Prominent presidential candidates are advancing proposals that frankly horrify me. Should we dismember big tech firms? Or just give every American adult $1000 a month? Rather than critique these awful ideas, I’d rather ponder the Dog that Did Not Bark – moderate, common-sense proposals that no major candidate is likely to advocate. Just a few that have been on my mind lately…
Tag: passion
Hills Worth Dying On
When I was young, every hill seemed worth dying on. Each step in life there are fewer. I’ve found that the smaller the number of things I think worth fighting for to the death, the happier I am. This isn’t because I’m less resolved or passionate about my life and goals. It’s the opposite. When…
Vast Mind: 3 Ways to Open Beyond the Self-Concern of Our Small Mind
Let’s imagine that there’s someone whose family member has said something insulting to them. They immediately get caught up in small mind, thinking about how they don’t deserve to be treated this way, that they’re a good person and that this person is always being inconsiderate. They are worried about themselves, and their world is very small and constricted. What if instead, this person dropped their self-concern, and opened their awareness to something wider than themselves?
The Silver Lining of Unlikely Faults
“You’re much too agreeable.” “You’re much too assertive.” “You’re far too focused.” “You’re far too curious.” “You’re much too perfectionistic.” “You’re much too fast.” In the course of your life, you’ll likely hear one of each of these pairs of criticisms (or ones like them). If you’re really growing your personality over time, you’ll hear both.
A Short Hop from Bleeding Heart to Mailed Fist
When Hugo Chavez began ruling Venezuela, he sounded like a classic bleeding-heart – full of pity for the poor and downtrodden. Plenty of people took him at his words – not just Venezuelans, but much of the international bleeding-heart community. By the time Chavez died, however, many admirers were already having second thoughts about his dictatorial tendencies.
The Best Things I’ve Learned About Raising Children
I don’t consider myself a parenting expert, but I have helped raise six kids (along with their mothers), and being a father has been one of the most rewarding things in my life. And while I’m not a perfect father, I think I’m pretty good at it. Mostly because I absolutely love it.
On Motivation
One of the principles that unschoolers live by concerns motivation. It should be obvious to all that motivation borne inside of us (intrinsic), such as when we are pursuing an interest or passion, is superior to forms of motivation that had their origin in a threat (extrinsic).
The Rule of the Edge
In all of my many challenges and habit changes and book writing and learning, I’ve found one thing to be the most powerfully beneficial to all growth, learning and training. I call it the Rule of the Edge. Here’s the rule: practice at your edge most of the time.
The Beautiful and Scary Practice of Moving Closer
Life is full of all kinds of stresses, and each of us has habitual ways of reacting to those stresses — we procrastinate, run to comforts, lash out or distance ourselves from others, try to exit from a stressful place, mentally complain about others. The sad effect of these habitual reactions is that they move us further away from others, and from the direct experience of the moment.
New Year: The Beautiful Minimalism of a Blank Slate
Let’s imagine this new year as a blank slate. It’s like an empty house: what would we like to put in it? This is a kind of minimalism. We can start afresh, tossing out everything and only placing in this empty house what we find most important, and nothing more.