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 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...
Some days, I feel like I’ve cracked the code in making a living, that I’ve created a business where I draw people to me at the most pivotal times in their lives, a facilitator of change, a beacon of hope (and paid for it too!)
Unabashedly me. And the “me” p… Read more...
Even as a child,
I’d leave behind the chaos of the monkey bars at recess
and go lay down in the shaded dark green grass by an abandoned remnant of playground equipment: a lone pole with a chain attached at the top.
And I’d listen to the sound of the chain clanging into t… Read more...
One thing you can never overdo is love.
“Stop loving me so much!” — said no one ever.
Iterating and reiterating love is always welcome.
Even better than that? Finding a new way to love someone, or a new thing to love about them. Or (oh yes!) a new thing to love abo… Read more...
I’ve noticed this scenario with activist groups:
PROTESTER 1: We did it! We got them to make a change.
PROTESTER 2: Well, we never should have had to fight for this in the first place.
Or this…
PROTESTER 1: We raised $100,000!
PROTESTER 2: Yeah, but what about all the fami… 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...
I sensed the clerk at the grocery store wasn’t much up for talking, so I grabbed some bags and started bagging.
Beep beep.
Bag bag.
We got into a rhythm like two strangers picking up instruments on the corner.
No words.
Beep Beep.
Bag bag.
His coworker came by, and I was given the… Read more...
I am pain.
I cannot survive in the light
so I scurry into the corners, into the depths of souls,
swimming in guts
where it’s blacker than the darkest night.
And there, I molt and grow, whether I want to or not.
See, that’s the thing about me:
I’m not trying to hurt any… Read more...
I was being hard on myself for not finishing a course I’m building.
Then, today after meditating, I remembered myself in high school, in art class, and how long it took me to finish a drawing.
Mr. Cook would usually be the one to say it.
“Cliff, I think you’re just… Read more...