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It’s the small thrills that remind us who we are.  Those mundane, quiet, undramatic everyday experiences that are gently woven into our days, these are the moments we remember forever. These are the joys that create the inner smile of peace and rebalance us above the precipice of meaninglessness.  Without them, we’re just piles of dust and bone.  Consider this hilariously pathetic article from the world’s best satire magazine about the…

Many of us have mission statements, but we should really have mission questions.  Because good questions work on us, we don’t work on them. Each one is a small experiment. A mirror into which we can see what’s possible for us. And if we learn to love questions themselves as if they were locked rooms, there’s no telling what me might discover inside.  Several years ago, my company launched…

Here’s an interesting paradox.  Only the pain of anger can tell us who we really are.  And yet, anger is the mood we are the worst at controlling.  Because most of us never learned how to allow that emotion to work for us. Our parents and teachers never told is that we could actually domesticate and metabolize anger before it turned into resentment. What a concept.  Lincoln was a master…

Reacher, my favorite fictional character, is a retired solider turned vagrant who reluctantly solves government crimes and usually beats up five guys at once. Nobody does it better.  In one particular story, his former commanding officer asks him why he chose to quit the army after thirteen years of decorated service. To which he replies: You wake up one morning and the uniform doesn’t fit anymore. Love that passage. As…

Dickinson was prolific, but private.  As the legend goes, she wrote nearly two thousand poems, but only about a dozen were published during her lifetime. Emily believed that publication was the auction of the mind.  Meanwhile, one of her colleagues scolded her refusal to publish with the following. You are a great poet, and it is a wrong to the day you live in that you will not sing aloud. …

Taoists monks believe that words obstruct understanding.  When there is naming, they say, the name is mistaken for what has been named. As it reads in their holy scriptures: The name that can be named is not the eternal name.  But here’s the issue. Things persist as long as we have no name for them. It is the name that makes the invisible visible and, therefore, easier to discuss….

Each of us has our breaking point.  It’s that dreaded moment of surrender when we’ve hung in there for as long as we possibly can, but we just can’t take it anymore.  And so, we give up. Or break down. Or run away crying. And that’s okay. We’re all human. We all have limits. The intensity of the environmental stress necessary to reach this moment may vary from person…

Everything you ever wanted to learn about acceptance, surrender, letting go, forgiving yourself and finding peace can be summarized in five simple words.  Get on with your life.  Consider all the examples that play out on a daily basis.  Instead of trying to argue with reality, walk away in kindhearted acceptance. And get on with your life.  Instead of obsessing over labels and minor details, remember that it won’t…

The first twelve years of my career were spent building a business that wasn’t designed to sustain me over the long term.  Which, at the time, was fine. When you’re single, in your twenties and filled to the brim with hungry youth juice, it’s not an issue.  But over time, priorities evolve. Grey hairs accumulate. Markets change. And into the second decade of my business, something occurred to me. …

Expecting to get what you want isn’t optimism, it’s immaturity.  That’s one of the worst pains of growing up and becoming an adult. Learning to face reality. Making friends with what is. And not allowing yourself to be seduced by childish thoughts about that reality, simply because they’re more comforting.  It reminds me of a compelling question from a book about interpersonal communication.  Can you name the stress that brings you…