Blog

Writing is part of my meditative process to clarify my thoughts, to align my actions and to focus on my purpose. I write about my emotions, my shortcomings, and my ideas for a better world through poetry, prose, and what I call rantifestos every day, some of which I post here on my blog and on social media. I share them to help others move along their paths to live and lead with compassion.

Lifecycle of Friends

Friendship is the hardest thing
in the world to explain.
It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned
the meaning of friendship,
you really haven’t learned anything. 
 Muhammad Ali

We all know the dreaded words, words that were uttered to me 😊, “Can’t we just be good friends?” 

But these are words I crave to hear now! 

Youthful exuberance, animalistic needs, reckless ambition, and of course our insatiable egos pushed and push many people away from us. People who could be great friends.

And through our wit and charm and really, sheer luck, you established and maintained a cadre of comrades.  
Seems like my circle of good friends is mirroring my life. It is declining to its essence. The constellation of shiny friendships which once seemed infinite like the universe is becoming a smaller system of souls whose gravitational pull keeps me together. 

I am filled with gratitude but wonder where it is going and why.

I just want good friends.

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Milo and the Meaning of Life

It is more important to prevent animal suffering,
rather than sit to contemplate
the evils of the universe
praying in the company of priests.
Buddha

We tend to think that we humans are the only ones here, Masters of the Universe, trying to pave our way through the chaos of “lower forms of life”. We forget that we were born from nature and are part of it. 
We forget about the other sentient beings we share this planet with live with and depend upon. We live amongst all sorts of creatures and beings. Our focus on our selves makes most of them subordinate at best and irrelevant at worst. 

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Advance the Assets by Decreasing the Deficits

We are all trying to solve problems, and the negative lens dominates. We see the negative and then we’re going to fix it. If we have visions of something more positive, we get criticized for blue sky ideals. We have to be problem solvers. We have to be fixers. We adopt a mindset that characterizes things in the most negative light –so that when we fix it–the bigger difference we can make. We always seem to be incented for short term wins over longer term successes. 

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We Will Not Be Silenced

I am so inspired by the next generation who are empowered to break the silence. The silence that allows hate to fester. Silence that tacitly condones racism. Silence that makes us complicit.

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Island Fever

Separating ourselves from the “other” has been the plight of humanity and part of our storied evolution. Tribes, territories, and Darwinian strategies to cull the herd.  I think therefore I am. There is no WE in survival. I must separate myself from the “inferior” people who dilute the march towards progress.

Covid, voting, giving time, money, religion, parenting, social media, race, gender, disability can spawn mythical islands of isolation and separation. Dream-like places where we are all powerful, we control everything and conveniently eliminates our dependency on so many people and resources. An island oasis that is superior because it has exiled the unwashed bad apples.

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Back to whose normal?

Most of us are trying to avoid the phrase, “return to normal”. Even newscasters, pundits, leaders of all types are making awkward statements about “a partial, a semblance, a return to some normalcy….”

Part of this recognizes the mountain ranges of reality that now exist between the valleys of our ignorance.

Our collective awakening, our shared despair, guilt and confusion make a return to “normal” impossible.

These powerful forces and circumstances have brought us to this moment, to this place, and we can never go back.

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Are You A Sushi Bigot?

In our effort to be efficient, we categorize things, lump them together and make sweeping assumptions. Call it stereotyping, call it confirmation bias. We generalize

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DIY open heart surgery

When I was 12 I was obsessed with the heart. Heart transplants. Artificial hearts. Michael DeBakey and Christiaan Barnard were my heroes. I was going to

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NetworkSharing

Lot of discussion about how to meet people and the way you say hello. Yes all of the technique driven first impression stuff matters but

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