Do you live your life preoccupied? Are you constantly distracted by a life that’s too busy, too full of activities? Or are you fully present, a participant in each moment of each day? I was listening to a podcast the other day and Ariana Huffington was talking about the crazy life she once led as a business executive. She was heading up one of the fastest growing media companies in the world and by most societal measures she was wildly... Read more
What keeps you from doing the things you want to do in life? Are you penned in by the expectations of others? Or is it your own doubting self that keeps you from fully expressing who you are and what you were meant to do in this life? Seth Godin tells us that the culprit is often within us and labels it our inner critic, a voice inside us that “comes from the shadows.” We’re not talking about the voice... Read more
Here in the US, once you hit the age of 50, you begin receiving mailings inviting you to join an organization called the AARP. Otherwise known as the American Association of Retired Persons. I was reminded of this the other day by Connie Bowman, as well as the initial negative reaction most of us have to these mailings. We toss them immediately in the trash—but every few weeks they keep on coming, constant reminders that we are no longer as... Read more
I first wrote a version of this story after 9/11, rewrote it after the Newtown shootings, and again after the Boston Marathon bombing. With heavy heart, I write it again in response to the Las Vegas massacre. It is my attempt to make sense of an event that makes no sense, to try and reconcile what this horror means in a spiritual context. Everyone is looking for the motivation of the gunman, the reason this happened. At this writing,... 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 hearing the voice of God. Yet today, most of us would be suspicious of anyone who claimed God had talked to them. We might believe they were lying, maybe even nuts. Which got me thinking: Does God still talk to us? If yes, how do we hear God’s voice? Now if you’re like me, you have felt... Read more
There’s a new podcast out called “Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations,” that recently released a conversation between two of the leading spirituality figures of our time: Oprah, the famous inspirational talk-show host, and Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist, the biggest selling spirituality book since, well, I don’t know when. Over the course of an hour discussion, Oprah asks Coelho about some of the spiritual principles and passages found in The Alchemist, and then often adds her own interpretation. Their thoughts... Read more
We all want to live a mindful life, being fully in the present, totally tuned in to our surroundings every moment of every day. But we also know that saying it is one thing, doing it another. As I’ve written before, a big reason for our lack of mindfulness can be attributed to the frantic pace of our daily lives—as well as our endemic addiction to smartphones, with the small screen in the palm of our hands stealing our attention... 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 “spiritual but not religious” community feel deep within us. It’s the seeming knowledge that something greater than us exists,... Read more
It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than to dominate them, more ‘manhood’ to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind. The passage above is from the late Alex Karras who was anything but weak. Karras played with the NFL’s Detroit Lions for 12 years and was a four-time All Pro lineman. He later... Read more
I’m sure you’ve witnessed this scene recently. You’re out to dinner and glance at the table next to you—only to see that the entire family has their heads buried in their phones. Mom, Dad, teenage daughter, even preteen son. What does this picture say about our current way of life? If you’re like me, you ban smartphones and any related-Internet devices from the dinner table. A Wake Up Call reader recently told me that her and her husband go a... Read more
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