Moments Like These

yellow banana fruits on pink surface

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...

The Infalliable Guru

Sometimes I wonder how I can possibly be well-equipped enough to guide people in finding meaning in their lives and careers when I can’t even remember which one of my laundry baskets is socks&underwear and which one is pants&shirts. I still can’t remember whic… Read more...

Who Are the Heroes?

Man with a gay pride flag

A cool thing happened at work.

At the last minute, a coaching client wanted to donate her coaching call to a friend who had just discovered a job that was perfect for her. We hastily transferred the session and all of a sudden I was talking with another person.

Within 30 minutes, w… Read more...

The Hobbit Lesson

Three stacked gift boxes with different colors

In the epic novel by J.R. R. Tolkien, hobbits GIVE other hobbits presents on their birthdays.

Strange little creatures, but the logic is there: If one person GIVES to many, one day every year, then everyone receives gifts many times per year.

There’s a lesson to unwrap here.

W… Read more...

Before Our Names

four markers on table

Something that’s always bugged me: name prefixes.

Why is it that doctors and politicians and judges are allowed to change their prefixes but no one else is?

I know these folks work hard — extremely hard — but so do CEOs and sanitation workers. I know that becoming… Read more...

Real People, Imagined

Sunset Thoughts.My roommate and I went for a drive to capture some b-roll for a film project. In the middle of takes, he took a moment to watch the sunset. I stepped back to capture the moment, then put the camera down to watch it with him.

When writing fiction, I’ve always taken real people in my life and had them do amazing things, things maybe they’re not capable of but wish they were. I make them into heroes. I place them in impossible situations and give them a way out.

I’ve realized I do the … Read more...

Raising Hands

Worship

During COVID, most high schoolers took the opportunity to remain anonymous in class. That is, they opted to turn off their camera and become a black square for the year. Picture 32 black squares on a screen. Everyone did this.

But not my daughter. She kept her camera on, made face… Read more...

Before It Destroys Us

Sea beach water wave

It is in the eyes of those that love us most where we allow ourselves to break down.

Most of us have experienced it: a look, a touch, a text. It’s not what it says; it’s who it’s from.

That’s all it takes. The dam breaks, the flood finally wins.

We compartmen… Read more...

Second Dates

Two women holding long stem wine glasses with red liquid

On my way to drop off my daughter at school, sometimes I catch a funny radio segment on the Marcus & Sandy show called “Second Date Update.”

Marcus and Sandy call up someone who ceased communication with another person after a first date and then they ask that some… Read more...

Kindness Don’t Come Easy

Brown and black flower on pink surface

We all like nice people.

Well, nice people work hard. Kindness don’t come easy.

It’s not like kindness is the default mode for our personalities like, if we do nothing, we just end up being nice.

Nah. Kind of the opposite, actually.

Kindness is an everyday effort, a muscl… Read more...