We can change the world.
I know the single biggest controllable factor for happiness in the modern world.
When you see a world full of idiots and assholes, your experience is frustrating and discouraging. When you see people as generally good and nice, the world opens to you.
Decide people are good.
As the temperature heats up, molecules move faster, and that includes us. Summer is in the air in California, and its residents can’t withhold their excitement.
We’re at the precipice of one of my favorite times of the year: Mother’s and Father’s Day, the end of the school year, and the launch of summer. The year feels full of possibility, as we’re still not half way through.
How can we make this summer enjoyable, not just for ourselves, but for the world? How can we contribute just a little bit of ourselves to the larger global ecosystem?
Such considerations will enable future summers to remain enjoyable.
It can be hard to see the beauty with all the increased prices for everything, the red lights run, the online negativity…
I find it easiest to go back to the most basic things—the flowers blooming all over the Northern Hemisphere, the fact we’re all here together in this magical moment, the breath.
When we step back, figuratively and literally, we see can see the wonder of living on Earth in the year 2024. It’s important for us to see it.
Periods of rest viewed externally can resemble laziness.
But we all need opportunity to calibrate to our new reality, the one we inherit every week or fortnight.
Thinking and living slower can be a good thing, for us as individuals and as a society.
Some days just wrap you up and spit you out. It can be hard to keep the bigger picture in perspective when life is “hitting you fast.”
But that’s also kind of the twist. We have to roll with whatever’s presented to us, keep going, and hopefully, find some time to reflect on it all.
Because it truly is one big beautiful amazing world.
I champion the idea of a four day work week in the 21st century. But until that becomes the norm, we can cherish the magic of Saturday and Sunday. Bill Watertown said it best, that it’s not the weekend unless you waste some time. Part of life is to simply experience and enjoy.
I can’t overstate the importance of my tribe. They are the dearest elements of my experience.
I imagine most of the other eight billion people on this planet feel the same.
And that’s the point. We all care for our loved ones. We’re all here together. Can we elevate our circle of care to the entirety of our species? Can we raise our consciousness to be global?
We claim to be more connected than ever before. Our technology certainly enables forms of communication across great distance.
But it’s ironic: we’re less connected than maybe any point in our species’ history.
Because on a fundamental level, in this particle soup we call the universe, we are already inherently connected to everyone and everything; to the Earth and its top soil and plate tectonics and water cycle; to all the organisms on this planet as part of the biological ecosystem and the food of our food and the bacteria in our gut; to the people of every corner and culture and to the memories of our ancestors; to the very elemental particles coming from space that interact with the magnetic field of our planet. We are connected to all of it, a part of it. It simply is.
Can we feel it?
Decisions before us can fractal our world view. Should I pursue this career tract? Do I go back to school? Would I be happy if I moved here?
As I’ve grown older I’ve realized these questions never go away. There will always be hard choices in life.
But we can’t remain transfixed by the prospect of consequences, or continually look back into the past. We are who we are because of the journey we are on, the route we did take.
And to live well is to show up daily, understanding but not overthinking decisions, trying our absolute best to contribute to the world.
I think my first foray into adulthood was learning to direct my attention how I wanted, instead of the media. We are continuously inundated with stories, told to care about them. But we can attain more meaning in life by pursuing that which we all want: heath, love and time.
You only get so many workouts in life. What may seem monotonous or even torture—we don’t live forever. I find it helps to cherish the little things, to find joy in the “annoying” drive to the store, or that really hard set, or the daily commute. It’s not easy, but wouldn’t you give anything to ‘suffer through’ such a moment one more time on your death bed? Life is short. But we can live all of it.
A week can be an eternity. I often think back to a year in the past to reflect on how I’ve changed, what I’ve learned. The same can be done on a weekly cadence. And it’s much more encouraging when you can say with confidence: I’m always learning. When we continuously learn, the future can always change.
Fog… on the water… today on the bay was absolutely beautiful.
We reflected how fortunate we are to live in such a paradise.
Experience equals your observations over the years, and I made them today.
We all live for the same reason.
Women withhold their physical pain, show their emotional pain. Men withhold their emotional pain, show their physical pain.
Gross overgeneralization? Yes. Applicable to many of us? Feels like it.
We’re more similar than we are different; yet we resemble a bimodal distribution. What interesting monkeys we are.
I was recounting my time in Texas last week and was speaking about the people. Southern Hospitality is a real thing.
But I also recall how similar our viewpoints were. Indeed many folks are more politically conservative down there, but not necessarily more conservative. In fact the friendliness represented a type of openness to experience, so to say.
And we agreed on more than the narrative would have you believe. Texans I talked with disliked the same things about the Bay Area that I dislike. They complained about the same local issues I found displeasing.
Most of us aren’t up North or down South, but somewhere in the middle. The loud minority gets all the media attention, but they’re not the bulk of the reasonable, considerate people in this country. We’re all American after all.
I write often about the oneness of humanity. How we are more similar than we are different. The most powerful connection we all share:
Everyone dies.
Every single person who ever lived, everyone alive today, and anyone who will ever be born, will all die. It’s our shared ultimate fate.
So while we’re here together, on this one planet—how should we live?
I said to a coworker today, “man I want to travel.” She laughed and remarked that I was “doing pretty good with it.” I didn’t question that in the moment, but have since reflected on it a bit.
There’s a difference between trips and travel. I just came back from a trip to Texas, and I throughly enjoyed it. I got to see a lot of the state, and it got to see a lot of me…
But it wasn’t uninterrupted, extended travel without an end date. The cities and sights were predetermined. And it was great; there was nothing wrong with it.
Yet my heart longs for the unknown, in destination and time. I’m confident my wife and I will embark on that type of journey again someday. Until then, I’ll be yearning for that irreplaceable experience no one but you will understand.
It feels as though there’s an inverse relationship between the amount of information we consume and the amount of thinking we do. At least with the chaotic nosiness of information bombardment that exists today. For centuries we had limited increase in opportunity to consume more data. That has accelerated exponentially in the past 2 decades, and we’re only just becoming aware of its impact now. How will we move forward with the balance of consumption and production?
Always back to reality on Monday, and it’s especially potent after a trip. But if you only look forward to the weekends, you’re only living a fraction of your life. Sometimes it’s the little moments on a Monday that can make life meaningful.
Travel is always an adventure. Even a “routine” flight to another state, just a couple hours of flying time, can be delayed or unique. So it is with going somewhere else: there’s always unforeseen circumstances and hidden adventure lurking where you don’t expect. After a lengthy flight delay and change of planes, we’re on our way to Austin. Back to Texas, and here’s to new adventure. Let’s hear some music!