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Soothing the Hive Mind
“That which is not good for the beehive cannot be good for the bees.” -Marcus Aurelius
These days, the air is abuzz. People are tense, unsettled, and reactive. I see it on Instagram, at the grocery store, and on the steps of the Utah Capitol building close to where I live. That sort of energy is…
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How We Connect is Foundational to Our Health– 4 Keys to Living Better
Over the last few weeks, I’ve made my case for recalibrating our circadian rhythms and placing much more emphasis and value on Sleep in my 4 Keys to Living Better.
Sleep. Eat. Move. Connect.
Imagine a rhythmical circle instead of a linear prescription. Don’t get hung up on the order of things.
If I were to kidnap…
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I’m Tired of Texting
There, I said it: I’m tired of texting. I have a wonderful group of friends, some of whom are spread all over the world, and some of whom live close to me. The world is pretty crazy these days. Everyone is busy, and when I ask someone how they are, most respond with “so busy.”…
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Porn, Shame, and Doughnuts: Part 1
With the arrival of the internet and smartphones in the developed world (and increasingly in the developing world), pornography is available all the time, everywhere, often for free. I happen to live in Utah, which has some of the highest rates of porn subscriptions in the country, which I find fascinating, given that something like…
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Live Like A Mighty River
In 1986, 23 years after the death of Sylvia Plath, celebrated poet Ted Hughes wrote the following letter to their 24-year-old son, Nicholas, advising him to embrace his “childish self” so as to feel more deeply and live more richly. Tragically, during a period of depression in 2009, Nicholas took his own life. He was…
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Small, Seemingly Insignificant Things
This is a photo of Gus. I stopped and talked to him in the parking lot of my hotel last night. It was a beautiful evening, and he had the Giants game on the radio. I asked him about his exercise-baseball combination, and he told me that listening to the baseball game was the only…
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My Secular Sabbath, Again
Warning: this gets personal.
In the fall of 2014, I stepped way off track. For several preceding years, I had practiced what I called a “secular Sabbath,” a time of peace and connection with myself, nature, and people that mattered. At that time, that was my wife and son, mother, sister, and friends, many of whom…
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Bitter Medicine
Sometimes, a dose of your own medicine tastes pretty bitter.
A friend sent me this card last week amidst an ongoing, very frank conversation about my busy schedule and limited availability (physical, mental and emotional) for meaningful connection. Here’s the reality: I’m stupidbusy working on figuring out my future. I spent the last 7 years building…
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Talking To Strangers And Other Terrifying People
I had a really powerful experience last year. At the gym one morning, a man about my age approached me and introduced himself. He knew who I was from my work on health and nutrition, and he thanked me for my books. We started talking, and within less than five minutes, he confided in me…
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Sit With Your Loneliness
“Remember: the time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself. Life’s cruelest irony.” —Douglas Coupland
“When I get lonely these days, I think: So BE lonely… Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But…
