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It pains me to say it, but our friendship is running on fumes.  Our conversations are loaded with quips, but short on heart. Few new memories are being made anymore. And whenever we get together, we spend most of the time looking in the rear view mirror.  Because despite our history together, we no longer have anything in common.  Our paths have parted in different directions.  The good news…

Carlin used to do a brilliant comedy routine about hair.  He would complain about guys who shaved their heads completely bald. They were so ashamed that they lost eleven hairs that they tried to transform their look into some kind of masculine statement.  George said: Shaving your head is ugly and repulsive and disgusting. If you really want to have no hair, do what I did. Wait a while. In the…

Burnt is a movie that performed dimly at the box office and received terrible reviews from critics and audience members alive.  Personally, I thought it was the most inspiring and accurate movie about the creative process that I’ve seen in years.  Chef says it beautifully as he shares his vision for what he thinks food should be.  People eat because they’re hungry. I want to make food that makes people stop eating….

There are numerous reasons to get good at ritual, routine and regularity.  One of them is to be help us calmly and confidently cope with life’s abrupt changes.  You know, the ones that come about unfairly and without much warning. Like when we’re suddenly thrown into a new job or city or living situation or work environment.  Here’s a list of tasks that are completely outside of your skill…

After suffering a collapsed lung in my mid twenties, keeping my life as light as possible has become an important goal.  Because I now know how it feels to be literally crushed under the weight of my own stress. After spending a week in the hospital with a breathing tube in my chest, frankly, I’m no longer interested in making each day heavier than it needs to be. I’m…

Anyone who’s ever lived in a big city has extensive experience coping with subway delays.  They’ve suffered from spending long stretches gazing into the tunnel, praying to see the light of an oncoming train.  As if staring down the inky blackness with an angry look on their face would somehow will the subway into existence.  But it never does. No matter how often they check. No matter how late they’re running….

Avatar was a film that taught us to develop a new kind of relationship with nature.  One that’s grounded in sense of gratitude and prosperity and generosity.  Sulley models this connection in the scene where he goes on his first hunt as a rite of passage. He shoots down the great beast, pulls the arrow from the twitching body of a hexapede and dispatches it with his knife. He then speaks…

Life is not set up to meet our meaning needs.  It’s not the universe’s obligation to endow each of our endeavors with a sense of significance and value.  Meaning is an inside job. Only we can form our experiences into communicable meaning for ourselves. This process can be an uphill battle. Especially during seasons of inactivity and transition. Because we want to be proactive, but we also don’t want to burden…

Carlin famously said that you can’t be the fastest gun in town forever.  There comes a time when you’re no longer the golden boy, and you have to go off somewhere and figure yourself out.  What’s interesting is, some people do just that, and come back guns blazing looking for blood. They kill a man before breakfast just to work up an appetite.  But some people move away from the spotlight…

You’re more prepared than you think.  The groundwork has already been laid in the inner space of your mind. It’s all muscle memory now.  And so, let go of all your crutches and props and cheat sheets. They won’t help you. Instead, trust that you’ve already done the work. Trust that you can be moved by whatever is inside of you. Trust that who you are is enough to…