O’ Modern Man, Modern Man, how you stand up tall with your undeserved pride. You hold infinite knowledge in the palm of your hand, Control nature, much more than it can withstand. Is there anything you can not know? No place where you can not go? Why are you so serious modern man? Don’t you … More The Ignorance of the Modern Man
First of all, let’s just take a moment to enjoy the aesthetic decadence of that word. It’s zippy, it’s got zest. In some ways, as we will see, it captures a greater than zero percentage of the zeitgeist. It is every bit the equal of “zozzled,” a Jazz Age term for drunk. But “zugzwang” isn’t … More Zugzwang
In search of meaning in life … More The Horizons of Meaning
For an Italian like me, living at a latitude of 59.4 could feel like living on the top of the world. During my almost 3 year adventure living and working in Estonia, I have mixed feelings. The biggest downside was the lack of light in winter, but despite that, I recommend a visit. Tallinn is … More Living on the Top of the World – An Italian in Estonia
The art of play … More Embracing the Art of Play
When you think about your life and ways to improve it, usually your first reflex is that you are missing something. But you often forget that one of the best ways to improve your life, to feel better, is not by adding. On the contrary, it is by eliminating. Today I will share with you 5 … More How to Improve Your Life
The paradigms, world views and ideas which we inhabit shape how we perceive and interact with the world. They impact our ideals, relationships, and values. That is, who we are and who we aspire to be. It is the task of philosophy to step back and critically examine the dominant frames and driving forces that … More East Versus West: A Look at Two Minds
Hi everyone! Happy Sundays! This week, I want to talk about the lack of perfection in life: there is no point in life where everything will be perfect in the way we understand life. When I think about each phase in my life, I can find many goods about each phase. But I cannot find … More Is there a perfect life?
A Flow State of Mind … More A Jazz State of Mind: Entering the Flow State
Amidst the rise in digital technologies and new avenues for communication, the general quality of our public discourse has declined. As I have explored in this series, modern society has become increasingly fragmented and polarized. We are no longer able to search for areas of compromise or entertain opposing viewpoints. The cause of the issue … More The Power of Listening
Hi everyone! Welcome to Wise & Shine! I hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend! How we define difficulty or problems is variable, or it should be. What is difficult for someone might not be so for another. Likewise, when we look at someone’s life and feel like they have everything perfect, we should not … More What is a difficulty?
Hi everyone, Happy Sunday! My recent experience showed me that you can get all you want and be the richest person in the world, but if you don’t have anyone to share it with, it does not mean much. This is a (unfortunately) new understanding for me because I have always been goal-oriented (goals that … More Family and Friends
In this blog post on the philosophy of Stoicism I want to explore 3 practical Stoic techniques that I have found particularly useful for attaining confidence and tranquility of the mind. If you take a step back and look at your life from a cosmic perspective you will realize how small and insignificant you are … More 3 Stoic Exercises to Achieve Tranquility and Inner Peace
In order for help to be given, help must be accepted. Are you open to both giving and receiving help? … More Helping Others: Can You Dish It Out But Not Take It?
This idea of surrendering ourselves to something beyond our control is foreign to our natural inclinations as human beings. At our core we are meaning making creatures who tirelessly seek to rid the world of uncertainty, and have power over our natural environment. We develop myths, rituals, belief systems, and socio-political institutions all in an attempt to … More Amor Fati and The Acceptance of What is Necessary
We can all learn something from our losses. Some of you may remember Yoda saying on Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery, hmm… but weakness, folly, failure also. Yes: failure, most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is. Somehow, Yoda finds himself explaining how failure is a … More Re-framing Failure: Learning from your losses
A look at how we all can be heroes … More The Hero Within
A meditation on inperfection … More Finding Beauty in Brokenness
A few weeks ago I had plans to take my kids to a wedding in Leavenworth, WA a couple of hours away from where I live. On the day we were to leave, my stomach hurt. I chalked it up to a deli sandwich that I’d eaten the day before and loaded the kids into … More Rose Colored Glasses
Hello! This week’s topic is change, specifically how our wants and needs change at different ages. Up until recently, I lived in big cities. First, in Istanbul for 6.5 years and then in Los Angeles for 6.5 years. Istanbul has a population of 15 million and it is the bigger of the two, but both … More Change and Aging