This morning, I realized that I felt “pretty good.” I believe that many of us had this same feeling. I have yet one more birthday approaching. This reminds me that time is relentless — it marches on: the body continues to age. But where is the pain and suffering that I anticipated at my age when I was 18 years old? It has not yet appeared. It would be false to claim that the 69-year-old body mirrors that of a 23-year-old one: it doesn’t. However, the frustrations and anxieties associated with physical age are no longer with me.
Continue reading Age is mostly in the mindPodcast Episode 110: It is your birthright to be “free as a bird.” But this liberty is something I can only give myself in an increasingly totalitarian and draconian world. The bureaucracy wants to control and regulate all of us.
Podcast Episode 109: Anger is a toxin that fills us all with a sense of loss and pain. We must learn to manage its onslaught and redirect its power.
Getting it right
It is hard to get it right, isn’t it? This is especially true when it comes to the functioning of human relations. I am often frustrated, late, afraid, anxious — the list goes on and on. Recently, I was reminded that “the meek shall inherit the earth.” (1) I fail at this, too. I can easily become overwhelmed with anger and frustration. So what am I to do to improve my failings in life? The prescription: sometimes, to rebuild your emotional health, you must simply take a break, suspend all judgments — enjoy a day wherein “you do not pass sentence” on yourself or others. You don’t forgive or evaluate anything — a state of neutrality. You have an “existential pause.” (2).
Continue reading Getting it rightPodcast Episode 108: The development of your personal style simply requires your commitment. Its development is important in the building of your personal brand.
Podcast Episode 107: Be gentle with yourself from time to time. This action will assist and strengthen you in your upcoming battle of life.
Allow me to accept the things I can change
Lord, allow me to accept the things I cannot change, change the things I can, and know the difference. (1) This is a common understanding in all addiction treatments. It is the realization that I can be in control, to a certain extent, of my reality, as I see it.
Continue reading Allow me to accept the things I can changePodcast Episode 106: We can control our inner voice through practice and determination. It is a difficult exercise at first, but becomes easier over time. You are the quality of your thoughts.
Podcast Episode 105: Never, ever give up on your dreams. Fight your way forward and never surrender the desire to accomplish what you should do or develop who you should be.
We are all superstars: what is holding us back?
Most parents are exceptionally good at telling their children how special they are — how very unique! Then comes the “kicker”: “You can be anything you want to be.” This lasts until we are around 16 years old and then, suddenly, we realize this is a total fabrication: a lie. We can’t be anything we want to be, or do anything we want to do, because … and you fill in the dots. We have been given a false view of what life is, and the constraints placed on that life.
Continue reading We are all superstars: what is holding us back?