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
In college, I had a radio show with my friend.
Cliff & Jay, Jus’ Chillin’!
It was a great gig: We had the 2 am to 6 am shift, all the time in the world to comb through WMFO’s massive record collection, including one of the largest jazz portfolios in the Boston… Read more...
There I am, sitting on our blue shag rug by the S-shaped chair in my powder-blue Battle Star Galactica pajamas, stoked as all hell at my Christmas present.
I love this picture.
I love it because it shows my unhindered excitement, which I carry in my body today. It’s constantl… Read more...
We should all pause and smile when someone mentions a loved one that’s passed away.
In that moment, that loved one is alive again, as if they’ve stepped into the room with their signature style and voice, that smirk they always have, the particular cadence of their wor… Read more...
Sometimes, gratitude isn’t so easy to come by.
If you’re having trouble finding it, here’s some advice: take a crappy vacation.
You don’t have to actually go anywhere; just plan it. Plan it in your head.
Where are you staying?
Are you inside or outside?
What ca… 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...
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...
I’ve had a knot in my stomach since I heard the news.
And then this morning, in that spiritual space between dreaming and waking, I was gifted with this:
Pulling into the driveway on Hope Hill Road. 🙂
What a wonderful place! There were always rows of cars in the driveway, even… 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...