Ok, I know, this sounds weird but hear me out. Humans are freaked out by death. I’m not saying I’m any different, just drawing attention to this in hopes of reducing our suffering. Today I’m wondering what life would be like if we could change our relationship with death. The Toltec civilization of Central America considered death an advisor like a friend who gives advice. In this way, Toltecs navigated their lives knowing they were temporary.…
While this is not a definitive treatise on Systems Thinking, I wanted to talk a bit about this topic as it is relevant to many of my posts. People tell me that out-of-the-box thinking is atypical. Most people seem to think of the world in simplified, or at least minimized relationships. For example, you might think your job sucks. When thinking about how to change that or do something about it, you might think about…
I’m revisiting some of my favorite concepts in this episode. Awareness. Intent. Attention. Consciousness. Will. And how these things work together and facilitate growth. Being human. Underneath all of this, I believe that growing to be a ‘better’ human is a critical requirement of being alive. Or, if it is not a requirement, it is a meaningful element whose absence is a shame if not a failure. We are all humans, subject to the distractions…
I recently came upon a podcast by a fella named Nate Hagens. The podcast, and Nate’s piece de resistance is called The Great Simplification and his ideas center around the future of humans on Earth. The idea behind The Great Simplification is that humans will soon run out of energy to power or current levels of consumption and have to drastically simplify our lives to compensate for that loss. Nate also talks about the concept…
I had a massive epiphany today. Maybe it *shouldn’t* have been so massive. I say *shouldn’t* because I hate the word ‘should’, and have podcasted extensively on this topic, and written about it on Medium. But this article is about me, and maybe also about you. So either way, the epiphany is that I realized the source of several of my ‘issues’. These issues may be relatable for you. I seek esteem from outside myself. I do this…
Are you addicted to anything? Are you NOT addicted to anything, is more like it. Aren’t we all addicted to something? Even my ex-mother-in-law, who was as pious and church-going as they come drank 4-5 diet cokes daily. We all have something. Most of us. Booze, nicotine, weed, xanax, sex, gambling. Or even things like news, social media, or our phones. And I ain’t judgin’. No, I’m right there with you. I identify more with…
Candice shares her unique, and hard earned, insight
You know how they say you gotta give a little to get a little? Trade-offs are like that. In the biological world, organisms make trade-offs daily. Should I run out and grab that rabbit? If I get it I’ll eat, but I could also get eaten by a predator. Or, as it’s related to the Are vs Should Problem or personal growth in general, what scary stuff are you going to have to put up…
What beliefs are you carrying around that no longer serve you? Maybe you grew up in a religious household but no longer practice. Maybe you were told that non-white people were bad, but you never understood why. Maybe you believed you had to do whatever people told you to do and lost your sense of self along the way. We learned a lot of things as kids (and as adults!), but no one ever asked…
If you’re a parent you know that parenting is a thankless job. When I interviewed Pat Schulte, we talked about how the lack of accolades can be a problem for remote workers (BTW, you should go listen to that interview now. Pat is amazing.) And, more generally, it is these accolades and rewards we end up building our entire lives around. Let’s take just one reward: money. Jobs and making money are important, yes. To…