Life Is Combustion. Sometimes, that’s Good. Sometimes It’s Not.

When you light a fire (or a candle), that’s combustion. The process goes like this. Ignition: Heat starts the process. When enough heat is applied to a suitable fuel source and oxygen, the fuel and oxygen molecules get excited and start moving faster, increasing the likelihood of colliding with enough energy to react. The Bonds […]

Curation vs. Compassion

We see what we want to see. We see what others want us to see. We think we show what we want to show (but do we really?). Multiply by a zillion if it’s on social media. A “curated” life is a mirage. A facsimile. It’s the green grass on the other side of the […]

The Golden Rule of Decision-Making

The golden rule of decision-making is that it is impossible to make a high-quality decision without knowing what you want (value). Similarly, you will never be happy with your decisions if you say you value something but don’t. When you honestly declare to yourself what you value, you open the door to high-quality decision-making, to […]

The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself

Franklin D Roosevelt launched his presidency (the first term) with a spare 20-minute, 1,883-word address. The most famous bit was a riff on Henry David Thoreau’s observation . . . “Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.” Roosevelt was elected in the teeth of what is now called “The Great Depression.”  His opening […]

Showing Up is Half the Battle

It seems silly to say this, but showing up is the first key to out-performance. Sometimes, this means at all. Get there. Sometimes, it’s about timing. Get there first. Sometimes, it’s about consistency. Show up more often. Sometimes, it’s about intensity. Bring more to the game. What’s true is you can’t win if you’re not […]

The Second Arrow

There is a Buddhist teaching called the two arrows. Our lives are full of “stuff happens.” Some of it we like, some of it pains us, and some we hardly notice. It’s the rhythm of life. The first arrow is the pain or discomfort we experience from something we don’t want or like. It’s enough […]

Who Will Help?

You can’t do this alone, and more to the point, you don’t need to. If you don’t have these kinds of people in your life, get busy and get some . . . Angels believe in you and want to help just because it’s you. Their energy and encouragement are priceless. Pioneers are people willing to go […]

The Next Time You’re Shot with an Arrow

A famous Buddhist parable (sutta) relates a conversation with a man called Malukya. It begins with Malukya demanding answers from the Buddha to what were then referred to as the “fourteen unanswerable questions” —e.g., is there life after death, what is the nature of the cosmos, etc. These are the same questions we’re still asking […]

Beware of Solutions Masquerading as Problems

When the problem and the solution are the same, you don’t have a real decision. There’s a difference between “Should we go to Spain this year?” and “What should we do for a vacation?” The first is a set-up to go to Spain. The second invites consideration of many alternatives. “Should I divorce the bastard?” […]

Experiments Are Failures We Learn From

Experiments are “failures” we learn from. “Failure” is another word for “not what I expected.” Expectations help keep us going. Dopamine levels increase when we expect a positive outcome or reward from an activity. The chemical hit makes us feel energized and focused. But here’s the thing: It’s not the actual achievement of the reward […]