"What do you DO for a living Mike?" "So, what do you DO?" I have always been uncomfortable with how people identify themselves by using labels. And how we define others by labels as well. We label our children when they are young, too. "My kid is so XYZ!" "Oh, he's a XYZ." "She is …
Category: Self
Equanimity.
Zen Story: Maybe There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “Maybe,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it …
Passengers vs. Drivers.
I used to blame others for my life state when I was younger. I blamed my parents. I blamed my teachers. I blamed other kids. I blamed everyone and everything for my unhappiness, for the things that didn't go my way, essentially, for all of my misery. When I started my professional career and things …
My Suffering. My Greatest Teacher.
I had what you would call a "non-traditional" childhood. Perhaps that's the kind way of saying it. The truth was that it was hard, confusing, painful and, more often than not, terrifying. My parents struggled in their own relationship and, sadly, left my siblings and I to largely fend for ourselves. Not that we went …
Two Days.
I used to suffer from the dreaded Monkey Brain. My mind would race constantly with thoughts, ideas, to-do's, past grievances and future concerns. We aren't born with it, but as we go through life, we all see and suffer from things that eventually, ultimately find their way back into our thoughts. And I think for me, …
Innovation.
We are living in perhaps the greatest period of technological innovation in modern times. It's almost impossible to keep up with it all. Seems everyday there is something mind boggling coming out of the tech sector. From driverless cars to drones, AI to medtech, robots to rockets, it's truly astonishing how fast our world is …
