Any Last Wishes?

"Everyone in your life will have a last day with you, and you don't even know when it'll be. " - unknown. I attended a funeral recently. It was nice, as far as funerals go, but I found out later that it was not carried out

Egos

"The ego is not who you really are. The ego is your self-image; it is your social mask; it is the role you are playing. Your social mask thrives on approval. It wants control, and it is sustained by power, because it lives in fear."- Deepak Chopra.

Risk

"Take risks: If you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise." - unknown. I have worked a couple of different jobs that have revolved around creating security, and to do so, you must identify what risks are out there, how likely they are to

Manipulation

"Our motives for the things we do are where the sin is manifest." - Ezra Taft Benson. I was working on a project over the weekend that required me to lift and move a couple of heavy objects, so I needed some help. I found myself thinking about how

The Nature of Fire

"Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan the flames." - Rumi. The air right now is filled with smoke from the many wildfires we have burning here in the West. The sunsets are redder, the scent of a campfire greets your nose when you walk outside, and

Frustration

"My heart wants roots. My mind wants wings. I cannot bear their bickerings." — E.Y. Harburg. If there were a feeling assigned to the last decade, I think it would be frustration. Merriam-Webster defines frustration as "the feeling of being upset or annoyed, especially because of

To Be Defeated

"Until death, all defeat is psychological." - attributed to Mandla The Great. What does it mean to be defeated? To be defeated is more than just losing; it is being overcome to the point where you are no longer able to complete a goal. It is being knocked out

Your Relationship with Consistency

"The rarest of all human qualities is consistency." - Jeremy Bentham. I have been accused (more than once) of not being able to stick with anything. I find this assessment to be accurate only part of the time (take this blog for example, over 70 weeks in a row

Isolation

Looking back over some of my posts, I notice that I write often about living according to your values. I thought that maybe I should address one of the consequences that will happen to you if you choose to do so, and that is: you may be isolated. Solitude, isolation,

Priorities

"Whatever you prioritize is your God." — Jordan B. Peterson I like to think that I have noble goals: being in great physical condition, eating homemade, healthful foods, spending my free time engaged in intellectual pursuits, and giving love and attention to my family, pets, plants, and nature. If

Forgiveness

"Forgiveness has nothing to do with logic; it is the final breakdown of it. It is a mystical recognition that human evil is something we are all trapped by, suffering from, and participating in." - Father Richard Rohr. I must apologize for the shortness of this post, but I

Be Kind

"It's a little embarrassing that after 45 years of research and study, the best advice I can give people is to be a little kinder to each other." - Aldous Huxley. I have been in several situations over the last few months that began to darken my

Independent

"The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm." - Swedish Proverbs The idea for this post came to me this week while listening to the radio on my way home from work. A newsperson reported on a sign the county had

Are You Ready?

"I've found that if I pray for God to move a mountain, I must be prepared to wake up next to a shovel." - unknown. Constantly, we are trying to mitigate the damage that life might inflict upon us. Experience has shown that through preparedness, we can

What Are You Worth?

"The world only exists in your eyes. You can make it as big or as small as you want." - F. Scott Fitzgerald. I recently experienced a situation that made me feel ashamed that I had never experienced what it was like to shop in a bougie store, and

Your Energy

Taylor Swift said something that went viral a few months ago. It was something like "Treat your energy as though it were a luxury item." Basically saying to be selective about where you are spending it. This assumes that energy is a rare commodity, something that, once depleted,

The Future

Kahlil Gibran said, "Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future but from wanting to control it." And who can blame us? We stockpile food, worry over retirement accounts, and take our vitamins. We do everything that we possibly can to mitigate disaster. Many would argue

Teamwork

I recently came across two very different YouTube videos, one about Russia and the other about China, that made me think about the future of humanity and the world that my children will have to navigate. The one about Russia highlighted the loss of assets recently for foreign companies and

What You Deserve

"There is no way in which a man can earn a star or deserve a sunset." - G. K. Chesterton. There is a saying that I am sure that you've all heard and may have repeated, "You get what you deserve." There is evidence to

Indifference

"Love cannot endure indifference. It needs to be wanted. Like a lamp, it needs to be fed out of the oil of another's heart, or its flame burns low." - Henry Ward Beecher. What happens when we stop caring? Not just about the big things, but about

Asking The Right Questions

"It was neither possible nor necessary to educate people who never question anything." - Joseph Heller. I think we all understand that asking questions is essential to personal and societal growth. Some of our first communications while learning to speak are questions. There is a learning curve here, though,

Blame

"He who blames others has a long way to go on his journey. He who blames himself is halfway there. He who blames no one has arrived." - Chinese Proverb. I have noticed that we seem to be living in the age of blame. All our problems are someone

Embrace The Suck

Embrace the Suck- (verb, military slang) to consciously accept or appreciate something that is extremely unpleasant, but unavoidable for forward progression. My son has been in an Army boot camp for a week now. I have not heard from him, but I am sure that his life is rather hard

Curiosity

"Curiosity, especially intellectual inquisitiveness, is what separates the truly alive from those who are merely going through the motions." - Tom Robbins. Curiosity is "a strong desire to learn or know something." Curious people are said to be open, adaptable, deep listeners who possess a positive outlook.