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 sat up late drinking a single-malt, then champagne, then single-malt again, thinking about my mom who we just wheeled into an assisted living facility.
She has dementia, or Alzheimer’s. I don’t know the difference, but whatever it is, it’s taken her.
So I spent … Read more...
My oldest daughter loves to pack for trips.
I asked her what’s so great about it, and she said, “It makes me think about what I need, so I think about being there, and so it’s like I’m already there.”
Not bad, kid.
If we think about packing as visualizi… Read more...
Your life is a great work of art.
It is one of a kind, twisting and turning, some of it intentional, some of it spontaneous, some of it luck. You’ve spent years on it.
So, when it shatters into hundreds/thousands/millions of pieces, it is devastating, to say the least.
Our bod… Read more...
The most difficult form of parenting to deal with as a child is when the caregiver is inconsistent in their behavior.
Psychologists say this leads to a ‘disorganized attachment style’ for the child. In other words, the child is unable to predict the behavior that’… Read more...
I remember the first time I got in trouble at school. It was in the cafeteria. Grade school. We sat at those massively long tables, 8 rows of ’em, with the teachers patrolling the edges like border collies.
I’m not sure how it started but Matty P, my best friend in the… Read more...
Is a writer who doesn’t write still a writer?
Is a musician who doesn’t play still a musician?
What about a filmmaker? If they’re not making films, are they still a filmmaker?
In other words, does being an artist run deeper than the deliverables?
Are artists walking… Read more...
I normally go right onto the freeway after I drop off Hazy, but I decided to go left today, which is the direction I used to go to drop Evs off at high school; the same road I took to drop Ziggy off at the groomers.
Maybe it was because I was digging the radio guy’s Irish ac… Read more...
I normally wouldn’t pick up during normal business hours, but I knew she’d be excited.
“I’m calling you from my new phone!”
“That’s awesome, Mom!” I would have faked excitement, but I didn’t have to.
“I love my new phone. Y… Read more...
The radio people love to ask provocative questions.
This time, they asked if people could go back to college, would they? And what would they do differently?
The answers generally fell into 2 categories:
1) Party more.
2) Party less.
So, what about me? Would I go back?
My immediate th… Read more...
After Hazel’s Power Tools Class (I love saying that!), we went to our fave Italian joint in El Cerrito, run by an Indian couple.
It’s become sort of a tradition.
There are only 4 tables in the restaurant, but there are always at least a few people sitting up at the bar … Read more...