Silence. It’s one of the best things for us. Even so, for many, it’s scary. So we surround ourselves with noise, TV going in the background or music streaming, podcasts playing, zoom meetings zooming. These days we have more noises than ever before. There are videos, shows, audiobooks, and on and on chattering in our…More
Tag Archives: mindfulness
Gratitude is good, but contentment is better
Gratitude. It’s something we hear a lot about, especially this week. But, there is something that has a greater impact on our lives, like gratitude, but more richly. What is it? It’s contentment. You see, gratitude is something you do, an action. But contentment is a state of being. It’s not just an act; it’s…More
Become true for yourself
Don’t be true to yourself; be true to the truth. “Be authentic.” We hear it all of the time. It’s about being true to yourself. But often, being ourselves is the last thing we should be. Often we can be awful. We make mistakes, fail others, hurt our loved ones. I mean, sometimes, I’m a…More
Endings are new beginnings
By embracing the end, you will start to see new beginnings. Sure, some endings are good, like getting out of a bad job or unhealthy relationships, etc. But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the things we don’t want to end, the ones that aren’t good. It can be as trivial as a…More
Permission to live
Give yourself permission to fail, to overreach, to try. Give yourself permission to be imperfect, wrong, weird. Give yourself permission to do that thing you love, pursue your dream, take a different path. I’m not saying to do anything wrong or immoral. I’m just saying that there are a lot of things that are good…More
The greatest reward for pandemic risk
Assessing risk is hard anytime, but, in a pandemic, it’s even harder. But it’s paramount. People should think “The coronavirus kills and is unpredictable, so I should wear a mask, especially indoors, and socially distance so I don’t transmit or get infected and become a transmitter.” But many don’t. Especially in the US. People aren’t…More
We started a podcast
So…a friend and I started a podcast. There’s a lot of confessing, challenging, a bit of conflict, and a touch of cussing. But most of all it’s a conversation between friends. This project grew out of years of relationship and talking about our ventures and missteps and learnings and stories. And we want to share…More
Finding purpose
What do you live for? It’s a simple question. But it’s one of the most difficult to answer. From my experience, many of us find meaning but few have purpose. Purpose is the belief or reason we have for living. It’s different from meaning. Meaning is about the significance or feeling of significance for something…More
Overcoming one of our greatest obstacles: ourselves
Our lives are determined not just by what we think but how we think. Before I started writing I used to believe I couldn’t write. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that my high school papers, after being graded, had so much red ink on them that they looked like someone…More
Savoring life
Life is short; enjoy today. This week an old friend’s wife died. It was sudden—tragic. She was young, around my age, too young to die. They likely had dreams of growing gray together, wrinkled, swinging on a creaky porch swing, talking about their grown kids and grandkids. Now that’s gone. See, life can sucker punch…More
John Pa 