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Put your house in order, because you are going to die, you will not recover.  This frequently quoted scripture is a morbid but powerful reminder that death that awaits us all, it’s the ultimate reality and loss of control, and we should prepare ourselves for it.  And not only physical death. Many times throughout life, each of us must contend with the death of who we have known ourselves…

Camus famously wrote that accepting the absurdity of everything around us is one step, a necessary experience, but it should not become a dead end. Rather, it should arouse a revolt that can become fruitful. One that can help us restore a relative meaning to existence.  It’s a deeply comforting thought.  Especially when it comes to our jobs. Because the modern world of work has a tendency fill the deep wells…

To say that people don’t change is to be naïve, cynical and foolish about the human condition.  People only change. That’s all people do.  Each one of us is approaching some invisible frontier on the way to maturity. Each one of us is a continually changing constellation of potentialities. Each one of us is caught in this world that we never made, and to which we must constantly readjust in order…

My favorite definition of joy is, not wanting to do something else.  It’s that sublime sense that your path is enough for you. It’s when a glorious current of gratitude amplifies within your bones and the muscles behind your eyes melt into radiant crystals of contentment.  Because there is nothing else just out of your grasp that will save and complete your soul.  Insert sitar music here.  The rub…

It’s easy to accept the will of the universe when we can see where it’s heading.  But when our future is shrouded in a cloud of mystery, that’s a different story.  Emerson’s legendary university lecture on trusting the process come to mind.  As the traveler who has lost his way throws his reins on his horse’s neck and trusts to the instinct of the animal to find his road,…

Although cakes have been around for thousands of years, the first recipe for confectionery icing was originally published in a cookbook in the late seventeen hundreds.  It was from that point on that cakes became a much more enjoyable food, thanks to the addition of this new fancy, sugary topping.  Hence the phrase, icing on the cake. An attractive but inessential enhancement. The unexpected and additional benefit to something…

If our strategy is to wait until our burdens diminish, when we are no longer constrained by obligation, when we are finally free enough to do what we really want to do, then we are going to be waiting a very long time.  Because there is no set of auspicious circumstances on the horizon that will make us whole. There is no magical day in the future when our…

In the modern business world, safety, security and stability are illusions.  At any moment, we can all be disposed of. Straight up railroaded. Rug pulled out from under us.  These things just happen. Anybody can get canned. There is no immunity. There is no potent vaccine of personal specialness, hard work, positive attitude and corporate politicking that will inoculate us against the cruel bite of commercialism.  Even our brilliance…

Doctors tell us that we should exercise moderately for about thirty minutes a day.  Pretty standard health advice.  The only thing, our mind is actually the asset that must be worked on most and understood best. But there doesn’t seem to be a minimum daily requirement for mental exertion.  And there should be. Especially when it comes to noticing and managing our more damaging thoughts.  Emmett’s daily devotional was among the…

Manhattan pizza is not good because it doesn’t have to be.  There are eight million angry, hungry, sweaty people in this city, and the majority of them are running late to something.  Pizza is convenient, tasty, cheap and full of energy. And so, from an economics perspective, the shops have no real incentive to make amazing food. Because their demand is inelastic. Their audience is built in.  Why would…