Rumi said that is not our task to seek love, but to seek
and find all the barriers within ourselves that we have built against it. 

The path is reverse engineered. That which we seek is discovered, rather
than created, through a process of elimination. 

For example, if we take all of
the shameful and noxious parts of ourselves and stuff them in a bag and decide
that they’re not lovable, then we’re absolutely right. We’re not. 

But if we
believe that we’re blessed by the ability to receive love through many
channels, despite our liabilities, then the barriers within ourselves will
begin to melt away. Because we’re practicing receptivity to multiple loving
sources. 

Similarly, if we want to ratchet up the level of joy in our lives, the
first step is subtracting useless unproductive misery. 

Menlo’s inspiring founder comes to mind. Sheridan’s
approach to creating a culture of joy is highly environmental. His team works
in one big open room with no walls or offices or cubicles. Even the president
sits out in the general population with everyone else. And if an employee needs
to have a company wide meeting, they simply call out. 

Then, the entire teams
calls back in unison, and the whole office falls dead silent. At that moment,
they’re in an all company meeting. Nobody moves. The person makes whatever
announcement or asks whatever question they want, thanks the team, and everyone
gets back to work. 

Sheridan reports that these meetings can occur in sixty
seconds or less, even if there are fifty people in the room. After all, his
employees hate the traditional kind of meetings that require email chains,
calendar invites, room booking and ambiguous agendas. 

And so, they eliminated
them. The found the barriers within the organization that were built against
joy, and melted them away. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…   

How could your team discover joy by subtracting useless unproductive misery?* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Buy my latest devotional! 

A Year in Hot Yoga: 365 Daily Meditations for On and Off the Mat. 

Now available wherever books are sold.

Namaste.

Maisel’s book on navigating the world with an artist’s personality was pivotal in jolting me out of my illusion of isolation. 

He writes how the creatives often feel they have a special, vital role to play in society: 

From a considered vantage point outside of society, we observe and witness and judge. After all, we’re creatives. And part of the job description is maintaining a certain stance as an outsider, rebel and trickster. That’s where the best art comes from. The question is:

To what extent are we trapped in our own status as an outsider? Is the energy we bring nauseating, antisocial and unpleasant to breathe for those on the inside? And does over identifying with the outsider mythology leave us out in the cold, disconnected from possibility? 

Questions like these finally forced me to confront my antisocial tendencies. To accept the many ways in which I make myself an outsider. Because it’s not the world’s fault that I feel like an alien from another planet staring into the window of the party. 

I’m the one pushing away human connection. I’m the one making a habit of isolating myself. 

The goal, then is to move from stagnation and isolation into expansion and cohesion. To constantly ask ourselves the how we might involve more people more often. 

Because the most damaging psychological state in the world is isolation. And the scary part is, it’s a self inflicted wound. 

Joni sang it best: 

I know we’ll never be perfect, and never entirely clear. We get hurt and we just panic, and we strike out of fear. 

I fear the sentence of this solitude, two hundred years on hold. And all we ever wanted, was just to come in from the cold. She’s right. When we remain in isolation too long, we fail to challenge ourselves. Even the artist must learn to manage the tension between alienation and assimilation. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…   

Did you ever notice how cigarette packs come with warnings, but loneliness doesn’t? * * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Buy my latest devotional! 

A Year in Hot Yoga: 365 Daily Meditations for On and Off the Mat. 

Now available wherever books are sold.

Namaste.

I heard an interview with a rehab counselor who made a fascinating point about generosity. 

The physician said that real giving is noticing something in someone else, and then paying homage to that. Holding a loving mirror up to their gifts and saying, wait, can’t you see how valuable this is? 

He suggested that next time we have the chance to really sit down and connect with someone, we should pay attention not just with our eyes and ears, but with our entire being. Because we’ll notice things about people that are tiny, but real. And if we connect to that and then honor that, we do something very special. 

Not just for them, but for also for ourselves. 

What a beautiful manifestation of spiritually through cocreation. Connect with others, connect with self. 

