Are you getting everything you can out of this life?
An insightful, feel-good blog about work, life, and the elusive balance between the two, by career counselor, award-winning resume writer, and existential adventurer, Cliff Flamer
A creative writing professor once told me, “If you’re bored with one of your characters, try giving ’em a beard.” It became a thing. When something was off in one of our stories, he’d slam the paper down and yell out “Give ’em a beard!… Read more...
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.
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...
When I was in first grade, I spent hours making Valentine’s for the class — big red hearts, topped with square black top hats and a clever message running across the brim in glitter glue.
In college, I baked cookies and passed them around campus.
Then someone told me th… Read more...
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...
It’s counterintuitive.
The more intensely you search, the more you underscore that achy feeling that something is missing.
It’s like when you misplace your keys…
It can ruin your morning.
You would have been much better off not knowing they were gone.
Or at least not… Read more...
Be careful when you hear someone say “I’m just telling it like it is.”
This is a shrouded sentence, a hedge to hind behind.
They’re incorrectly inferring there is a singular truth and that they are the brave one who is willing to utter that truth, even if it… Read more...
Not accomplishing enough in your day?
Upon examination, you will likely see sabotage in your list-making.
As you check off your to-do’s throughout the day, if you’re like the rest of us, you’re probably adding more things to the bottom of that same list. Cross off… Read more...
Boat trips, hotel suites, and private beaches are nice but it’s moments like these that make my heart full and put me at ease.
ACT 1:
[Husband and wife in kitchen, standing around table.]
I guess we could make the salmon.
Yeah, it’s gonna go bad.
[Man pulls out salmon. Put… Read more...
I believe you should get an award just for playing.
I believe “E” is for Effort, and Effort is the beginning of everything.
Why wait to be extraordinary?
Take your wins now. Celebrate often.
Whenever you need it.
I got out of bed today.
I made lunch.
I cleaned the dog yard.
W… Read more...