In a NY Times article, Barbara Ehrenreich suggests that claims attached to gratitude are hollow. Laying on a yoga mat feeling grateful doesn’t provide gratitude to anyone who deserves it such as migrant farm workers with aching backs. She questions the attitude of gratitude for the $8 an-hour Walmart employee who gets a raise to...Read More

Mistakes are the portals of discovery. James Joyce I came across an astonishing document published by Engineers Without Borders that applies to the human condition as much as engineering projects. The Canadian division produces an annual “Failure Report” in which they make clear that well- intended engineering projects go bad, often. The topics include forthright...Read More

Stay close to any sounds that make you glad you are alive. -Hafez (Poet 1325-1390) Noticing how a person smiles can give you great insight into the degree of authentic happiness a person feels. Duchenne smiles occur when there is genuine joy felt, the involuntary muscles of the eye crinkle (crow’s feet) and the cheeks...Read More

Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes” Walt Whitman Dealing effectively with difficult people is a life skill because without it, we can be robbed of our well-being, productivity, sleep, our kindness and generosity. By far, the most challenging kind of person to deal with is the A**hole, which has been...Read More

In a scientific dialogue amongst social scientists and the Dalai Lama, published under the title Destructive Emotions the notion of American compassion was raised. It was explained that in the U.S., many people have great compassion for others, yet suffer greatly with low self-worth and self-contempt. Our American understanding of compassion applies only to others...Read More

Wisdom is indemonstrable, art uncertain, strength powerless, wealth useless and speech impotent if health be absent. Greek Anatomist Herophilus, the Father of Anatomy A stunning moment in human history occurred in the 3rd century BC. Two men, who were curious about what caused the pulse, were given permission to dissect the first human cadaver on...Read More

At some point in an adult life, a sense of mission drift can take root. Somewhere the life and the work we love takes a wrong turn, and we end up in a bad neighborhood. This sense of feeling lost can present itself as a frenzied desire to escape, or a sense of dread in...Read More

There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors.”  Jim Morrison Some people spend much of their life confined by their own fears. Fear is a mind-made “never enough” story we tell ourselves that restricts us to the narrow past.  When we are fearful we embody our smallest, least generous selves...Read More

At the mid-point of the path through life, I found myself lost in a wood so dark, the way ahead was blotted out.  Dante, The Divine Comedy, 1307 At one point, in the middle of my life, I realized I wasn’t where I wanted to be.  It felt as if I had wondered into a...Read More

Nothing Ever Becomes Real Until it is Experienced.  John Keats There are several forms of emotional vampires (narcissists, victims, controllers, etc.) who go far beyond aggravating you and have a way of drawing you in and then draining you.  Vampires are different and more dangerous than other annoying people, but they have important commonalities.  Generally, their...Read More