Dealing with set backs is a universal condition. When James Murray, the lead editor of the first Oxford English Dictionary was enrolled to publish the dictionary, he was confronted with a near impossible task: document the use of every single word in the English language throughout history. Originally expecting the

I was a pretty obnoxious kid in high school.  Purple hair, lots of piercings, prone to making trouble.  I remember having a debate with my English teacher about Shakespeare, challenging her on the meaning behind certain passages we were studying.  I just didn’t understand where she was getting all this

How often do we consider the true significance of our words? Every time a person sneezes, someone will inevitably say, “bless you”. But what does this mean? Recently, I shared with a friend that when I walk by a person asking for money, I often respond with a blessing. His

Resistance is familiar to anyone who has pursued a creative endeavor.  It is that comforting force of distraction in the face of a meaningful task.  It’s calling friends, surfing the web, researching something random, browsing Amazon, and day dreaming when you know you should be doing something else. In The

Shunryu Suzuki, the Japanese monk who popularized Zen Buddhism in the United States, shares a beautiful story about the difference between noise and sound: If you think, when you are reading something, “Bird is there” – bluejay is over my roof, bluejay is singing but their voice is not so

Authenticity is a slippery slope.  We often equate being authentic with self expression – but is this really authenticity?  The great mystic Gurdjieff suggests that a person has personality and essence.  Personality consists of all the different identities we carry, the many I’s of the mind.  One moment we’re cold,

Early in my entrepreneurial career, I was selling real estate rentals in the Boston area.  After two months on the job I was failing miserably and almost ready to quit.  My working strategy was to churn through as many prospects as I could, always moving on to the next client.

Ok. Silly, rhetorical question: Do you ever find that modern life moves unbelievably fast? Right. Each day brings new demands, a never ending to do list, and the harsh criticism of an insatiable inner critic. The rabbit hole easily manifests a condition of overwhelm and paralysis – not knowing what