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There’s a difference between compassionate surrender and callous resignation.  The former is participative, creating a posture of love and kindness and trust and gratitude. Compassionate surrender means allowing the process to have its way with you and trusting that wherever it takes you will be exactly where you need to be.  Callous resignation, on the other hand, is disconnected, creating a posture of frustration, coldness, acquiescence and apathy. Foolishly…

Everyone has the right to make mistakes.  In fact, history has proven time and time again that if we’re not screwing up, we’re not taking enough risks.  But there’s a flip side to that coveted coin of achievement. Because the human soul can only take so much abuse. And if we keep missing the mark and making mistakes and getting rejected and losing the bets we place on our…

There’s a unfortunate difference between the fantasy of wanting something and the reality of acquiring it.  Especially if you spent a significant amount of time poring over this dream that you thought would magically make you whole.  Ask anyone who leaves the family farm to try and make it in the big city. There may be nothing prettier than looking back at a town you left behind, but that…

A friend of mine is a voice coach.  She teaches musicians, actors and other performers how to understand their vocal body as a resonant instrument.  One of the tools she uses to motivate her students to achieve full sonic expression is by telling them: Give us what you give to yourself when you’re alone.  What an inspiring mantra. Because it asks us to hold nothing back. To use the…

Kondo’s iconic system for decluttering your home suggests a fascinating filter for making decisions.  The best way to choose what to keep and what to throw away, she says, is to take each item in your hand and ask, does this spark joy?  If it does, keep it. If not, dispose of it.  This is not only the simplest but also the most accurate yardstick by which to judge. …

How can we tell if our well has run dry?  A good driller would tell us to look for the obvious signs.  Low pressure, long wait time between spurts, sediment in the water, air coming out of the faucet, dirty tasting liquid, over running pumps, dropping levels on the gauge and neighbors complaining about having the same problems.  If we notice any combination of those symptoms, odds are, we…

City birds and angry words Sweet heart, kind soul, tired eyes Somebody scoots to the edge of the skinny branch I’m washing off my whiskers Every ten days And I’m coming early for blood All the thoughts we bring Have no weight Impressive words to say This little offering activates A dishonest mistake Bending wheels and making my deals Ring like a horn Ripping suckers out of bed Divvy…

Harvard’s most popular course in the history is positive psychology.  Shahar’s curriculum about the psychological aspects of life fulfillment and flourishing has been standing room only for more than a decade.  One of the key tenants to his philosophy is the critical skill of choosing.  It’s the highest form of creation, the professor says, and choices can create momentum by launching a chain reaction whose impact is greater than…

Starting a good habit requires a whole lot of discipline, but stopping a bad one requires a whole new understanding.  It begs us to approach our behavior from a more holistic sense. To explore all of the feelings and thoughts behind our actions.  Kicking sugar, for example is an exceedingly difficult task. No matter how many diets and workouts and cleanses and new year’s resolutions we attempt, the world’s most…

Alan was a man in his early sixties who had finally reached a state of genuine peace, complete relaxation, profound calm and deep contentment in which he felt unburdened by his life’s troubles for the first time in recent memory.  Five seconds later, medical technicians wrenched the man back into consciousness with a pair of defibrillator pads, cutting short his soothing state of bliss.  It’s the punchline of the…