Many start the day leaping out of bed as if shot out of a cannon.  Running through our minds is a myriad of urgent obligations, and we send our brains into overdrive by first checking our phones for “vital” messages and “consulting” social media.   We want to start the day on the right foot but mostly ignore the one thing that sets everything else into proper motion: an inspiring ritual. We know...

What to make of it? The Stoics Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius both commented that it isn’t the events that disturb people but their judgments about them.    This principle is evident as I write these words from the terrace of our accommodations in Barcelona, Spain.  I hear vehicles rumbling down the street, construction noise, and people scurrying about shopping or commuting to work.   Whether...

Their Part The lyrics from a 1967 Beatles song remain true today, “Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.”   We are born with less knowledge than a turtle that intuitively knows to crawl out of its sandy nest and use moonlight to find its ocean home.  Someone taught us everything we know; your mother had to bring you to her breast.  The lessons may come at our mother’s knee, in a...

Magnetism and Metamorphosis Our moms told us not to hang out with troublemakers because she feared us becoming one.  My dad told me, "If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas." Noted author and motivational speaker Jim Rohn stated, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." We naturally gravitate to those most like us and tend to adopt our companions' traits -...

Me? You may expect the person you need to forgive most is the parent who misshaped you during your formative years or the school bully who gave you wedgies and an inferiority complex.  Yes, you need to forgive them, but you need self-forgiveness, as an absence impedes the pursuit of a fulfilling life.     Please note the use of “have been” in the title.  You must come to the table of forgiveness...