Find + Create Meaning for Life
Getting to the Other Side of Suffering
Before the “almost category 5” hurricane Ian made a direct hit on my home town, I was learning a lot about how great thinkers have handled suffering and trouble. In my reading, coaching conversations, and coffee walks with friends in the park I had been chewing through the more existential side of suffering. Does suffering…
Read MoreAfter the Storm [Hurricane Ian 2022]
It’s been intimidating trying to capture the experiences of the storm we just weathered here in southwest Florida. The first hurricane I remember was Hurricane Andrew. My family lived in Fort Myers at the time, and our family businesses were on Sanibel Island. For Hurricane Andrew we closed up our little mom-and-pop style motels on…
Read MoreSharing Needles
Sharing Needles Today I’m laid back in a lazy boy, sharing needles with half a dozen other humans at my local community acupuncture clinic. Each of us in our butt palaces, drawn up around a circle, with a doctor of Chinese medicine floating counter clockwise to put needles into us. I will look like…
Read MoreHard to Help
I’ve been hard to help lately. Has that ever happened to you? You don’t mean to be a martyr and hog all the hard stuff. It’s not that you’re a perfectionist (maybe), or that you have energy to spare (who does). Maybe it starts because you’re a helper. You’re not against receiving help so much…
Read MoreFinding Your Purpose for the Year
Figuring Out Your Purpose for the Year One of my favorite questions to ask friends this time of year is “what do you think next year is for?” To be fair, it’s a tough question to answer, rude of me to ask it. But just because it can feel like an impossible question to…
Read MoreSelecting Your Next Goal
Selecting Next Year’s Goals As December arrives I always start interviewing new habits, goals, and skills to see what I will reach for in the new year. Some years I do it with angst, urgency, and desperation. Usually when that happens, I’m feeling behind, or worried that I’m not really getting anywhere in my life.…
Read MoreLater Hunting
What We’ve Been Putting Off Even without pandemic pressures, “Laters” tend to pile up. Some laters are the usual… need to schedule the dentist, time to change the oil in the car, must get out to visit family members we haven’t seen in too long. But laters also include things like stopping at the farmer’s…
Read MoreDon’t Let Your Year-End Review Get Heavy
I think it’s because reflection is so valuable that we often fail to do it. In our desperate need for fresh insights, new motivation, and a sense of accomplishment, the reflection process looms larger than life. And if asking questions about our recent past begins to feel heavy, we delay doing it until we can…
Read MoreGo Get Your Silence
A Moment of Silence I had a second of silence this week. Lately my ears ring constantly, but for an instant, the roar of tinnitus blinked. It’s only happened twice in the last 358 days. But it wasn’t guaranteed to happen at all. The doctors don’t know why I’m suddenly super sensitive to sound, or…
Read More4 Types of Coaches & When to Work With Them
4 Kinds of Coaches and When to Work With Them There are lots of coaches out there. So how do you know when you’re ready for a coach, and which kind of coach you need? Having been a professional coach for over a decade and having had many coaches over the years, here’s a lens…
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