It just may be damn hard.…
Author: Joel Bein
Persistence beats perfection…
This isn't about "constitutional rights." This is about harmonious human living…
If you continually force me to eat cake, I'll develop an aversion to it. …
In honor of 29 years on the planet, today I took 30 minutes and wrote down 95 things for which I am grateful. …
If part of you thinks that private prisons are the culprit, perhaps...…
Untangle the webs of emotion and reason.…
I live around the corner from the Benjamin Button house. …
You'll never be perfect, but you'll always be in charge.…
You may implicitly understand the concept that "you can only control what you can control."
But do you apply it?…
Everyone puts their pants on in the morning.…
No one tells me to blog.…
Ron Swanson is an anchor in turbulent water. …
Once Upon a Time, when you were quite young
You looked at a world map, and asked why you saw borders there
Until you accepted it as inevitable
Once Upon a Time, when you were quite young…
The degree of certainty you have about an idea is directly linked to the degree of serenity you experience when asserting that idea.…
I can find myself in conflict. I make a mistake, and an inner critic in me becomes very irritated. He fires away punches of frustrations left and right, even dishing out an uppercut. …
First of all, no, I'm not a parent. But I don't care. Making claims about parenting - or anything for that matter - is irrelevant from who you are. …
The other day my boss told me: "Keep up the great work!" The little kid inside of me glowed with pleasure. …
Seriously, how often do you contemplate? …
When sadness is about to hit you, it's so tough to allow yourself to deeply, truly feel it. It's so easy to push it away.…
They say you're the average of the five people who hang around most.
Let's expand that: you're the average of the five people who hang around, the five blogs you read, the five podcasts you listen to....…
What are you curious about? What lights you up? What fascinates you? …
Most nights after a long shower, I slip into sweatpants, recline on my sofa, open my laptop, and turn on Billie Holiday Pandora.…
Will your life happen to you, or will you make your life happen? …
Trying hard isn't required, only presence. …
To achieve, you often hear about vividly defining the ideal end game, so that you can prioritize your current decisions.…
Not giving a f*ck actually means to care
…
Recently, you've perhaps been taking some time to reflect on the year, on your life. Here's to that!…
The fourth pillar of Nathaniel Branden’s 6 Pillars of Self-Esteem is Living Assertively. In short, this means saying “yes” when you want to say “yes,” and “no” when you want to say “no.”…
Will you use Facebook, or will Facebook use you?…
Traveling is the ultimate form of novelty. Thus, it has the power to ignite epiphanies and revelations.…
We're in week of 52 of 2016, and you likely have a voice in your head pestering, "you really ought to pick some goals for the new year.…
Let’s play a game. State, aloud: “Two plus two equals four."
Alright, you’re doing great....…
You will always have problems, challenges, and adversity. And you wouldn’t want it any differently. …
Definition of guilt: when your actions and values don't align.…
You get to a sushi restaurant, and you're confronted with 87 possibilities for your next meal.
You open Netflix, and you begin sifting through the suggestions for 179 shows to watch....…
A pillar to an enriched existence is integrating appropriate doses of variety into established routines.…
What is the evolutionary purpose for your mental images of past events?
In the case of an event being a positive, pleasurable one, its purpose is: let's remember that, so we can experience again.…
I'm a person who likes to have my ducks in a row.
That picture of music stands? I took that, to show my students my preferences in how to properly put them away after rehearsals.…
Let's say your young daughter (or son, it's not relevant) accidentally or purposefully hurts another child with whom she's playing, or hurt's another's feelings.…
Many are familiar with Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Habit #2: Begin with the End in Mind.…
Heading to my car after a full week at work, I felt weary, even disconnected. I placed my bag in the trunk and went to open the driver's side door.…
Wild success happens incrementally.
Besides winning the lottery, how often does overnight success really happen?…
There's a reason a 5 year-old kid performing karate can break a wood panel with her bare hand.
Compact concentration of energy.…
Run towards your nervousness.
Run towards your disappointment.
Run towards your sadness.
Run towards your fear.…
I tend to write in the second person. It's effective in concentrating the power of language. My influence most ripely comes from author Ryan Holiday and his no-nonsense book The Obstacle is the Way.…
Purposeful people get things done. Passionate people love what they do.
Which would you'd rather be?…
Andre Agassi never had a choice to play tennis.
His father forced him to practice tennis intensely, from age seven, to mold him into the world's #1 player.…
What if you didn't have to be perfect? Maybe you can't do everything, you can't excel at everything, and you can't prepare for everything.…
The path to a superior version of yourself? A previous version of yourself. …
It's not that you *shouldn't* watch the news, but do you know why you do? …
Very rarely has a person during conversation/debate stopped dead in their tracks, realized they were utterly wrong, and did a 180 in agreement with the opposition.…
I have now blogged for 30 consecutive days. What's my reflection on the process?…
Today I went to brunch at a friend's house. I left my phone in the car, planning to give myself a couple of hours of unplugged time.…
The need for trust is paramount to an enriched existence, yet lacking in culture as a whole:
Without speed limits, people couldn’t be trusted to drive safely.…
Take note of what you have in life.…
Is it best to share your ambitions with others, or should you keep them a secret? …
It’s essential to express feelings of dissatisfaction. If you suppress them in pursuit of "maintaining a positive attitude,” your positivity certainly won’t be sustained. …
Inspiration begins while working.
I heard this quote from a friend last summer and it's been ruminating with me since.…
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.
- Thomas A.…
The word “work” is often associated with a negative connotation. This is understandable, but the truth is the word needs specificity. …
Perhaps the only person getting in the way of your desires is you.…
You always have a choice to get back on track. …
“Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy."…
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. …
“Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?”…
When you are vulnerable, the potential to connect with people exists. When you hide your authentic self from someone because you are afraid of ridicule, shame, or discomfort, you are eliminating the possibility of true connection. …
The longer I practice meditation, the more I ask myself why I do it. When I first began, I thought of it as, “oh, another tool and habit to incorporate to benefit my life, let’s do it!” …
My phone is constantly on airplane mode. It’s on airplane mode right now. …
"That’s just the way the world is." You go to your job whether you like it or not. You pay your taxes. …
Doing the Five-Minute Journal has truly helped re-tint the lens through which I view the word. …
Last night I opened my laptop, slouched in a comfortable chair, and went on the internet. It was the first time I had done that in longer than I can remember, at least several months.…
A deeply held meme in this culture is to not be too happy. It stems from the messages of “you only matter so much." …
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” - Aristotle "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."…
I’m making my way through a new book, Yes, And, by Kelly Leonard and Tom Yorton, executive vice president and CEO, respectively, of The Second City. …
In 2010, I discovered Non-Violent Communication (NVC), or Connected Communication. However, not since last June - when I watched the 3-hour 2000 San Francisco Workshop by NVC founder Dr.…
Why do young children stop asking why? Why do people take time to update their computers, but not their beliefs?…
Sleep is the Unsung Hero. Plenty of health-minded people advocate nutritional information, functional movement, and stress management. …
Sweat the Small Stuff. That’s the title of a TED Talk I recently came across. Except I haven’t watch it. …
I just got back from walking to the grocery store. After I had gathered my items, I went to go check out and noticed there was a fairly long line, as there was only one register open. …
Your clothing choices make a statement about you. There is no way around it. If you choose to wear only Banana Republic and Kenneth Cole, you’re making a statement. …
Bold, imperfect action. That’s the key to forward momentum, yes? It always beats analysis paralysis. …