“Life is composed of joys and miseries. They go hand in hand.” –Bhante Gunaratana1 On the ride of life, pain is the price of admission. We know pain right from birth. Pain is with us, in ways large and small, every day of our lives. Our discomforts range from the annoying to the agonizing. Embarrassments, mistakes, and failures are inevitable. We must all face unfairness, misfortune, and tragedy. This, I posit,… Read More »The Price of Admission
“Our brains have not evolved for this world of plenty. As Dr. Tom Finucane … said, ‘We are cacti in the rain forest.’ And like cacti adapted to an arid climate, we are drowning in dopamine.”1 I’ve killed more houseplants by overwatering than by underwatering. Many plants aren’t evolved to receive very much water: snake plants, succulents, cacti. Keep that in mind because you are one of those plants, and… Read More »Are You Overwatered?
This is Sammy. He belongs to my dad’s friend Dan. Sammy is simultaneously the friendliest and most well-behaved dog I’ve ever known. I came to love Sammy despite spending my whole life as, frankly, not a dog person. I’ve always been a cat person. Cats make sense to me, and we have a natural affinity for one another. I’m the kind of person who befriends random cats that I see… Read More »Can You Choose to Like Something?
If someone is overly optimistic, we say they’re wearing rose-colored glasses. That is, they see the world in a distorted way, making things appear better than they really are. This can cause many problems, which is why I prefer realistic optimism. Rose-colored glasses might make things look nice, but they don’t help you succeed. The opposite affliction, however, is much more common. A great many people see the world through… Read More »Are You Wearing Pain-Colored Glasses?