$100,000 Challenge
Beyond starting, we need patience and consistency. Rome Wasn’t Built in a DayPatience sustains our efforts when we are frustrated by the apparent lack of tangible progress. After faithfully going to the Pilates studio for a month, our derrieres are no more bulbous, and our figures do not compare favorably with those of our veteran […]
Just Start
The Smallest ActionA start can arise from a half-hearted act. Most addicts, thinking they do not belong and without any intention of joining, begin their journey to sobriety by walking into a 12-step meeting. Once they start, a desire to keep attending arises. Notably, a long-term commitment was not necessary to start the process that […]
The Urge to Begin
Do we have good intentions but never seem to work toward our goals, postponing them indefinitely? Or is progress towards our goals fitful, a cycle of starting, stopping, and restarting? Assuming the goal is one we sincerely desire and not merely a diversionary pipe dream, we need a confluence of promise, starting, consistency, and patience. […]
Yea – Another One!
There is always ample fodder for humor about aging, as well as some forced-upon-you wisdom to justify a post reflecting on the anniversary of my birth. It Comes Full CircleBeing a friendly chap, I often tell older couples engaging in frivolity how much I admire them and hope we are like them one day. I […]
The Present is Now
Putting Things in OrderThe famous “filling a jar with rocks, pebbles, and sand” example teaches us something about order, but it is incomplete. A professor placed a large Mason jar on a table in front of her students. She then put rocks into the jar until no more would fit. She asked an apparently rhetorical […]
Presence Extended
Too Many Tabs OpenWe all have so much to do that our minds can ceaselessly ruminate over the undone. Our brains act like computers with 25 open internet tabs. Cub Reporter?My friend confided that he was having trouble enjoying his daughter’s wedding reception because his mind was preoccupied. He owns a significant business, and its […]
Continuing Presence
The Need for SpeedMany view time not spent pursuing serious objectives as unproductive or a lost opportunity. In some way, we believe we are unworthy of relaxation or simple diversion. Last year, Cathy and I traveled to Italy with six close friends. One afternoon, we were idly passing the time at a café in a […]
Present
There is no shortage of guidance from the greatest minds, like Buddha, Confucius, Gandhi, and 168 others, about being present, staying in the moment. When it comes to writing on this subject, I feel like Elizabeth Taylor’s eighth husband on their wedding night. I know what I am supposed to do, but I am at […]
Engage Fear
Better Left Undone?We fancy ourselves facing the world like a swashbuckler standing on the ship’s bow with our saber upraised, captaining our ship to a faraway land. In reality, the fear of failure often confines us to our safe harbor, and we never test the waters. How do we move forward when we stand on […]
Failure’s Allure
It is a dirty word, and we avoid it like the plague. JFK famously said, “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.” However, failure is superior to the opposite, hastily decided, inevitable, and the fertilizer of success. The Alternative?An evil man died and found himself in a luxurious casino, where he won […]