The Everyday Human

June: On Conflict and Courage GoFundMe for my wife's cancer fund: https://gofund.me/3682c6720 June 16 Marcus Aurelius said it over 2,000 years ago: Get busy with life's purpose, toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue—if you care for yourself at all—and do it while you can. And this is the truth of it. By getting active in your own rescue—by caring about yourself, building...

June: On Conflict and Courage GoFundMe for my wife's cancer fund: https://gofund.me/3682c6720 June 15 How could this happen again? After all that hard work? How many more times—? Before your thoughts can even finish running their course, you feel your weight shift, your legs and feet moving of their own accord—and back down you go after your rock.  A sly, almost crazed smile creeps across you...

June: On Conflict and Courage GoFundMe for my wife's cancer fund: https://gofund.me/3682c6720 June 14 When danger comes your way, you won’t turn a blind eye and ignore it, you won’t wildly throw yourself at it with no plan—you’ll be prepared, you’ll see it for what it is, and you’ll face it. But you never have to go it alone. Link may have only had a sword to help him back in the 80s, but may...

June: On Conflict and Courage GoFundMe for my wife's cancer fund: https://gofund.me/3682c6720 June 13 Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. Courage is not aggression masquerading as bravery.  Courage is not punching down. Courage is not using force or intimidation to silence others. Courage is not shouting over others. Courage is not gaslighting others or lying to them. Courage is not...

June: On Conflict and Courage GoFundMe for my wife's cancer fund: https://gofund.me/3682c6720 June 12 While the failures of the powerful are glaring, they mirror something deeper and closer to home. This applies to those with influence or control—those who’ve publicly abdicated their personal responsibility and accountability, yes—but it also applies to all humans, all over the world. In a ti...

June: On Conflict and Courage GoFundMe for my wife's cancer fund: https://gofund.me/3682c6720 June 11 It’s the child who hears the banging outside their window at night, burying themselves beneath the covers, hiding from the monster trying to get in, but if they’d just look, they’d see it’s nothing more than a loose shutter in the wind.  If you stand your ground and face your fear—all of thos...

June: On Conflict and Courage GoFundMe for my wife's cancer fund: https://gofund.me/3682c6720 June 10 The shopping, social media, exercise and health, and AI apps are meant to make our lives “easier” or “better,” but they often only complicate things further at the cost of our own accountability and autonomy. It takes discipline and time to slow down and think for yourself. And it’s not a per...

June: On Conflict and Courage GoFundMe for my wife's cancer fund: https://gofund.me/3682c6720 June 9 Blossoms of honesty on the branches between the leaves. With kindness, you turn to those crawling upon the blighted sands toward your feet, you crouch low, and let them eat of the fruit of the tree of thought.  Returning to form, they stand.  Shrieks of pain and wrath from the castle. It is wh...

June: On Conflict and Courage GoFundMe for my wife's cancer fund: https://gofund.me/3682c6720 June 8 “Never regret your mistakes” Not entirely true Like life, and being human— It’s nuanced and gray Some mistakes? Those mistakes made That irrevocably changed everything? For the worse? Those from which there is no return? Feel free to regret those But only if you have the mind to see them as mi...

June: On Conflict and Courage I mention again in this episode that wife has recently been diagnosed with cancer. We have a GoFundMe campaign live now to help ease the financial burden of medical expenses. If you are able to contribute or share, we would be eternally grateful. You can find the link here:  https://gofund.me/3682c6720 June 7 From the top, away from the flood and the flames, that’s wh...

June: On Conflict and Courage I announce in this episode that my wife has recently been diagnosed with cancer. We have a GoFundMe campaign live now to help ease the financial burden of medical expenses. If you are able to contribute or share, we would be eternally grateful. You can find the link here:  https://gofund.me/3682c6720 June 6 Rather than looking at the terrible things that happen to us...

June: On Conflict and Courage June 5 Testing our courage at its highest point, isn’t easy. Often, we fail the test. Yet, there’s no need to get down on yourself. Practicing the virtues can go against our instinct for self-preservation. It’s natural to keep your head down rather than speak up and risk becoming the next target. It’s natural to act virtuously when it’s easy and everyone else is doing...

