THE COMEBACK KID WHO CAN’T COME BACK
Poking fun at Anthony Weiner is almost too easy. His name is the most obvious jumping off point. The way one can spin the jokes is endless – but the truth is Anthony Weiner is a sick man. Anthony Weiner is an addict. He is exactly the kind of person we are writing the book for. In fact if it were published I would send him a copy. Paul is on a boat somewhere in the Caribbean so I… Read More
MY IMPERFECT PARADISE
I’ve read about a study that suggested that Facebook offers a high percentage of depression! Most people, when posting on the popular site, tend to talk about how great their lives are and the friends and family reading these posts get depressed because their lives don’t seem to be running so smoothly. I’m one of those people who try to stay positive on Facebook. My heart is full of gratitude and I always want to offer the simple happiness that… Read More
HUGGED BY AMMA THE HUGGING SAINT
Paul read this post last week and said I must put it up on this site. I wrote it two years ago, but he felt it belonged here. So here it is. Less than an hour ago Glenn and I were in the arms of Amma who is known throughout the world as the hugging Saint. OK – I know many of you probably just stopped reading and are moving on to The Times online. But for those of you who are… Read More
ARE YOU A YES-AHOLIC? TRY THIS 12-STEP CURE
Every time you say yes, you give away a piece of yourself. It’s a commitment of time, energy, brainpower and bandwidth. If you are operating at full capacity, there is little margin for error. When you experience a spike in demand, something must inevitably drop off the list. For someone who is a YES-aholic, prone to taking on new commitments, the aspect of reneging can be particularly painful. Instead of one big up-front no, there can be a recurring chain of NO, SORRY,… Read More
THE NON-NON BELIEVER
When I was a child of eleven or twelve I started going to different churches with my friends. Truth be told it was my first theater. Again and again in a variety of faiths I answered the calling and was ‘saved’. This little toe headed boy walking solemnly down the aisle to the altar, giving his soul to The Lord managed to touch the hardest hearts in the congregation. I was adorable. I loved the attention. I loved the love.… Read More
CONFESSION OF A PROFESSIONAL OPTIMIST!
I try to hide it, but most of the time I‘m my Father’s son, and his glass was neither half-empty nor half-full—it was overflowing. His generation of our family overcame poverty, prejudice and struggle. They experienced a Depression and a World War. Of my father’s six siblings, one was institutionalized for over fifty years, two were incarcerated after felony convictions. A sister-in-law was murdered. In my generation we have experienced great successes but also overdose, suicide and AIDS—the last… Read More
OK ON THE INSIDE
I was in Los Angeles last week, which always means a trip to the hairdresser and seeing the highly evolved Peter Ishkans. Peter was the inspiration for one of my first blogs here, “Make Your Mind Your Friend.” Aside from a perfect haircut I always walk away from Peter with some little kernel of wisdom. And like the sages, Gurus and other wise folk, it’s never really complicated. It’s always a sentence, a statement, or a couple of words.… Read More
GRATEFUL FOR FREEDOM
If you take a minute and look around the world, we must all celebrate today and be grateful for the freedom we have as Americans. We may all have different religious beliefs, political beliefs, gender preferences and socio-economic situations – but we are blessed to live in the land of the free. Happy Fourth Of July!
ALMOST PERFECT
My life is almost perfect. It’s probably more accurate to say that the life I celebrate today is the result of an impressive line up of almost moments that either prevented disasters or eliminated opportunities that looked promising but would have kept me from my true calling. What Emmet Fox calls our ‘True Place”. That place where one begins to live their hearts desire! This morning on my run I was jarred by the memory of one such ‘almost’… Read More