The Art of Chill

Multicolored abstract painting

The Art of Chill evolves over time. It’s a craft I’ve been practicing since birth.

In youth, it’s about taming your anxiety about the future, being okay with not knowing what lies ahead, taking your hits gracefully. It’s remaining poised and relaxed while … Read more...

Much Ado in the Hotel Lobby

Empty dining tables and chairs

My mom is starting to lose her memory.

Sometimes there are sweet moments, like how she reveres a sunset from her balcony while we drink Budweiser tall-boys.

And then there are the hard moments, like when I watch her forget where she is while walking down the street, when she messe… Read more...

Freedom

Shallow photography of usa flag

Freedom is a weird thing.

When we declare one freedom, we take away a bunch of others.

If I’m free to drive any speed I want without stopping, then pedestrians lose the freedom to cross the street.

If I’m free to put a stake in the ground and declare a piece of land my h… Read more...

Everyday Meaning

View of the rock in the ocean

I got lucky. Or the opposite.

Whatever… I’ve created a mechanism that draws people to me who are in a dilemma and ready for something new.

And they ask me with the passion and wonder of a child shouting to the ocean,

“What should I do?”

What a gift: to be brou… Read more...

Changing The Color of Shadows

Taken from the Sky Lift at the WI State Fair, August 2017

What good are opinions?

When you stop to think about it, they’re for the opiner more than anyone, a way to say, “I’m here.”

But it’s more than that.

When I hear people giving their opinion, the refrain I hear in my head is usually one of two things:

RRead more...

In The Shadow of Epiphany

Landscape photography of green leaf trees

Epiphanies can be deceiving.

Once we figure out the way – Eureka! I’ve found it! – we tend to disregard all other paths. It feels good for a while but, in the fog of euphoria, we stop looking around. Holding tightly to our compass, we become crotchety.

Simply by t… Read more...

There Are Good People Everywhere

landscape photography of seashore during daytime

There are good people everywhere.

Better than that.

Everyone is changing,

like the glint of the sun reflected on the ocean:

a thousand slivers of light

wiggling gently

taking shape,

disbanding,

coming back together,

And, each one of us,

A god for all the others.

With the vibrations in our v… Read more...

Who Are The Strong Ones?

Lonely Tree

How noble is it to fight for the status quo, when you’re the one who is benefiting from it the most?

How courageous is it to follow the ideas, the rules, and the body you were born into?

Isn’t it braver and more admirable to walk into the wind, to stand up at the dinner… Read more...

Saying It Out Loud

Little child offering flowers to his mom

The people that you love, they know you love them.

But for some reason, no matter how well you know them or how long you’ve lived with them, saying those words out loud is like a lightning bolt to the heart.

I’m not talking about the “I love you” at the end … Read more...