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’m a visual person, but I’ve come to realize that the appearance of something is much less important than the story behind it.
My house is evidence of this.
It’s… eclectic.
We tiled our backsplash with something that looks more like a butter dish. Our couche… Read more...
I don’t get get. How can you smile in here?
Because smiling is better than frowning.
But we’re locked in this room all day and beaten and tortured at night. We’re fed the same rotten food every day. We are ridiculed and yelled at. We are forgotten.
This is all true… Read more...
Anxiety is a trapped THOUGHT in a straight jacket banging against the walls of your mind, trying to get out.
It’s relentless, constantly moving, and doesn’t care what time it is.
When the outside world gets quiet, the banging and slamming and SCREAMING get louder.
The mo… Read more...
Neighbors are great for impromptu chats, standing in the street with dogs, with trash bags, with full bottles of wine (I had a French neighbor once).
Dave noticed the pipes that had just shown up running along my fence, down the garden, and letting out onto the sidewalk.
“Ar … Read more...
The dark cloud has been over us for so long, I think we’re used to it.
Even when it’s sunny, it’s not really as sunny as it used to be.
But all of that can change.
Some decisions are hard, but not the ones where love is all the way on one side.
I’m tired of th… Read more...
Her church was the first to call.
“She’s forgetting things.”
It was sort of blamey, at least that’s how I took it — me, one of two sons, 22 hours away. Or two flights and a long shuttle ride, which has to be coordinated ahead of time.
The last time I we… Read more...
I’m reading a book in bed with my 8-year-old. It’s meant for 9-year-olds, but that’s not why I’m reading it to her. I’m reading it because it’s one of the only books my 18-year-old (the older one) liked. And I never read it with her. It was her… Read more...
I founded my company on optimism. It’s who I am.
But even the BrightSide gets dark now and then.
And when it does, I try my best to welcome the darkness. It’s coming whether you want it to or not. There’s much to discover in the darkness.
But it’s not a place to spend a … Read more...
Ours is a species driven toward accomplishment. We often hinge good-feeling on getting things done, we push relaxation to come after something else. The beer tastes better after mowing the lawn. (Makes me want to mow the lawn lol).
This is a good way to live: a productive way to l… Read more...
“Hey, just checking in. How you doing?”
Man.
So few words, so much impact.
So much love around you in an instant.
Whether you’re good or not so good, you feel seen, remembered, and held.
And if you haven’t gotten one of these sweet sweet checkins in a while, th… Read more...