The Books You Read Are Safe…
I had an epiphany a while back: The Neverending Story is an entirely different movie when you are an adult. I watched it with my kids a while back and they loved it. My son requested it daily for several days afterward. The scene with the wolf scared him slightly, but much like Sebastian, he overcame his fear. There are so many memories from that … Continue reading The Books You Read Are Safe…
Extraversion: The Price of Now
What Is Extraversion? Extraversion breaks down into the following two fundamental aspects: assertiveness and enthusiasm. Those high in assertiveness are the take-charge types. The so-called natural-born leaders. The game-changing alphas. (It’s a valuable trait for a pilot, I might add.) Those high in enthusiasm are talkative and charismatic. They’re the life of the party. The ones who make friends with enviable ease. (Don’t you just love to … Continue reading Extraversion: The Price of Now
Things We’ve Lost to the Internet
Last week I was on vacation in the beautiful village of Lu Bagnu, located in Sardinia, Italy. I had the chance to read more than usual and I found an interview to Pamela Paul, author of the book “100 Things We’ve lost to the Internet“. The book presents the world before cyberspace. If you are a non digital native like me, you will know what she … Continue reading Things We’ve Lost to the Internet
It’s Not a Bug; It’s a Feature
This past Saturday, I got up early because I had a Zoom meeting with a Pointless Overthinking colleague who lives on the other side of the planet. Despite my best efforts, I’d gotten up a touch late and was in a hurry to get breakfast eaten so I wouldn’t be tardy for our online rendezvous. For quite a long time now, right after breaking my … Continue reading It’s Not a Bug; It’s a Feature
Lessons from Taoism: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times
It was at a university book sale where I was first introduced to the ideas of Taoism. Hidden away deep in the philosophy section, I picked up what initially seemed like a strange esoteric book – the Tao Te Ching. It was a short text, under 100 pages, that was filled with often puzzling language and concepts which seemed contradictory at first. As I dived … Continue reading Lessons from Taoism: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times
Good Times? Why You Should Rank Your Fun
Ranking our fun helps us to decide how best to spend our time.
Continue reading Good Times? Why You Should Rank Your Fun
The Big Five Personality Model: An Empirical Tool for Understanding Yourself
An introduction to the Big Five Personality Model: How it developed, why it’s reliable and how to use it to understand yourself. Continue reading The Big Five Personality Model: An Empirical Tool for Understanding Yourself
Lunch Break: Temple of Apollo
In our modern age, Kristo and Morpheus would have excelled as ironworkers on the tallest skyscrapers; they moved with confidence and ease high above the ground. At the sound of the whistle, they set down their chisels and hammers and reached for their nearby lunch pails. Their torsos were dark bronze from many hours under the sun. With their legs dangling over the frontispiece of … Continue reading Lunch Break: Temple of Apollo
Uvalde, the State of the Electorate, and a Rant
San Antonio, Texas, the city where I currently live, is located about eighty miles away from Uvalde, a town that has been in the news a lot in recent days. Unless you’ve been doing a Rip Van Winkle lately or are someone who lives outside the United States, I probably don’t need to tell you that in Uvalde, a little town of mesquite and pecan … Continue reading Uvalde, the State of the Electorate, and a Rant
Memorial Day in America
So my great uncle was, I think, 19 (let’s say 19) and stationed in England as a private in the US Army on the eve of the Normandy invasion. And he was scared out of his wits. So much so, he placed a call to his oldest brother, my grandfather, and confessed he was thinking of going AWOL. Well, as he must’ve known, my grandfather … Continue reading Memorial Day in America
Internal Talk
Hi! Let’s talk about how we talk to ourselves today. Internal talk is the communication that goes on within you. You encounter an unpleasant or challenging situation. What do you say to yourself? That is internal talk. This talk is vital in shaping our perspective. Let’s say you said something awkward in a meeting. Do you blame yourself and say you are stupid? Or do … Continue reading Internal Talk
Lessons from Nature
Below is a poem I wrote inspired by the peace, joy and reprieve being in nature provides me. What do you find in nature? Let me know in the comments below. Nature, teach me how to live To embrace change and Flow effortlessly like the steady stream To embody the wisdom of the trees Who shed their leaves in the fall Scattering their vibrant colours … Continue reading Lessons from Nature
We Don’t Care About Dead Kids
Our lack of action to curb gun violence sends the message that we don’t care about the problem, even if it means dead kids. Continue reading We Don’t Care About Dead Kids
Why Understanding Personality Is Key to Increasing Potential
I recently completed a course on personality theory that I found infinitely fascinating. Today I want to share some thoughts about how this understanding can help us better navigate in the world. You can think of personality as the lens through which we view the world. It functions by filtering the world so we only pay attention to certain things. This then influences the way … Continue reading Why Understanding Personality Is Key to Increasing Potential
Connecting The Dots
I would have made a poor Sherlock Holmes, especially when it comes to solving the mysterious case regarding the Truth of our Being. In that regard, I behaved more like Inspector Clouseau, of Pink Panther fame. That’s not to say that I was as bumbling in life as the inspector was with his investigations; but I was definitely a prodigal son without knowing it. Unbeknownst … Continue reading Connecting The Dots
The Numbing of the American Soul
each slaughter that sprouts up has chipped away at my humanity, and has created a thicket of scars around what I will refer to, for lack of a more exact term, soul. And these scars have left me largely numb . Continue reading The Numbing of the American Soul
The Three Sieves Test
This story is attributed to the famous philosopher Socrate but the source is not that sure. It is also known as the Triple Filter Test. This anecdote teaches us not to pay attention to rumours and untrue, hurtful, and useless messages. It can be referred to regular gossip. However, it can also be applied to the information we find on social media. I think what … Continue reading The Three Sieves Test
Note on acceptance, control, and Stoicism
I sometimes get the impression that Stoicism is often taken as, and practiced as if it were, a way to finally control everything, including our feelings. Yet this is quite incorrect. Stoicism is not about becoming able to control everything. It is about finally starting to begin to acknowledge that we don’t and can’t, and to start to begin to learn, to know, in and … Continue reading Note on acceptance, control, and Stoicism
Manifestation or Zero Limits
Hello! The topic of this week’s post comes from a discussion with a friend on Friday: manifestation or letting go? Manifestation is a popular term. It refers to the type of activities done to make things you want happen in your life by using various techniques such as visualization, specification etc. Let’s say you want to buy a house. You make a vision board, believe … Continue reading Manifestation or Zero Limits
Living in the Gift
Take a deep breath. Open your eyes and observe what is around you. Look at the sun beaming through the blossoming trees. Listen to the birds singing ecstatically with feverous joy. Touch the different textures of plants in your garden as you await a bountiful feast upon harvest. We didn’t earn the pleasures of the awe inspiring world that we were born into. Rather they … Continue reading Living in the Gift