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Even when we do have many powerful reasons for isolating, burrowing under the blanket and hiding from the day rarely brings us the kind of relief we need.  Brooding about our circumstances, stewing with our feelings and sitting alone and isolated, that usually just worsens our situation. It traps us in a sad ruminative loop that pushes away the very type of connections that could actually help alleviate our…

When it comes to addiction, most of us would rather look away than ever face it.  But that’s its greatest strength. The ability to hide in plain sight. Not unlike the schoolyard bully, who is only as powerful as we are afraid of him, our addictions are only as dangerous as our ability to deny their existence.  We’re only as a sick as our secrets, as they say in…

When someone crosses our boundaries, we don’t have to be polite.  We don’t owe them an explanation. It’s not our job to preserve their feelings and manage their emotions. And we’re not responsible for their reactions to the boundary we’re setting.  What we do have to do is stand up, speak out and stop it. Even if it’s as simple as saying something like this.  Whoa, hold on, let’s talk about…

Criticizing is a cozy defense against joy.  It’s a strategy that we use to protect our egos and assert our intelligence and make ourselves feel strong.  When really, we’re just attached to our own cleverness. Hanging onto it like a life preserver, believing that without it we will surely drown.  After all, who are we without all of our brilliant remarks and precious opinions? We simply must be spectacular to be…

Hemingway once said there is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.  This task is simple but not easy. And it all goes back to our ability to not let the past control us anymore.  Imagine how many limits we put on ourselves when we were young and didn’t know any better. Think about all of those wonderful…

What if we deployed nano technology solutions for kitchen crunchies?  What if sports arenas hired crowd profanity police?  What if complaining made your pants fit better?  What if people who wore eye patches had their own baths?  What if we operationalized primal grooming? In this episode of Steal Scott’s Ideas, Ben, Danielle & Brittany gather in Brooklyn for some execution in public. **Sponsored by Baggit Execution Lesson 110: When we…

Love addiction is defined as a compulsive, chronic craving and pursuit of romantic love in an effort to get your sense of security and worth from another person.  It’s when we act out a misguided search for some kind of love at any price. Allowing the neurotic fantasy script inside our heads to be the arbiter of our reality.  It’s not clinically recognized as a mental disorder or addiction…

Here’s a personal mantra that helped me accept and accommodate my own codependent tendencies.  Hell isn’t other people, hell is trying to change them.  It works wonders on the ego.  Of course, there’s another side to that relational coin. One that can easily be overlooked. And that’s my willingness to accept people when they do change.  It’s part of the package, as my grandfather loves to say.  We learn to tolerate,…

Tell me if this sounds familiar.  You’re working on a train wreck of a project. Or managing the customer from hell. Or giving a presentation to an audience of crickets.  And there’s nothing you can do about it.  There’s no escape. A cold finger of dread hooks around your heart, panic soaks your skin and waves of anxiety start traveling up and down your spine. You’re completely trapped. Frozen…

Marx predicted that power would go to those who owned the means of production.  What he didn’t anticipate, though, was that technology would evolve to a point where the means of production, the instruments of labor, would become simple, free, fast and everywhere.  Thanks to the miracle of digital technology, now anybody can make anything for nothing. Anybody can share anything with anybody for nothing. Creation and distribution have…