Making the Most of the Good

In my late thirties, I took a course in something called The Unlimit Your Life Seminars from Jim Fadiman. Essentially, I learned a series of daily affirmations based loosely upon The Power of Positive Thinking, with a number of spiritual and altruistic elements added in. After working with the Seminar principles for a couple of [...]

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The Myth of the Rugged Individualist

As a kid I spent a lot of time alone. My role models were mostly TV characters like Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Bronco Layne, Bret Maverick, and Richard Boone as Paladin. Iconoclasts and rugged individualists all, they each worked diligently in the service of good against the forces of evil. They were mostly strong, silent [...]

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The Perils of Taking Life Sitting Down

I once had a girlfriend in my late teens named Marlyce Greco. She was a starstruck fan of Arthur Lee and Love, and so one summer Saturday night we went to see him and the band at the Whiskey a Go-Go on Sunset Strip in Hollywood. Around midnight, after we came over Mullholland and cruised [...]

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Invoking the Gravitas of Affirmation

More than 50 years have passed and I can still clearly remember Mrs. Lieberman, my fourth grade teacher, announcing to the rest of the class: “Mark is a very good reader. He reads with excellent comprehension.” That single piece of praise shaped a significant part of my life thereafter – reading became a daily mainstay, [...]

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The High Cost of Kvetching

The older I get the more whining and kvetching (naggy, critical griping) I seem to find myself doing. One example: I need to cut down on my American news-watching, especially the political/financial reporting, because I spend too much time finger-pointing and barking at the TV. In the either/or world between strategic optimism or defensive pessimism, [...]

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How to Beautify Your Disorganized Brain

In my early thirties I took a job as a psychology intern at a private residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed adolescents. Many of the residents came to that center having been physically, emotionally and sexually abused as young kids. As a result they had to be removed from their upper middle class home environments.
The [...]

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The End of Kids as We Know Them

These days I often find myself feeling blessed that I’m not a kid growing up in today’s world. Change happens way too fast, and the amount of information that assaults the senses daily often feels tsunami-like. According to science writer, Jonah Lehrer, there are roughly 35,000 new neuroscience studies published every year alone! Who could [...]

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Lies, Damn Lies, and Raising Hearty Children

Pithy quotations often provide motivating inspiration for these columns. Here’s one often attributed to former British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics.” A second inspiration – if we can call it that – comes from this astonishing statistic: 92.5% of adult Americans show up with increased [...]

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The Secret Power of a Mother’s Kiss

While watching the documentary, Fierce Grace, the other night, I was struck by a statement made by Subramanyum, a fellow disciple along with Ram Dass, of the Hindu sage, Neem Karoli Baba. Subramanyum said something to the effect that his teacher represented the epitome of love, that he exuded love, and that he rarely personally [...]

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Making the Most of Dropportunities

I know a performance artist, a contemplative juggler who’s an expert at making mistakes. One of the extraordinary things he does is teach toddlers and blind people(!) to juggle. Juggling offers a wonderful, embodied metaphor for the content of many of our lives. You can see him in action by clicking on this video link: [...]

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