Let's face it, you can not live a life worth living without making mistakes. Getting things "right" involves going through a lot of "wrong."
And some of those "wrong" choices of word and deed come with a heaping helping of regret. And when regret appears, you can be sure that shame is following clo...
“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him.” — Viktor Frankl
At the beginning of this week, I encouraged building some intentional “quiet time” into your day-to-day lives. Paradoxically, it may seem, today I’m encouraging y...
For those of us on the path of developing and delivering our best selves through our best work, it is easy to get lost in the churn. Hustling to get what we're working on done so we can move on to what's next.
The path to progress doesn't encourage the employment of patience or peace.
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” ― Marcus Aurelius
In an age that seems to reward certainty and confidence, it's tempting to look for a map. The shortest, fastest, and easiest way to get where you want to go (or worse, where others think you should...
We spend a lot of time in our own heads. Probably more than is healthy. And much of this narrative is feeding questionable agendas and assumptions about ourselves, our situation, and those who surround us.
Piercing the veil of our self-fulfilling self-talk is an exercise worth doing more often. Her...
Several years ago, my wife and I sold the farm where we raised fruit, vegetables, chickens, pets, our two sons, and more than a few eyebrows. Our boys, now grown and gone, we moved to town.
Days later, I came within a few inches of being hit by a car on my daily run.
Humans are complicated. Can we agree on that? What other creature is capable of holding two diametrically opposed ideas in their head at the same time and simultaneously hold each to be true and still function?
Some people believe the earth is actually flat and still go onround the  world cruises. ...
Gratitude is baked into many of the reflections Marcus Aurelius wrote in his journal. What I love about this quote, is that it reminds me that art is any work that matters. Acts done with intention and done to enhance the lives of others. Art is music, painting, and fiction for sure. But art is al...
Of all the lessons I’ve learned (and continue to learn), the biggest have intersected with my struggle with understanding and employing empathy. A struggle I only began coming to terms with when I added a chapter on it to The Stoic Creative Handbook.
The punchline, or rather the truth as I see it, ...
Marianne Williamson's quote is a compelling call for us to tap into our curiosity and courage and live bigger and in service to others. It lets us know that we are enough as we are while reminding us that we have unfulfilled promise to develop and deliver.
I earned a living playing music on stages large and small for 30 years. Sometimes for festival audiences of thousands, sometimes to the sound of one fan clapping in a small club. Along the way, I learned a few lessons that inspire and inform other life endeavors. Here are my top 10 lessons learned f...
Marcus Aurelius was the last of the “good emperors” of the Roman Empire. A man who stood above questioning who questioned himself daily. Marcus’ reminders to himself about the importance of virtue and justice inspire me and many others to this day.
“To live the good life. We have the potential fo...