June: On Conflict and Courage June 4 Can you go back the way you came? You could . . . I guess. But you might wind up in a worse spot. And also, remember, you don’t even remember how you got here in the first place. So that probably won’t work. Oh, and look—a massive boulder broke off the wall of the cavern and blocked your path anyway. Impossible to go back to the past.  Sorry, you’ll have to thi...

June: On Conflict and Courage June 3 Throughout your life you’ll find yourself pushed and pulled in all kinds of directions by all kinds of people and circumstances—a lot of them will not have your best interests in mind. But you’ll go along with it because you’re afraid of hurting or inconveniencing others. Or because you trust their words and advice over your own, when in reality, what they’re a...

June: On Conflict and Courage June 2 This idea of seeking help from none was ingrained in Victorian masculinity—and perhaps as well with a colonial mindset, but it’s a dangerous and lonely belief—one that can lead to festering mental and emotional wounds and isolation. Gordon lost his daughter at 11 months, had his head cracked against a gatepost by his horse, and was facing financial ruin. It see...

June: On Conflict and Courage June 1 June begins a new month and a new topic: On Conflict and Courage. You must learn to recognize fear so you can master it—that’s where courage comes from.  To think you’re without fear, or that it’s only something that happens to others is foolish— that is a weakness.  So feel your fears, face them so you can resist and tame them. After all, you wouldn’t want to...

May: On Love May 31 We’ve talked about it before—the world will give you endless reasons every day to frown, snarl, and bite back at it (or at the other people inhabiting it). But where will that get you? You’ll satisfy an animalistic instinct to “fight” back for a moment, but after that? Oh, you’ll have some elevated levels of epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine, and cortisol (which can be l...

May: On Love May 30 It’s a risky thing—loving someone or something. Because if you love—if you truly love someone—you’ve given them everything you’ve got. And should they go? Should they be taken from you? Well . . . what have you got left? It happens all the time. You hear romantic stories of elderly partners passing away within days of each other . . . death by a broken heart. This is something...

May: On Love May 29 What have we done to ourselves—in a world where we have forgotten (or ignore) the answer to the fundamental question of our existence? What false gods have replaced the very essence of what makes us human?  Work, entertainment, money. And, you know as well as I, that that is just the tip of the iceberg of things we place over love.  If we continue on this path—this path of negl...

May: On Love May 28 Today, May 28th, marks your death.  According to your calendar, you have until eight PM. And then it's all over.  So the question is how will you spend the time you have left? What will you do? Who do you want to spend this time with? Is it possible to tie up any loose ends on any projects or tasks? Do these even matter anymore?  And perhaps most importantly , what do you...

May: On Love May 27 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from “The Giaour” By Lord Byron. There are places where the wolves dare not go. Even when pressed with hunger, they know to avoid barren landscapes, those slippery and icy slopes, or forests that have been burned and scarred by fire. These are places where nature is harsh and unforgiving, where life struggles to gain a foothold. A...

May: On Love May 26 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from Aberjhani's poem “Star People” from Elemental: The Power of Illuminated Love. There are extreme distances we might go for love. But if you’ve ever felt a strong love for someone—a partner, child, parent, friend, whoever—you would understand that nothing, neither man nor nature, could stand between you and them.  To anyon...

May: On Love May 25 Today's reflection was inspired by another quote from Marcus Aurelius'  Meditations. We’ve lost a sense of harmony with nature and the rhythm of the stars. Instead of fighting tooth and nail, try to accept, surrender, and love your reality—the “good” and the “bad.” And not in a passive, morose way, rather in a way that empowers you, like paddling down a whitewater riv...

May: On Love May 24 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from Henri Nouwen and his book Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life. I’ll never have all the answers as to why my father was the way he was, or why my wife and I had to suffer those miscarriages—but it doesn’t matter, because those chapters of my life happened how they happened and I learned from them. What I c...

May: On Love May 23 Today's reflection was inspired by a quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King—Book 6: Merlin and Vivien. You’ve heard it a thousand times before—actions speak louder than words. And so too is it true with love.  You can tell someone you love them until the end of time, but if your actions are not those of love, then what good are your words?  Reflection ti...