What would happen if you let the pause be uncomfortable? Let your child be who they are? Let the sickness run its course? Let your advice go untaken? Let your parents be disappointed in your decision? Let yourself compare unfavorably? Let the person in the […]
All posts filed under: advice
How to Connect with People Better
The holiday season is upon us, meaning chances are good you may have more family and social get-togethers coming up. But whether you dread holiday parties and figuring out what to chat about with everyone from young to old, left or right, happy or sad, […]
“We were wrong for hours, sometimes even days…”
Can you imagine? Being wrong for hours, sometimes even days was life before the internet and our ability to pull Wikipedia out of our pocket. Before portable computers and our instant ability to resolve factual disputes, writer Ben Tarnoff points out in a New Yorker […]
The Good Paradox
As the official gratitude holiday, Thanksgiving comes with some hefty expectations for feeling grateful, mightily so. It’s a good thing to do — good for the head, good for the heart and for the good of all, which science has proven beyond doubt. But there […]
The Solution for the Bottomless To-Do List
Oliver Burkeman poses an uncomfortable question in Meditations for Mortals: what if you never get on top of your to-do list? What’s more, what if you never become the good listener or the dedicated runner or achieve a Zero Inbox like a worthy person would? […]
The nature of water
“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot … Be water, my friend.” […]
Beware the Wellness Trends that Lean Extreme
Some wellness websites are now touting the health benefits of steeping poppy seeds into a strong brew to help with everything from anxiety and insomnia to workout recovery. Appealing to the “more is better” fallacy to drive sales, some poppy seed sellers are promoting their […]
Improv
I couldn’t believe it! [Curse word.] I was already tired and having a hard time getting the mojo to go after the high intensity workout I wanted my body to do [without my conscious awareness] and now the blasted DVD sound wasn’t coming out of […]
House: A Framework for Holding it Together
The framework I describe here is a process for remaining intact amidst all that comes at us over the course of a day, a week, a month, a lifetime. Every morning, we wake up and set about our day. In the hours to come we […]
Tap Tap Tap
I couldn’t believe it when I read the New York Time’s headline. I knew it. Gluteal amnesia, aka “Dead Butt Syndrome,” is a real thing. I’ve been going around for years polling family, friends and physical therapists about whether they engaged their glutes when they […]
House: A Framework for Holding it Together
Every morning, we wake up and set about our day. In the hours to come we will experience a continuous stream of pressures testing our in-the-moment soundness of mind and body. For example: Minimal pressure: You’re walking down the street and come to a crosswalk. […]
Little Luxuries
When you think of luxury, what does that word bring to mind for you? It instantly gets me thinking about 2,000 thread count sheets and a mattress that feels like sleeping on a cloud. The time and ease of mind to luxuriate in them. Food […]
