What makes you happy? Is it the attainment of the latest gadgets or a new, bigger car? How about getting a raise at work or winning the lottery? Does money really make us happy? Click the links below to read how these essayists feel about finding happiness with what they have.

1. Creating Our Own Happiness
2. Happy Talk
3. Make It Do
4. Just Say No
5. Happy With What I Have

As with any faith tradition, it can sometimes be a challenge for Muslims to balance one’s religious practices with one’s beliefs and the obligations of daily life. Click the links below to learn how these Muslims integrate their spiritual and secular lives.

1. We Are Each Other’s Business
2. Celebrating Our Dreams and Flaws
3. The Test of Life
4. My Pride, Their Prejudice
5. Ingredients to a Richer Personality
6. The Right to Be Fully American

Whether it’s good versus evil, us against them, left versus right, paper or plastic, regular or decaf, we seem to live in an age that values polarization. But whatever happened to the good old middle ground, the place where diverse people can come together in a sense of unity? Click the links below to read how these essayists believe some middle ground can still be found.

1. The Tense Middle
2. The Value of the Middle
3. Finding One’s Own Middle Ground
4. The 50-Percent Theory of Life
5. In Praise of the ‘Wobblies’

Hope is a commodity that many find in short supply. We can hope for things grand or mundane, but all hope embodies a faith and optimism that good can come to the world. Click the links below to read the hopes of these essayists.

1. Hope Sustains Me
2. Tomorrow Will Be a Better Day
3. Recovering the Hope of Children
4. Hope Has Amazing Energy
5. The 50-Percent Theory of Life

As fall is around the corner with cooler days and turning leaves, it’s a perfect time for a hike among the trees. Whether for pleasure, exercise, or solitude, a walk in the woods can also inspire belief. Click the links below to learn what our essayists discovered out in nature.

1. Forty Acres Of Freedom
2. Living Life With ‘Grace And Elegant Treeness’
3. To Disappear Into The Woods
4. Walking With Trees
5. Fully Immersing Ourselves In Nature

As the spacecraft rover Curiosity sends us new photos of Mars, humanity is pondering the nature of life and the origins of the universe. By making a study of the heavens, these essayists also found inspiration for their beliefs. Click the links below to learn what they discovered.

1. Science Nourishes the Mind and the Soul
2. An Ideal of Service to Our Fellow Man
3. We Are All Stardust
4. Why Are We Here?
5. The Power of Mysteries

Whether you call it a do-over or a mulligan, the philosophy of the second chance has saved many a sports endeavor, homework assignment, career, or relationship. To move beyond the mistake or failure and start fresh is an opportunity for redemption at its most fundamental level. Click the links below to read how these essayists have benefitted from a second chance.

1. The Choice to Do It Over Again
2. Thank You for This Day
3. A Second Chance to Redeem Ourselves
4. Take-Backs and Do-Overs
5. Getting the Copy Right

Throughout his storied career at CBS, Edward R. Murrow hired a number of acclaimed producers and reporters, including William L. Shirer (pictured here with Murrow). This group came to be known as Murrow’s Boys. Several of these journalists also contributed essays to the 1950s This I Believe series. Click the links below to read statements from these esteemed newsmen.

1. A Reporter Quotes His Sources
2. Faith Springs from the Soul
3. The Armor of Cynicism
4. Action Is the Measure
5. At the Frontier

Many people say that listening to music is a very important part of their lives. And those who make music feel even stronger about its power to move them. For both famous musicians and the person sitting in the cubicle next to you, music can inspire some powerful beliefs.

1. The Artistry In Hidden Talents
2. A Musician of Many Cultures
3. Music Makes Me Come Alive
4. Doing Things My Own Way
5. Amazing Grace

Just like in the United States, teachers in China have asked their students to write This I Believe essays. The hopes and passions of these students are evident, even as they write in a second language. Click the links below to learn what these Chinese students believe.

1. Caring for Others
2. The Happiness of Memories
3. A Small Change Is Enough
4. Time Is the Best Medicine
5. The Passion of Art