The complicated part is, most people can’t handle that kind of interaction. Being seen in that way is too unexpected and too overwhelming. And if someone isn’t used to receiving that kind of generosity, their immediate response to being seen is going to be, wait a minute, what’s your angle? What’s in it for you? 

Nothing. It’s just a better way of treating people. Kindness is more important than winning the interaction. 

Not everyone is ready for that gift, but ultimately, it’s worth the risk. Even if people feel tiny and embarrassed and shocked, sometimes we just have to pull them out of that and say, no, don’t you say anything. By giving you this gift, I stay alive for one more day. 

Remember, everyone wants to be around people who see them. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…   

If you were charged with being a stand for people’s greatness, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Buy my latest devotional! 

A Year in Hot Yoga: 365 Daily Meditations for On and Off the Mat. 

Now available wherever books are sold.

Namaste.

Hoffman’s obituary was one of the most beautiful pieces of writing I’ve ever read. 

The author painted a picture of what it was like to interact with the legendary actor. 

Phil had a smile that told you he believed in you, though failure was possible, sometimes inevitable and okay. When he looked you in the eye, what you were seeing became secondary to the overwhelming force of how you were being seen. Like a sun that emanated truth instead of light. Relentless and warming. Other actors, writers, directors, they didn’t just bathe in it, it brought out the truth in them. 

In world whose chorus is sometimes comforting, sometimes cruel, we should all be so lucky to have those kinds of people in our lives. Those who believe in us more than we believe in ourselves. 

Because rejection is a bitch. Even if we’ve achieved zenlike mastery in shrugging it off and not taking it personally and moving onto to the next one, it still hurts. Even if the pain doesn’t register immediately, all of those micro rejections slowly seep into our bloodstream and start whispering worry into our ears and before we know it, we wake up one day and realize that we’ve forgotten how to believe in ourselves. We’ve lost sight of how bright our wings really are. 

Each of us needs someone who believes that something bigger is waiting for us. That we’re in better shape than we thought we were. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…   

Are you surrounding yourself with enough shiny mirrors?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Buy my latest devotional! 

A Year in Hot Yoga: 365 Daily Meditations for On and Off the Mat. 

Now available wherever books are sold.

Namaste.

Naiveté can absolutely be a loving companion. 

But there’s a fine line between trusting the universe and blindly believing that everything will work out just fine. 

The former creates hope, but the latter can enable acquiescence. And if we allow ourselves to slip into that state, we won’t generate the necessary motivation to apply ourselves toward making things better. 

We won’t move the way things are any closer to the way things could be. 

Personally, I look forward to those moments when I can literally feel the tension invading my body. Because it signals to my brain that I’m taking action, adding energy to the system and moving the story forward. 

It reminds me that the great things of earth are things of tension. 

Carolla’s theory about gravity comes to mind:

Humans need challenges to overcome, he writes, just like muscles need resistance to grow. In a zero gravity environment, an astronaut’s muscles atrophy because there is no resistance. The void of space is massive and constantly expanding, and if we immerse ourselves in it, we’ll simply wither away. 

That’s our challenge. To feel the tension invading our bodies. To have gratitude that the pressure is there. To structure our days where we run into resistance more frequently. And to paint ourselves into responsible corners where gravity is constantly plucking at us like a small, insistent hand. 

Because that’s the only way to surge ourselves forward into a new way of being. 

Graves said it best in his famous essay about spiral dynamics. 

The general condition necessary for movement to a new and different steady state of being is to produce excess energy in the system that puts you in a state of readiness for change. 

Remember, there’s a very real difference between having compassion for yourself and being irresponsible to your future. At some point, comfort can turn into a drug. An dangerous opiate of inaction. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…   

How are you creating positive tension for yourself?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Buy my latest devotional! 

A Year in Hot Yoga: 365 Daily Meditations for On and Off the Mat. 

Now available wherever books are sold.

Namaste.

People overestimate the capacity of human memory. 

They ascribe far more meaning and drama to the fleeting little moments that happen between people, when the reality is, most of the world isn’t losing sleep over most of the things that happen to them. 

But it’s not our fault. Just blame it television. 

For over fifty years, our culture has watched hundreds of thousands of hours of sitcoms that portray various groups of oddballs forced to work together and get along. 

