The more isolated we become, the less opportunity there is to be of service to our friends, family and community. The more we hibernate in our own worlds, the more we fixate on ourselves and become absorbed by our own processes. What makes healthy homes, communities...
From the time we are little children, people start asking, "What do you want to be?". Eager ears listen and expect answers like ‘firefighter, dog walker, doctor, swimmer, teacher, etc.’ From an early age we get fixated on measuring success by our accomplishments...
Something is fractured in our social system. Stay with me, here: I’m not a pessimist, I’m an optimist, but I feel we’ve lost our way as a society. Despite the positive progress happening in the world, if we’re not able to look at where we’re broken, we can’t possibly...
In the early 2000’s, I was working in the U.S., leading wilderness expeditions. The average trip was a month and I would do a lot of driving from mountains to rivers, depending on where I was working. It feels like a lifetime ago; cell phones were only used for making...
In 2005 I travelled to Nepal with a friend who was a Doctor of Acupuncture. She had had her own practice for almost two decades and had a rich body of knowledge. She wanted to travel to Katmandu to stay with a friend there, a Buddhist monk. She was going to practice...
One of my biggest weaknesses has been my inability to say I am sorry. Even today, I am not professing to have mastered the art of apology, or of knowing when an apology is needed. The art of saying sorry shifts from situation to situation. Saying sorry isn’t an answer...
Years ago, I took a humble look at my friendships and realized most of them were not working. It was a sad and scary time for me. It meant that I was the one who was going to have to change, and that that change would require letting go of friends — and I would lose a...
“You use up everything you’ve got trying to give everyone what they want” Nina Simone When it comes to compliments, I find them easier to accept if I don’t make too much of them. I don’t need people to tell me that I’m amazing for me to continue doing something I...
Looking at myself in the mirror, wiping the sleep out of my eyes, I’m disgusted with my reflection. I’m thinking about how horrible I must be to have had people I loved and trusted treat me so poorly. I pick apart my character piece by piece, dismantling my freedom to...
It’s kind of poetic, the idea of being broken. Being broken allows us to behave in certain ways – generally ways that keep us small. Being broken becomes a badge of honor that we proudly carry along with us. It feels almost righteous, like we have earned something....