grandmother were great cooks, so he learned to love food. He made his name talking about the great restaurants you can find in strip malls on the edges of town.

Today, Mr. Doss says, diners can sample fantastic dishes from all over the world in every corner of Toronto. And no wonder. In the 2021 census, close to half of the city’s residents (47 per cent) said they were immigrants. He is helping to organize a World Cup festival featuring art, music and more than 20 kinds of food, from Armenian to American.

One Scarborough supermarket that Mr. Doss likes to visit has a whole aisle just for mangoes: the big, juicy ones preferred by many Indians and Sri Lankans; crunchy, semi-ripe ones for Thais and Jamaicans; little baby ones for Colombians.

The mingling of many cultures, he says, is producing a whole range of new food offerings, from the jerk-chicken samosa to mutton-curry pizza. That mingling reaches a peak at World Cup time.

“Everyone’s cheering for their team, but they’re cheering as they’re rubbing shoulders, they’re cheering as they’re literally sharing drinks,” says Mr. Doss. If their team loses, they may start rooting for another squad they like. It’s all good in the end. Who hasn’t cheered for Brazil’s renowned crew at some point or admired the artistry of France’s Kylian Mbappé?

Simon Kuper, a columnist for London’s Financial Times and author of the just-published World Cup Fever, says the spirit of the tournament is “ecumenical.” In other words, “it’s a celebration of your own nation and it’s a celebration of the whole world, both in one.” Canada is just the place for such a party.

This country has not always been so welcoming. Our history is pockmarked with episodes of exclusion and racism – against the Chinese who came to build the transcontinental railroad; against the Japanese Canadians interned during the Second World War – not to mention the suffering visited on Indigenous peoples.

Even in recent years, we have seen appalling hate crimes such as the murderous assault on a Quebec mosque in 2017 and the fatal truck attack on a Muslim family in London, Ont., in 2021. Antisemitism has surged since the start of the war in Gaza. Public support for immigration has fallen from its usual robust levels, in part because of the way Ottawa botched the international-student program.

But the broad backlash against immigration that you see in much of the Western world simply hasn’t happened here. Though Canada has taken in more immigrants per capita than any other major democracy, it has no anti-immigrant political party of any note. That sets it apart from Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Australia, not to mention Donald Trump’s United States.

The fear of some skeptics that newcomers would fail to become “real Canadians” – huddling for generations in isolated, clannish pockets – has not materialized. Kids not long off the plane from some faraway place are soon sporting Raptors caps and listening to Olivia Rodrigo. In fact, one of the biggest complaints of immigrant parents is that their kids blend in too quickly, refusing to speak the language or observe the customs of the old country.

Christmas trees have not disappeared. Hockey is still the king of Canadian sports. Canadians across the board, whatever their background, banded together in anger and defiance when an orange-coloured former reality-TV star threatened to make this country the 51st state. A survey last year showed that foreign-born citizens are more likely than homegrown ones to feel proud to be Canadian.

In Canada’s Ghanaian community, they will be waving Ghana’s red, yellow and green flag when its team, the Black Stars, takes on Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field on June 17. But the Maple Leaf will be flying, too. Emmanuel Duodu, president of the Ghanaian-Canadian Association of Ontario, says the tournament is a chance for members of his community to celebrate their culture and heritage without for a moment forgetting their allegiance to Canada, which he calls “the greatest country in the world.”

This Canadian success story has meaning beyond our shores. There was a time, not long ago, when it was thought that the world’s divisions would ease as the spread of trade, technology and democracy brought us all closer together. Today, common wisdom sees that as a naive, outdated notion. Countries will pursue their interests with ruthless resolve. Borders will harden. It’s not a small world after all.

Canada’s experience suggests otherwise. It is a flicker of hope in a darkening glass.

If that sounds smug or prideful, try asking someone who has come to Canada from somewhere else what they think. I did. Is it wrong to pat ourselves on the back?

Most of those I talked to were bewildered by the question. Of course Canada should be proud, they said. Places like the Esplanade are a delight to live in. Canada, for all its faults, is so much better than where we came from. Stable, free. We love it (except for the cold).

“If Canada is a little bit smug, I think it deserves it,” said Ms. Unlu, the woman with the big white dog.

The rest of us have become so accustomed to Canada’s brilliant human mosaic that it doesn’t impress us any more. Like a guy who works in a cafe overlooking Niagara Falls, we no longer see the marvels outside our window. But there is really nothing quite like it anywhere else.

The Canada that will be on display during the World Cup is a wonder of the modern world. Let’s not grumble about the crowds and the noise. Let’s share a drink, wave a flag and cheer.

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

We have World Cup Fever in Toronto!!!

Our first ever home game takes place in (checking watch) 142 hours...

My kids played soccer with a professional Angolese football player outside a subway station yesterday.

We met a racous group of South Korean superfans on the train the day before.

Giant displays are going up everywhere.

Signs popping up for parades, road closures, and parties.

And in one of the best reflections of our local energy check out today's @globeandmail feature by Marcus Gee (@marcusbgee).

(Full disclosure: My partner Leslie is a proud @tdsb teacher at Market Lane Public School (@marketlaneps1) led by @JantziLaurie profiled in the article.)

Here is a gift link to the full piece via my paid subscription—subscribe to the Globe!—and I pasted the text in string, too.

"Cup or no cup, the world is already here"

https://t.co/3PfH8EMmKu

CC: Prime Minister @MarkJCarney, Minister of Foreign Affairs @AnitaAnandMP, Premier @fordnation, Mayor @oliviachow

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

@JantziLaurie Incredible event!

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

@ChrisBlender Wish there was a Sportsnet feed of it

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

It's been 7 months.

I think I am finally ready to watch this.

I think.

https://t.co/JZ9Ixqqb8x

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

@Natdayla @AlexAndBooks_ The best kind!

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

@MemoryFramer Thanks, any public analysis online that you know of of these maths?

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

Need book recommendations? Just sign up for my book club—a list of every book I’ve read and suggest from the previous month. 100% ad free, sponsor free, AI free, and sent from my inbox to yours on the last Saturday morning of the month. Sign up now: https://t.co/nxg78w26AR

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

Reading doesn’t just inform—it transforms.

When you read fiction, you’re not you …

You’re another gender, another religion, another time in the world, another place in the world…

No wonder research suggests that reading opens up the mirror neurons responsible for empathy, compassion, and understanding (Dovey, 2015). Not to mention, reading can impact the future you—as characters and stories influence individuality (Dovey, 2015).

When I was Director of Leadership Development at Walmart—the world’s largest company with 2.5 million employees—guess what the #1 derailer was for all leaders at all levels?

It was precisely EQ — or, when you get into the data, empathy, compassion, and understanding.

No wonder! Those are difficult skills to teach. You can’t ship somebody off to empathy class! It doesn’t exist.

So here’s a counterintuitive way to grow as a leader:

Read more fiction!

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

@Dale_Chu @chronicle Sorry, what are you saying?

I didn't make it past the quote to the image or link.

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

@tobi "launched to the public" ≠ "going public", strangely