"The Dude" Jeff Bridges on marriage: "You close one door, the door to all other women, but you open a door that leads to a long hallway lined with doors." Read more
"The Dude" Jeff Bridges on marriage: "You close one door, the door to all other women, but you open a door that leads to a long hallway lined with doors." Read more
Jesus is a complex mix of mystery, miracle, and myth. Let's step away from Sunday school for a minute and explore who he really was and is. Read more
Are you actively engaged with life? Do you believe if you want good things to happen, you need to go out and take action? Or do you sit back and let life come to you, trusting that life will provide you with all you need? Last year, I wrote about The Surrender Experiment, Michael Singer’s absorbing story about saying yes to whatever life brings your way. It was Singer’s belief that we’d be better off if we stopped making our... Read more
To get love, you’ve got to give love. Read more
I’ve honored the deceased recently, including my buddy Terry, a good man who passed away at 55 from a sudden heart attack, and my wise expat friend from France, John, who passed away in April. Now it’s time to honor the living—a guy who I feared might have joined Terry and John. There’s a blogger from Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada by the name of Ivon Prefontaine. He gave me a jolt a few days ago when I suddenly realized I... Read more
What’s your favorite form of “escape”? Personally, I’m a big fan of craft beers. In fact, I’m sipping a Flying Dog Mango Habanero IPA as I write this and it tastes pretty darn delicious. But I fully realize that drinking has a funny, often detrimental effect on some people. I recall once having a conversation with an EST-trained co-worker sipping a diet soda at a party. I was aware she was a recovering alcoholic and asked her what would happen... Read more
How do you picture God? I was raised in a Catholic family and attended weekly Catechism classes for years. As a youth and young man, I pictured God as an elderly man with a long beard. He sat on a throne in the clouds, draped in bed sheets, watching over the Earth. It was not until I was well into adulthood, and my spiritual knowledge expanded, that I began to see God in a new light. In the words of... Read more
BREXIT! TRUMP! ISIS! The headlines are enough to make you queasy these days, yet if you’re like me, you find yourself reading the stories, trying to make sense of things that are in large part nonsensical. But with the weekend here, it’s time to forget about politics, our jobs and anything else that might cause us stress, and focus on what really matters in life: family, friends and a good grilled chicken sandwich. That’s why I’ve made the following pledge... Read more
Imagine graduating from one of the top religious schools in the country, entering the ministry, and after a few years deciding the job isn’t right for you. You find yourself troubled by public prayer, the act of communion, and most of all by the formality and stiffness of the church service itself. Well, if you’re 29-year old Ralph Waldo Emerson, you quit your job as a minister at a Unitarian church and chart a new course. You start writing essays... Read more
Each June, The New York Times prints excerpts of about 20 of the top graduation commencement speeches from around the country. The speeches come from actors and athletes, politicians and businesspeople, and each year I faithfully read them, looking for nuggets of inspiration or wisdom. This year, as in years past, I found several that stand out. Here are excerpts from my favorite 2016 commencement speeches, or the best of the best. Each one offers an insight that resonates with... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In