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We live in an age of anxiety.  A culture where there are no hallelujahs for idleness. A world where our addiction to busyness keeps us alienated from our hearts.  As a result, we often neglect the transitions that are unique in our lives. Forgetting to take the long view of our journey and ask hard questions about how we’re evolving as people.  How do we pivot into what we…

If a company advertised a product that failed fifty percent of the time, would you buy it?  Of course not. Those odds are ridiculous. Apple wouldn’t ship a single phone if that was the messaging of their new ad campaign.  And yet, millions of couples get married every single year, fully knowing that there is about a fifty percent chance that it won’t work out. How is that possible?  Perel’s book about…

Shunya’s theory about ayurveda makes the claim that hopelessness is the primary disease which precedes all symptoms.  It’s an interesting assertion. And do we think it’s scientifically sound? Probably not. But then again, not believing in the destructive power of hopelessness doesn’t protect us from it.  For the good of our sanities, and for the good of the world, let us err on the side of optimism. Here’s how.  We let our…

We are not supposed to be one thing in life.  Real fulfillment comes from the complete integration of our many dimensions. Emergence, as the great physicists would call it. The phenomenon where things start to come alive once their elements are unified into one another.  The scary part about this process is trusting our experience. Having faith that the things we have done all our lives are finally leading up…

Arendt’s groundbreaking tome on the human condition makes a powerful point about accountability.  She writes that promises made to oneself have no reliability, but when plural persons come together to bind themselves for the future, the covenants they create among themselves can throw islands of predictability into the ocean of uncertainty, creating a new kind of assurance and enabling them to exercise power collectively.  Imagine how many goodhearted commitments we make,…

Growth is about letting go of what no longer fits you.  Accepting that what got you here won’t get you where we need to be. And trusting that if you evolve beyond your old way of being, people won’t forget about you, and you might even be able to create a new context from which to relate to the world.  It’s like the comedian who makes a name for…

When you’re an optimist on such a deep level that it’s almost a subatomic condition to your personality, being around negative and cynical people can be very painful. And confusing and maddening.  You can only listen to someone eulogize their own negativity for so long before you feel like hurling yourself in front of a moving garbage truck.  Yes, there are many ways to resist the pull of this negative…

What if you have to abandon a dream you’ve already given so much of yourself to?  What if your dream ends up being more trouble than it’s worth?  What if your dream is suddenly over before it’s even started?  These scenarios are possible. Maybe even probable. And they will make you feel sad, unmotivated and tempted to beat yourself up.  But once you’re finished crying until you can’t breathe…

Nothing grows at the speed our anxiety would wish it to.  That’s the infuriating part about change. We can’t alter its rate. That would be like trying to speed up or slow down the current of a stream. No matter how good our intentions, no matter how sturdy our rocks, there’s nothing we can do to hurry the process.  Even if we build a dam, we still can’t make…

Here’s a terrific passage from an old yoga journal.  Intuition is the only reliable equipment we have for navigating in this flawed phenomenal universe of ours.  Which doesn’t mean it’s a perfect tool, but it’s certainly a knife that’s worth sharpening. To do so, all it requires is some intention and attention. Reading books, taking online courses and attending weekend seminars probably won’t hurt, but there’s no need to break…