Essential ingredients to our prescription for misery

Because you don’t want to. Those five words should be reason enough not to do something. But that isn’t enough for certain people. They don’t agree that the word no is a complete sentence. They’re always asking us to convince them that our desires are okay. Demanding that we justify our choices in a way that makes sense to their worldview. Does this interaction infuriate you? If so, you’re not alone. People’s criticism of our choices can easily send us...

The monomyth includes a phase called the belly of the beast. It’s that formative time in which the hero doubts themselves and wishes the journey had never begun. Skywalker famously gets stranded in a subzero wasteland in his journey. And the only protection from certain death in the freezing climate is for his best friend to slit open a dead tauntaun and help him rest inside the stinking but warm carcass. He’s quite literally in the belly of the beast....

Carlin once complained that all you ever hear about in this country is our differences. That’s all the media and the politicians are ever talking about. The things that separate us. That’s the way the ruling class operates in any society. They try to divide the rest of the people, they keep the lower and the middle classes fighting with each other so that they, the rich, can run off with all the money. Anything they can do to keep...

A bizarre and scary part about growing up is experiencing your home as a visitor, rather than a resident. It just kind of happens one day. You come back home for a holiday or a long weekend, and you realize that may of the things you used to find comfort in, aren't there anymore. Or they are still there, but they just don't do it for you anymore. Like that pizza place you used to love. When you were a...

The most penetrating question ever asked:What if we trusted that nothing was missing right now? Maybe we could quiet our yearning and listen to our own gifts. Maybe we could focus on living the life that we have. Maybe we could make more conscious choices about our experience. Maybe we could believe that all we ever need is before us, around us and within us. The possibilities are endless. But sadly, the minute that most of us feel a pang...