It’s a proven artistic formula. Characters with peculiar dispositions create superficial conflict in the lives of other people with horrible but hilarious results. Must see tv, indeed. 

Seinfeld is a perfect example particular. The most successful sitcom in history consisted of four unlikable characters who did seemingly simple actions on a whim, and then had to live with the disastrous series of circumstances that resulted from their innocent choice. 

Jerry, for example, steals a loaf of marbled rye from an irritable old women. Following that story arc, the same lady appears in a future episode, whereupon she recognizes him as the thief, and ultimately casts the deciding vote to impeach his father as president of his condo community. 

What a perfect and tidy example of cinematic closure. The butterfly effect of modern television. 

Sadly, real life is rarely that dramatic. Most interactions are forgotten. No matter how special and influential we think we are. 

Sitcoms, then, have seriously skewed our social expectations. They’ve perpetuated the fallacy of dramatic introspection. Meaning, when we over analyze our lives, acting as if there were a home audience watching our story unfold, we tend to find nuance where there is none. We attempt to make stew out of a soup bone. 

And not to downplay the power of reflection and symbolism and synchronicity. 

But not everything needs to be a thing. 

Most people are too busy getting ahead and making their way to even think about us. Even if they are thinking about us, they’re not thinking about us enough to form a judgment. 

It’s a humbling realization, but the time and energy it saves is worth it. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…   

Are you giving an insignificant moment more weight that it deserves?
* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Buy my latest devotional! 

A Year in Hot Yoga: 365 Daily Meditations for On and Off the Mat. 

Now available wherever books are sold.

Namaste.

Turkle’s book on the psychology of human relationships with technology reminds us that just because technology can help us solve a problem, doesn’t mean it was a problem in the first place. 

And yet, we’re still being urged from every side to become more efficient. We are drowning in a glut of tools, kneeling at the altar of productivity, imprisoning ourselves in an endless loop of technology, and ultimately burdening our brains with a load they can’t bear. 

The narrative around technology claims to make the world a better, more connected, more informed place. 

But I wonder if we’re just generating extra pain for ourselves. I wonder if our obsession with the trivial irritations, minuscule inconveniences and petty nuisances of technology is degrading us into the worst versions of ourselves. 

Durst painted the picture perfectly in his popular article about our technology obsession. 

You see them staggering down our streets, heads bowed as if in prayer making the occasional grunting noise. Mindless, drooling, deanimated human husks walking blindly into fountains, crosswalks and lamp posts. Wake up people. We are in the middle of a science fiction movie. Welcome to the invasion of the phone zombies. 

What’s interesting is, horror films always portrayed zombies as these undead beings created through the reanimation of human corpses, searching for flesh to feed on. 

But in the modern world, we see a different kind of zombie. One that has lost its ability to wonder and solve problems and make eye contact and get lost and turn to the person next to them and say ask for directions. 

This can’t be good for the species. 

If we don’t practice relying on the very things that make us human, instinct, intellect, memory and connection, than our most vital muscles will atrophy. 

It’s time to amend our worship of efficiency. To stop driving ourselves crazy scrutinizing every little tic and twitch and ping and blip that comes zapping into our precious little devices. 

Enough with the apps. Fuck notifications. Do we really need another thing to keep up with? 

Certainly there is more to life that getting things done. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…   

Are you oblivious to the world around you, pecking at your tiny, handheld windows into a private world? * * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Buy my latest devotional! 

A Year in Hot Yoga: 365 Daily Meditations for On and Off the Mat. 

Now available wherever books are sold.

Namaste.

I have a constitutional need to rebel and resist and be different and stand out and express my authentic self in every situation. 

It’s who I am, it’s who I’ve always been. 

But the irony is, no matter what I’m rebelling against, that thing is still controlling me. I’m still in relationship with an entity that has power over my behavior. No matter how bold and independent and oppositional I feel. 

And so, the joke is on me. Because I still indulge in petty identity battles, no matter the cost. 

Buddhists have a beautiful word for this state. It’s called upadana, which means clinging, attachment and grasping. It’s said to be one of the primary causes of suffering in the world. 

