Losing doesn’t just mean you’ve lost. For, when you lose, you gain. Whenever a friend leaves, you move away, get fired, close a business, it’s awful. We hate it. We should, because losing sucks. No one wants to have something taken from them. But what I’ve noticed is no matter what (or who) was taken…More
Tag Archives: Faith
Reflections from a funeral
Funerals aren’t just about death; they’re also about life. And this past week, while at my friend’s dad’s funeral, I could see that he lived richly, and he knew it. I don’t mean that he drove a Maserati, had a big house, or had some huge title. He didn’t. He was normal, just a regular…More
Live well
I’m not an NBA fan; I don’t watch any games, turn on ESPN, follow any players, but the news about Kobe Bryant and his daughter punched me in the heart. Famous people dying is in the media all of the time. It’s sad, and we can feel some sadness. But often we move on. The…More
Finding meaning when everything feels meaningless
Sometimes life feels…well—empty—devoid of purpose. It’s easy to feel like a hamster running on a stupid wheel. But that’s wrong. Life’s not purposeless. And you’re not a hamster. But I know the feeling of waking up and wondering why you’re even bothering. Why even open your eyes, get out of bed, get ready to go…More
When unlearning is the greatest lesson
Unlearning is sometimes the best learning you can do. For often you limit the understanding of how high you can climb or how far you can go or how great you can become; but those thoughts are often untrue, wrong. Examine them. Dismantle those limiting notions, the dark stories from your childhood, those demeaning words…More
Are you living for the right person?
We all live for people. But are you living for the right person? Maybe you became a buttoned-up lawyer because your parents “made” you, when you really wanted to be an artist in paint-covered jeans, flicking the perfect strokes like Bob Ross, but it was too “impractical.” Now, you’re miserable. Or, maybe you’re feeling frantic…More
True meaning
Meaning is like air to us. Without it we die. With it we soar like eagles. I just read this morning an author state that the universe doesn’t care about you or anything that happens on our planet or anywhere else. And that the only meaning we can conjure up in this cold hard world…More
This is what it costs to live a great life
There is no forever without always. There is no way to gain the riches of commitment without committing. You can have great friendships but you need to be a great friend. You can have deep connections but you need to connect deeply. You can have a life together but you have to give them your…More
This is how you make better decisions
We all want to make smart decisions. And you can, by living in the tension. Now I’m not talking about the daily decisions like eating a sandwich or salad (get the half and half, of course), or to like a photo on Instagram or not. Let’s talk about big decisions, like looking for a new…More
This is the best way to transform the world around you
The bus was taking forever. And it wasn’t just cold; it was windy, not like a gentle breeze. It was gusty, which is common in New York City. At least it was sunny. But we were still shivering while on 14th Street and 9th Ave surrounded by people who looked like arctic adventurers with the…More
John Pa 