As a young adult growing up in the Northeast, I used to split the year into two halves. The first glorious half ran from mid-April to mid-October. It was a time of warmish to hot weather, abundant sunshine, swimming in the ocean, drinking cold beers on the beach. The less pleasant other half ran through Fall and Winter and was comprised of shorter, darker days, chilly to numbingly cold weather—and every so often, a case of the blues. I have... Read more
Start Chipping Away. That’s both a chapter heading and advice from Arthur C. Brooks recent book From Strength to Strength, Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life. “Chipping away” is of many compelling ideas forwarded by Brooks, a way to increase happiness as we grow older. Brooks explains that the way we view the world is often dictated by society or more specifically by the cultural norms we live in and may have unconsciously accepted.... Read more
All my life I’ve experienced a sense of wonder that has to do with something that’s out there but also touches a place within me. It feels as if I’m part of something bigger. Can you relate to this sentiment? The words above are from the American philosopher Jacob Needleman and strike at something that a lot of us in the SBNR (spiritual but not religious) community feel deep within us. It’s the seeming knowledge that something greater than us... Read more
On the Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations podcast, there’s a conversation in the archives that features two of the leading spirituality figures of our time. The first is Oprah, the famous inspirational talk-show host, and the second is Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist, one of the biggest selling spirituality books of our time. Over the course of a fascinating hour-long discussion, Oprah asks Coelho about some of the spiritual principles found in The Alchemist and how to interpret them. The book’s primary... Read more
We all want to live a mindful life, being fully present in each moment. But too often, we are distracted. Rather than being totally tuned in to our surroundings, or the people in front of us, we are often there in body, but not in mind or spirit. For some, this is due to an addiction to our smartphones. The small screen in the palm of our hands steals our attention from the more vital big screen of life. Other... Read more
From the story of Moses to passages found in the gospels of John and Luke, the Bible is ripe with stories of those claiming to hear the voice of God. Yet today, most of us would be suspicious of anyone who claimed that God had talked to them. We might believe they were lying or mistaken, perhaps even cuckoo. Which got me thinking: Does God still talk to us? If yes, how do we talk to God? If you’re like... Read more
Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart is the title of a book by Gordon Livingston, M.D. The headline you see at the top of the page comes from the book’s subtitle, Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now. I stumbled upon Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart on someone’s Top 10 Favorite Books list, and I found the title so compelling, I picked up a copy. Turns out that Livingston was a psychiatrist who lived in Columbia, Maryland. He... Read more
What if there’s more to the story of Jesus and God than what’s found in the Bible? What if the Bible is only telling part of the story—and if you dug a little deeper you could find a rich trove of knowledge that could both better inform and enlighten you? During a recent conversation with the Christian theologian Matthew Fox, he made a simple but profound statement: “God did not stop speaking to us after the Bible was written.” Think... Read more
As we grow spiritually, we can sometimes get ahead of ourselves. We may think of ourselves as spiritual, reading the latest spirituality best-sellers, taking yoga classes, engaging in a meditation practice. But we can sometimes forget the basics—the simple daily acts that can enrich our lives and most importantly, the lives of those around us. I was reminded of this when I picked up a book by a person I consider my spiritual mentor, Sir John Templeton. While best known as a financial... Read more
Being humble doesn’t make you weak. It actually makes you a better person. I wrote those words several years ago and I thought it time to revisit them. It happens each time I meet a man or woman whose ego seems to have outpaced their humanity, whose preoccupation with themselves supersedes their concern for those around them. They are not alone. I admit there are times when my ego gets a little too big for its britches and needs to... Read more