The opposite of nirvana, essentially, which is the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished. 

That’s what we give up when we’re consumed with the pathological need to be different from everybody else. Not that expressing the authentic self isn’t important, because it is. But we must strike a balance between maintaining our individuality and minding the consequences of being true to ourselves. 

We must notice our attachment to the need to stand in stark opposition to the prevailing winds of doctrine. That’s how we expand our awareness of upadana. 

Graves wrote about this very idea in his historic manifesto about human nature preparing for a momentous leap. His research found that the struggle for man’s emergent individuality imperiled the very survival of that life. And that if people wanted to move up to a higher level of existence, they first had to restore the balance of life that had been torn asunder by his individualistically oriented behavior. 

A fancy way of saying, we must cease indulging in identity battles. We must conquer the need to conquer the world. 

Even if that means the whole world doesn’t know just how special and different we really are.  

LET ME ASK YA THIS…   

What are you rebelling against that’s actually controlling you?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Buy my latest devotional! 

A Year in Hot Yoga: 365 Daily Meditations for On and Off the Mat. 

Now available wherever books are sold.

Namaste.

When my wife and I joined our local food coop, the prospect of working a regular shift to unload trucks, pull produce, stock shelves and sweep floors galvanized me. 

Because in a world of bullshit jobs where millions of smart, talented people are getting paid heaps of money to blow hot air about invisible products that nobody even pays attention to, there’s something deeply refreshing and about working in grocery store. 

It’s an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. 

There’s an expression you don’t hear anymore. Honest labor. Sounds like quaint language from a bygone era. 

In fact, during my research on the origin of the phrase, I stumbled across a fascinating piece of history. Lancaster once published a journal for its local students who were planning on starting their career in the industrial trades. 

In one particular issue from the early twenties, there was an article about how employers were bewailing the fact production was at sixty percent of normal. Managers were finding that the more they raised wages, the less return they got in goods. 

Of course, it wasn’t there fault, the journal reported. Because there were two kinds of employees in the world. 

The honest worker, who worked, and then the dishonest worker, who shirked. 

Turns out, honest labor was being contaminated by the premium put upon slackness. Workers were growing discouraged when they saw that slackness pays. And that men who were habitually late, indifferent, lazy or careless, were still getting ahead. 

All the more reason to resurrect our nation’s idea of honest labor. It might not be the easiest, best paid, most enjoyable or highest prestige work in the world. 

But it’s diligent and fair and legal and useful, it provides you with a sense of satisfaction when the day is done, and even if it’s not an outward manifestation of your soul’s purpose, you still get the job done to the best of your ability. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…   

When was the last time you received an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work? 

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Buy my latest devotional! 

A Year in Hot Yoga: 365 Daily Meditations for On and Off the Mat. 

Now available wherever books are sold.

Namaste.

Part of me wishes that I did believe in astrology. 

Because then I would finally have an existential scapegoat. Somewhere to point when life doesn’t turn out the way I want. 

It just sounds so comforting. 

Knowing that no matter how many rejections and disappointments and depressions and failures come my way, there will always be a magical external force over which I have no control that will justify them all. Because a benevolent and protecting cosmic power has carefully constructed my entire existence, endowing me with boundless reassurance and infinite hope. 

Everything is going to be fine. Mercury in is retrograde. Hallelujah. 

That means I don’t have to launch my new business venture for another four weeks. And now I can finally carve out that sixty hours I need to catch up on the past three seasons of my favorite zombie apocalypse series. 

Behold, the bliss and beauty of belief. It replaces personal responsibility. It gives us something to blame and be angry with other than ourselves. Something to place our faith in so we don’t have to face the hard work ahead alone. 

Tell me that doesn’t sound soothing. 

It’s like seeing a baby snuggled up in a warm blanket. Her innocence makes you wish you had the audacity to convince yourself that everything happens for a reason and isn’t some cosmic accident in the cold randomness and whirling chaos of existence. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…   

What do you not believe in that you secretly wish you did? 

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Buy my latest devotional! 

A Year in Hot Yoga: 365 Daily Meditations for On and Off the Mat. 

Now available wherever books are sold.

Namaste.