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I once read an interview with a comedian that forever changed the way I think about addiction.  Russell explained that drugs and alcohol were not his problem, reality was his problem. Drugs and alcohol were his solution.  That crucial distinction helped clarify my understanding around dependence in my own life. Because there isn’t a thing in this world we can’t turn into heroin.  Any process that helps us relieve intolerable realities can become an…

Julia writes in her book about prosperity and abundance: Gratitude makes us conscious that life is made of thousands of small variables, and that many of those variables are already good. And it is by counting our blessings that we begin to be able to see them, and it is by seeing them that we begin to fathom the possibility that the universe could actually intend for there to…

Faith, we’re told, is an unclassified cognitive illness disguised as a moral virtue.  It’s not a reliable guide to reality and it taints and removes our curiosity about the world.  Fair enough. In fact, when viewed through the fundamentalist lens, I would agree. Faith isn’t all that useful.  Then again, it all depends on how you understand the term.  Cameron’s book on weathering the storms in our spiritual lives makes the…

What if we used dog barks to shame neighbors?  What if car security boots were advertising opportunities?  What if the church leveraged biotech to make wine?  What if actors had holograms to practice auditions?  What if wearable tech eliminated guesswork from dating? In this episode of Steal Scott’s Ideas, Jeff, Sean and Lisa gather in St. Louis for some execution in public. **Sponsored by The Failing Asphalt Music Festival Execution Lesson…

There’s no upside to not believing in yourself.  You do what you have to do to find the strength to endure. Even if that means plugging back into the matrix and enjoying your delusional existence until things turn a corner, hey, if that story infuses you with the necessary muscle to go onward where you might otherwise have quit, it’s worth it.  Whatever it takes to create an ambiance…

Spezzano’s brilliant rendition on romantic love makes the critical point that without expectations, anything can be a gift.  But if we have a picture of how the world should be, our expectation tends to make us feel oppressed. Because we’re relying on something outside of ourselves to make up for what’s missing in our lives.  The more we expect, the less we are able to receive and be satisfied. And the irony,…

One of the great intellectual adventures in life is finding the thing behind the thing.  When we notice something, we don’t just look at it, we look through it to a world beyond it. We ponder the many layers and nuances and facets and refractions contained within that thing.  Seinfeld called this working it over like a train hobo with a chicken bone.  Buddha called this the parable of truth: Truth…

Palmer, the writer, educator and activist, delivered an inspiring graduation address about the pillars of living with wholeheartedness. His theory was: Violence happens when we don’t know what else to do with our suffering.  It’s a profoundly kind and compassionate way of viewing such a dark issue.  It reminds me of our high school bully. Growing up, he made my life miserable, both physically and emotionally. It took me decades to even begin to…

There’s nothing more embarrassing than the last phase you went through.  Like that two year period in your early twenties when you wore nothing but thrift store tshirts and sandals with socks. But that’s how the human heart works. We love to judge ourselves about our past. There’s that protective part of our personality that thinks: Oh my god, if people only knew who I used to be, they…

Anything that enables blissful sense of expansive oneness with others, ideas and experiences, is a worthwhile use of our time.  Those little everyday moments add up. We build a bank with them. Particularly during times of distress, disappointment and depression, when our ability to make deposits into that emotional account can make all the difference in the world.  Lewis wrote about this phenomenon in his book about the surprise of joy:…