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Everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere important at all times.  We all rush around the world like windup toys, and it’s not working. Without deliberation and a sense of real purpose, our rushing leads to unnecessary anxiety, hasty decision making and poorly thought out strategies.  Meanwhile, when we constantly pursue things with such breathless haste, we miss out on the experience. We zip right past all the…

Izzard is by far the most successful transgender comedian in the world.  In the past twenty years, he has built an amazing fan base that transcends age, gender, and race. And the best part is, he proudly identifies as either a straight transvestite, a male lesbian, or a complete boy plus a half girl.  Not surprisingly, there are certain sections of our society that find his appearance and behavior…

Nature, the essay that pioneered the transcendentalist movement two centuries ago, concluded with a beautiful passage about independence and the making of meaning.  Build, therefore, your own world. As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea in your mind, that will unfold its great proportions. A correspondent revolution in things will attend the influx of the spirit.  An eloquent reminder that meaning is always in front…

Closing ourselves to everything that we don’t like, can’t explain or can’t predict and control, it doesn’t serve us.  It only blocks us off from avenues and relationships that might be a source of healing and growth.  My favorite horror novelist once wrote that life is mysterious, strange, and full of wonders, and that only a fool withdraws from it willingly and lets it pass him by.  Perhaps that is the…

There are no cover bands in the rock and roll hall of fame.  This is a fact of life, but also my philosophy. One that has fueled my work as a professional artist for more than twenty years.  Because in my humble opinion, whatever it is we create in the world, it doesn’t have to be good, it doesn’t have to be accurate, it doesn’t have to make sense,…

Hitting bottom is an enlightened moment.  It’s one of those rare experiences that leads to holding a new type of conversation with ourselves. One that we couldn’t have had when were still punch drunk on our tasty cocktail of foolhardiness and hope.  And so, instead of our usual clinging to our vain hopes in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence, let us try feeling grateful for the hopelessness that…

The failure is, we are over impressed by the success of others.  We mythologize, idealize, elevate and freeze individuals on this pedestal.  Forgetting, that most successful people are the same mixed bag of strengths and weaknesses we are. Forgetting, that success and failure are not giant isolated events. Forgetting, that comparing somebody’s studio polished sixty second highlight reel with our indie crowdfunded documentary isn’t helpful or healthy.  And forgetting,…

Camus makes the following recommendation in his critical essay:  One must keep a freshness and a source of joy intact within, loving the daylight that injustice leaves unscathed, and returning to the fray with this light as a trophy.  This joy is the love we can never lose. The secret heaven inside that nobody can touch or take away from us. And if we don’t honor our need for it,…

Apathy is one of my most least favorite emotions.  Anytime something in life gets a great big whatever from me, anytime my temporarily cynical attitude slams the door on the face of the world with heartless indifference, it just feels so gross and childish. It makes me into something alien to myself. Blech.  But as the great pioneer of cognitive change says, feelings, no matter how strong, do not prove…

Devore’s fabulous essay about how the big city doesn’t love you could easily be modified to address the business world.  Because companies aren’t that different from cities. Ask any employee who has been the victim of corporate layoffs. Or, as the executive management team likes to call them, cutting costs through staff realignment.  And the bitch of it is, that big company is too busy being a big company to care…