I could have sworn he said he had cancer — A sweet 90 year old man I know just found out he has prostate cancer. He was a complete stranger 30 minutes ago, and now he’s out of my life, unlikely to return. …

A rite of passage for anyone starting to take writing seriously — I had an off day yesterday. Only four hours of sleep and non-stop kids activities with my wife out of town. I could have sat down and written this at 11pm, but it occurred to me to check how long I’d been writing every day, and oh my, 38 days…

It feels so good to get this off my chest. I hope you don’t choke on it. — I’m an evolved human being. I try to live the best life I can, including enjoying myself, and I try to not hurt anyone else in the process. But vegetarians, oh man, they’ve got some splainin’ to do. First the fact that there’s even a conversation about what is appropriate…

Internal Family Systems can be a little difficult to start, this exercise will help — I wrote an article giving an overview of Internal Family Systems with examples of how it has helped me, but didn’t give any details of the process. These details felt like a different part of learning about IFS — first you decide you’re interested, and then you figure out how…

Is it real, or is it a metaphor? — One night, a year ago, I was in a bar, staring at an empty cocktail glass and craving a second espresso martini. This in itself wasn’t unusual, but what happened next was. I didn’t order the drink. I like to drink. In fact, I own a cocktail lounge. Let me…

A tale of too much therapy and not enough chocolate — During a therapy session a few months ago I figured out why I crave sugar. A breakthrough! I immediately stopped ordering an apple fritter every time I got a coffee with two creams and two sugars. But I recently discovered resealable candy bags. Such an efficient use of sugar. Even…

It is always possible to get better at being better — When I first heard about the power of gratitude in shaping a better life, I dismissed it. I’m an optimistic, happy guy most of the time, and I had lots to be grateful for, how was writing it down going to help? Writing is for losers, and besides, one of…

It’s called a kicker? — I subscribe to Scott Galloway’s newsletter No Mercy No Malice. It’s damn good. But that doesn’t mean I think he’s better than me. …

The benefits I didn’t expect when I started writing every day — I took on the challenge of writing an article every single day about three weeks ago. I thought that something magical might happen to my view and follower count on Medium, like there was some secret algorithm that would kick in to boost (no not that boost) my numbers. I…