Preparation for our defining moments

“In order to cultivate the courage and skill required to perform in the most critical instances of life, we need to apply the same discipline and rigorous intensity to the selective focus we bring into each day. This doesn’t mean pushing ourselves beyond what is healthy, but it does mean working to our limits and spurring incremental improvement through each day.”

Losing ourselves in expression

“The point is not that there are certain activities than are better or worse and that we should encourage a homogenous society, but rather that people should seek out activities that allow them to lose themselves in creative expression, in whatever form that might take. These moments and activities are inherently life-giving, and might just might even redirect one’s life onto a new and different path. Don’t stop seeking out these pursuits, for they contain the very essence of what it means to be alive.”

The “unfortunate” end

“At nearly every other juncture of life – graduation, marriage, promotion, etc. – we celebrate life before as the culmination of perseverance and effort, happily reflecting on how time was spent to allow for the next marvelous transition to take place. We don’t hold remorse towards the exchange, mainly because we position the next step as more positive than the next.”

We carry it all for love

“Quite simply, pain and sorrow cannot pass without an intentional acknowledgement of our innermost feelings. We can run from the feelings, sure, but doing so will only leave us more fragile than before—more vulnerable to breaking in the event that we ever choose to let down our emotional guard.”

Racing the Clock

“The truth is, happiness consists in awareness—in choosing to slow down, be present to whatever task is at hand, and doing it for the sake of doing it. Increasing our task efficiency is a waste of life if not undertaken with an awareness of this exact formula for happiness.”