Are you getting everything you can out of this life?
A self-less, feel-good blog about love, life, and work by career coach and existential adventurer, Cliff Flamer
I gain empathy for a person immediately after I get to know them. We all do. That’s how it works.
But why wait until then?
I went to a Latin Jazz/Funk show because I felt the need to move around after a particularly heavy week. We got there early to beat the crowd and get a g… Read more...
I was hard at work prepping for a school fundraiser at my house.
I had just finished calibrating the stereo and microphones. I still needed to set up the auxiliary A/V system (just in case), make blackberry rosemary syrup for the cocktails, trim back the ivy on the stoop, vacuum t… Read more...
Redemption only comes to those who are willing to gather the pain they’ve caused
and put it back inside their own body.
It is not a collaborative effort. It is not something to ask for. It is not found nestled neatly into words.
Relief from torment is in the ache.
Look nowhere … Read more...
I finally ran out of staples.
It took 25 years.
In my first job as a temp at the Writer’s Guild of America in Los Angeles, I went into the supply closet after hours and stole a crate of staples. Not a box, a whole crate.
The staples were for my manuscripts.
Writing was my thing… Read more...
Some days, I feel like I’ve cracked the code in making a living, that I’ve created a business where I draw people to me at the most pivotal times in their lives, a facilitator of change, a beacon of hope (and paid for it too!)
Unabashedly me. And the “me” p… Read more...
I love my car.
Excessively so.
I wash it by hand. I never park under trees or power lines. I try not to take it out in the rain.
I talk to it. “Good to see you… Sorry about the rain.”
So when I came out of Rockin’ Jump Trampoline World and saw that my driver&#… Read more...
We are quick to applaud those that rise to the top of their class, and, no doubt, they deserve our respect, for it takes hard work and discipline to perform at that level.
But there’s a danger.
When you attach your self-worth to comparative achievement, you’re destined … Read more...
I had a dream where I was back in college, with all the knowledge and memories of a middle-aged man but surrounded by people trying to discover themselves.
I saw a friend and walked alongside her, trying not to stare. We didn’t actually spend much time together in college; i… Read more...
I sensed the clerk at the grocery store wasn’t much up for talking, so I grabbed some bags and started bagging.
Beep beep.
Bag bag.
We got into a rhythm like two strangers picking up instruments on the corner.
No words.
Beep Beep.
Bag bag.
His coworker came by, and I was given the… Read more...
Being laid back can affect your vision.
I learned this in my doctor’s office.
I had been having trouble with my new progressives – the snazzy moswen name for bifocals. I was getting completely dizzy and it wasn’t wearing off. I had trouble seeing clearly.
She asked… Read more...