I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive. Joseph Campbell Not long ago I celebrated my birthday, an event made more memorable by my friendly neighbourhood drugstore, which announced that as a “young senior,” I now qualified for a special…
Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. Mark Twain French novelist Victor Hugo famously thwarted procrastination by writing in the nude. As recounted by his wife, Adele Foucher in her memoir, Hugo faced with a looming deadline for his now classic Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame),…
Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. William Morris, designer, poet, novelist I recently returned from British Columbia where I joined my siblings in packing up our childhood home. My parents had sold their house and we faced the seemingly herculean task of sifting…
The key to finding a happy balance in modern lives is simplicity. Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying In the profoundly moving New York Times essay My Own Life, neurologist and author Oliver Sacks recently revealed that he’s dying of terminal cancer. Referring to himself as “a man of vehement disposition, with…
The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment. Pema Chodron, teacher, author For many of us dealing with life transitions, new beginnings can be strange and confusing – we fear them as much as we anticipate them. More often than not, there will be moments along our journey when filled…
In chaos there is fertility. Anais Nin, novelist The first leg in our journey of transition was about “letting go” and just when we thought nothing could be tougher than saying goodbye, we find ourselves in still murkier waters. Welcome to the second leg of our transition process, “redefining ourselves” or what change management expert, William…
The only way to make sense of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. Alan Watts, philosopher, writer The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus famously observed that the only constant is change and that life is a rapid river, perpetually flowing, churning and transforming. When challenged by change in…