Encore Living

Apparently, I've reached the age where someone thinks I should be considering my cremation options. And they even invited me to lunch to discuss them! But this unexpected piece of mail got me thinking about something much bigger: How often do we let the outside world tell us who we are? In today's episode of Encore Living, I explore how other people's perceptions and the circumstanc...

The New York City Marathon brought out something extraordinary in people, and it wasn't just the runners crossing the finish line. It was the strangers cheering until nightfall, the runners helping each other, and the thousands of spectators who came together to celebrate people they'd never met. In this episode of Encore Living, Dr. Thor reflects on what these moments reveal about the b...

What happens when things are finally going your way, but you can't quite enjoy it? After watching UCLA's remarkable football turnaround, I noticed something interesting about how fans react to success. Some are still haunted by past disappointments. Others are already worrying about what happens next. And it got me thinking about how often we do the same thing in our own lives. In this e...

Ever feel like you're running out of ideas? What if the problem isn't a shortage of ideas, but the belief that ideas are scarce? In this episode of Encore Living , I share a realization that came while preparing to record the podcast on a busy Friday evening. Drawing inspiration from Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic and my own experience creating a daily show, I explore what happens wh...

What if you were the CEO of your own life? Imagine your life is a corporation called You, Inc. As CEO, you're responsible for deciding how to invest its most valuable resources: your time, energy, creativity, skills, and talents. In this episode of Encore Living , I explore how thinking like the CEO of your life can help you step back, gain perspective, and make better decisions about where t...

What would an archaeologist 100 years from now think about the things you're worried about today? Inspired by comedian Jake Lambert's hilarious take on modern life, Dr. Thor explores what happens when we imagine looking back at our lives from the year 2126. Would someone in the future understand why we spent so much time worrying about unanswered messages, awkward conversations, or what...

What if the thing you think requires two hours could actually be accomplished in one minute? During a recent workshop, I was given just 60 seconds to come up with a personal story. My first reaction was resistance. How could I possibly create something meaningful in such a short time? But something surprising happened when I stopped overthinking and simply trusted that the answer would come. In to...

What might you discover if someone followed you around for a day, observing your behavior and asking why you do the things you do? After watching the new documentary You Can See Everything , featuring filmmaker Nathan Fielder and former Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, I found myself thinking about an intriguing possibility: What if we became documentarians of our own lives? Not to criticize our...

What if there are far more possibilities available to you than you've ever imagined? In the final episode of this three-part Encore Living series, I return to the grocery store with my infinite wallet. But this time, something has changed. Instead of three boxes of cereal, imagine an aisle stretching infinitely in every direction, filled with choices you haven't even considered. Drawing...

What if you didn't have to create the life you want? What if you could begin by simply choosing it? In part two of this three-part Encore Living series, I take the infinite wallet from yesterday's episode ( HERE ) into a grocery store. Imagine standing in the cereal aisle, looking at three boxes of cereal. They're already on the shelf. You don't have to grow the grain, build a...

What if you could begin every new adventure knowing you already had access to everything you needed? Imagine carrying an infinite wallet, not just filled with money, but with unlimited creativity, ideas, resources, support, and opportunities. In this episode of Encore Living , I explore how the mindset we bring to a new goal can change everything. Using the example of training for a marathon, I ex...

What if the tolls you pay in life aren't costs, but investments in your future? In part two of my bridge series, I'm exploring two more ways that bridges can teach us something about pursuing our dreams. First, there's the toll booth. Whether you're paying for a class, investing in your health, or committing your time and energy to something important, you're making an inv...

What if making a big change in your life is a little like crossing a bridge? Imagine you're in San Francisco. If you want to reach Oakland, you take the Bay Bridge. If you're heading to Marin County, you take the Golden Gate Bridge. Both bridges will get you somewhere. But only one will take you where you want to go. In today's episode of Encore Living , I explore two important less...

What if you could take a problem out of your head and put it on the desk in front of you? Sometimes the problems we imagine become much bigger than the situations themselves. We worry, replay scenarios, and picture things that may never actually happen. In today's episode of Encore Living , Dr. Thor shares a simple visualization exercise that can help you see your problems differently. Imagin...

What if you waited just five seconds before deciding whether something was good or bad? In today's episode of Encore Living , I share an ancient Taoist parable about a farmer who responds to every twist of fortune with one simple word: “Maybe.” Inspired by Michael Singer's The Untethered Soul , I explore how quickly we label our experiences, and what might happen if we created a little m...

What if the problem you're facing right now isn't going to last nearly as long as you think? At a recent conference, I noticed something unusual. Morning sunlight was streaming through the auditorium windows and shining directly onto the faces of the speakers on stage. But within a few minutes, the sunshine had moved on. That simple observation got me thinking about how we respond to cha...

What does an ancient Roman emperor's signet ring have to do with creating the life you want? In today's episode of Encore Living , Dr. Thor shares an unexpected connection between a historical novel about Augustus Caesar and Agrippa, and a passage from Neville Goddard's The Power of Awareness . Both lead to a fascinating idea from Ralph Waldo Emerson: What if the world is more respo...

Have you ever felt like you were this close to reaching a goal, only to find yourself moving in the opposite direction? Last week, I was walking a labyrinth at Unity Village in Kansas City when I noticed something fascinating. Several times, the path brought me within one brick of the center, only to lead me almost all the way back to the outside. And I realized something: Just because you're...

When was the last time you discovered something interesting that you weren't even looking for? Recently, I started reading the Sunday New York Times. The actual paper version. And it reminded me of something I'd almost forgotten about the experience of turning pages instead of clicking links. When we get our information online, algorithms tend to show us more of what we already like. But...

One word changed my entire experience of a two-hour dental procedure. I went to the dentist thinking I was having an appointment. But halfway through, I overheard the dental assistant describe what was happening as "surgery." Suddenly, I felt differently about the whole thing. Nothing about the procedure had changed. Same dentist. Same chair. Same two hours. But one word gave the experie...

We all have unwritten rules about how the world is supposed to work. But what happens when someone breaks one? A strange elevator experience on a recent Mediterranean cruise left me surprisingly irritated. But when I stepped back and got curious about my reaction, I realized the problem might not have been the other people. It might have been the rule I assumed everyone should be following. In thi...

Sometimes changing what you believe about yourself starts with one small decision. While traveling in Italy, I found myself standing beside the beautiful blue water in Vernazza after a long, hot day. I wanted to jump in. There was just one problem: I didn't have a swimsuit. So I had a choice. Walk away, or become the kind of person who goes swimming in his shorts. I went in. Two days later, o...

I recently got a Peloton bike, and I may have become a little bit of an evangelist for it. But this episode isn't really about Peloton. It's about something I've noticed since I started: there's an energy that comes from doing something new. It's easy to settle into the things we already know. The same routines. The same activities. Even the same half-hour walk along the s...

What do you want now? It sounds like a simple question. But after years of organizing your life around your kids, your spouse, your parents, your work, and everyone else’s schedules, it can be surprisingly difficult to answer. In this episode of Encore Living , I take that question apart one word at a time: What. You. Want. Now. We’ll talk about getting specific about what you want, separating you...

For years, your life has been organized around your kids: the school calendar, activities, family schedules, even when you take vacations. But now your kid is away at college. The circumstances have changed. So why are you still following the same rules? In this episode, I explore the “unwritten rules” we accumulate over the years, the choices and routines we follow so automatically that we may no...