Explorations of Conscious Reality Creation, Mindfulness, and Other Matters
How do I handle this along life’s paths? My family largely doesn’t get me. They love me, I know that. But they don’t get me. What does that mean? I do things, take approaches to matters, and live in ways that cause them to scratch their heads, wonder how I can possibly be content or happy this way, and probably question my sanity. My dating habits and relationship choices in my 20s and 30s made no sense to them. That
Just remember – being yourself is not a license to be a dick. Who are you? This is a massively loaded question. Who you are can vary depending on the time of day, the company you’re keeping, your mood, and numerous other factors. The short answer is that you are you. No matter what happens, the only one in your head, heart, and soul is you. Yet being yourself can be challenging because of the need to be accepted. You
You alone have the answer – but here’s why I think it’s YES. Secrets can be useful in many ways. When it comes to national security, for example, certain secrets keep people from hacking into various systems and shutting down the power grid or something equally bad. Secrets also can make room for surprises. You can’t throw a good surprise party for someone if you don’t make secret plans and keep that someone out of the loop. But secret-keeping can
You can only learn from the past but can’t return to it. Do you have trauma from your past? Have you experienced pain, suffering, sadness, and the like? If you’re human, then you probably have had some or all of the above experiences. Some of them you probably don’t ever desire to recall or return to again. But some you might desire to redo or undo, and others you might desire to return to – with what you know now
The answer is yes – and wholly dependent on me and my actions. As I’m writing this, I’m preparing to take my annual trip to the gargantuan medieval event in SW Pennsylvania. However, leading up to this point has been quite probably one of the craziest years I’ve experienced in a long time. Let me sum up 2023: At the start of the year, I was recovering from COVID; we learned my mother-in-law had a terminal brain tumor; and my
This is why toxic positivity is so dangerous. Nobody lives a perfect life. You’ve had both good days and bad days in your life. Like it or not, life has had its ups and downs. Nobody ever experiences just one emotion or feeling. And that’s a good thing. Why? Because you need to experience it all. That’s part of living life. Life is made up of many a paradox and uncountable extremes. But most of life occurs somewhere between any
How difficult do you make it? When it comes to finding the best ways to complicate my life, I’m an expert. This tends to come from overthinking things, overanalyzing, self-doubt, uncertainty, fear, and similar factors. Why? Sometimes it’s because of the idea that if it looks too good to be true (or too easy) it probably is. Other times because I’ve long believed that nothing worth having is ever easy. Then there are external factors like the opinions of others,
This requires next to no time on any given day. People are busy. I don’t know anybody who isn’t almost constantly on the go. Between work, errands, socializing, and a general societal need for near-perpetual motion – people seldom pause for more than a moment or two. Even when forced to take a break – like during the Pandemic – people mostly didn’t emerge with greater respect for themselves and their time. This is part of the mental health crisis
Spoiler alert – it’s me. A few months back, in an attempt to offer a friend some encouraging perspective – I did exactly the opposite. I totally fucked up, caused my friend anxiety, self-doubt, and a host of other unpleasantness utterly the opposite of the intent of my words. Immediately after, I was informed that I messed this up by a mutual friend. I apologized and explained my reasoning. Now, months later, I learn it was so bad that it
How can you recognize, accept, and even find positivity in uncertainty? I’ve written time and again that the one and only constant in the Universe is change. It’s the only constant, but by no means the only universal truth. There are others. These include the fact that every single person on the planet – you, me, and everyone – will experience these three things: Birth, life, and death. The simplicity of this notion can feel harsh to some. But on
