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Being ourselves is important. We now live in a world that places a considerable burden on each of us as individuals to come up with some unique self to be and rewards us accordingly. For the most part, that’s a useful thing. But at a certain point, that pressure of individuality can become an impediment to our growth. If we’re holding onto that identity ship with our fingernails, unable…

There was a new guy at our office a few years ago, back when people still went to offices. In our first interaction, he noticed my nametag and thanked me for wearing it, as he had about forty new coworkers to meet that day. This is a common interaction in a group setting. People will assume my nametag is worn specifically to help them feel more welcome. Which is…

Happiness is overrated in the macro and underrated in the micro. Because on a major scale, there are so many things in this life more important than being happy. Happiness isn’t the target, it’s what we get for hitting it. Personally, my target it fulfillment. Which comes from making meaning in line with my values. If that is intentionally achieved, my incidental reward is happiness. On a minor scale,…

Anyone can be mindful if things are going well. Meditating on a mountaintop doesn’t take a ton of skill. The real question is, what is your default response to life’s difficult moments? Stoic philosophers promote a life in harmony within the universe, over which one has no direct control. Frankl later coined a term for this called response flexibility. His research found that between the stimulus and response, there…

Time can be the great thinner of things. Especially when it comes to our cherished habits and beliefs. Because the older we get, and the smaller our ego and pride get, the more we engage our capacity to outgrow what’s no longer working for us. And this process doesn’t have to be painstaking. It’s certainly a grieving process, as any change is. But the thinning is less about renouncing…

Sorkin’s monologue at the end of the most successful baseball movie in history makes a powerful point about evolution: Every time you start threatening the way that people do things, every time that happens, whether it’s a government, a way of doing business, whatever, the people who are holding the reins, they have their hands on the switch, they go batshit crazy. It’s tribalism at its most human. Because…

Have you ever had a conversation with a chronic interrupter? It’s infuriating. They insist on correcting your grammar and fact checking your arguments and poking holes in your stories. The problem is, they’re not exactly wrong, it’s just that the small amount their interruptions actually help is outweighed by the massive amount of energy they destroy. Congratulations on sticking a pin the inconsistencies of my story, asshole, but now…

The opposite of judgment isn’t compassion, it’s curiosity. This is our natural human instinct. We are the only species capable of asking the question of why. And that question leads us to discover what lies underneath and beyond the obvious. Specifically, in the interpersonal realm. Only through curiosity can we embrace other people by the whole of who they are, rather than judge them based on a few isolated…

Recently for my birthday, my wife and I performed love songs from my music catalog for all you romantics out there. You can watch the concert from our livestream on Facebook. Thanks to everyone who tuned in, made requests and shared the love on this very special Valentine’s Day. Here was the setlist with some oldies, some recent songs from my last album, and two new tunes from my…

Along our hero’s journey, our story is constantly in flux. New opportunities will flow to us from many unexpected directions, and our great joy along the way is the discovery, the turning of the unknown into the known. This is about as human as people get. It’s no wonder the monomyth is the basic narrative structure found in books and film. Chapelle delivers and inspiring monologue about the sheer…