A Life of Wonder

Never call me an incurious man.

I heard a beautiful interview with Mike Wallace recently where he calls a politician an “incurious man.”

That stuck with me as a sad and lasting insult.

Read Full Post »

One of my best friends decided a few months ago he needed to cage fight. I tried to talk him out of it. In the end, he went through with it. I protested up to the day of the fight. That evening, I decided that I needed to support him regardless of whether I agreed with his decision.

The cage fight was held in the suburbs. Muscle cars, tattooed women with big earnings and men sporting tight shirts with slogans like “fight to kill,” filled the parking lot and lobby.

This type of fighting is called “cage fighting” for a reason. The fight takes place inside of a large black cage evoking primary imagery. After sitting through 5 fights, my friends finally stepped into the cage.

For years I’ve seen him grow as a martial artist through rigor and discipline. He successfully competed in many sparing events where points were awarded for his skills. Unlike a system of earning points, cage fighting rewards only last man standing.

Watching him fight, I quickly understood his primary motivation to enter the cage: to deprogram himself. The over emphasis on scoring had taught him bad habits making him feel less skillful.

While I do not endorse cage fighting as a method to deprogram oneself, I am fascinated with his ability to recognize, and then take action on, forces he felt were limiting him.

Read Full Post »

Check out this typewriter over at the This is Colossal blog.

I love the concept of typing colors.

What else can we create by replacing the keys on the typewriter?

What if each key were an emotion and typing it would change your feelings. See more about the typewriter here.

Read Full Post »

Marylin Monroe, originally uploaded by barbie.harris37.

Arthur Miller talks about his wife, Marylin Monroe. Fully realizing her beauty and his inability to act rationally in the face of it. Thanks to the On Point program for leading me to this dialogue.

MIKE WALLACE: No, no. Arthur Miller and I have known each other – we went to the same university, the University of Michigan, together. He realised that it was – unthinkable, what in the world would Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe have in common? He virtually acknowledged it. You knew that it was doomed?

ARTHUR MILLER: I didn’t know it was doomed but I certainly felt it had a good chance to be.

MIKE WALLACE: You said to her, “I keep trying to teach myself how to lose you “but I can’t learn yet.” And she says, “Why must you lose me?”

ARTHUR MILLER: Well, it just shows you the power of instinct over what’s left of your brains at such moments when you’re being drawn to someone and you sense that it may not work and you can’t stop it anyway.

Read Full Post »

A close friend reminded me of many things I already knew but seemed to have forgotten: 

• Healthy personal and business relationships begin with loving and forgiving yourself.
• Make time for the important, non-urgent aspects of your life and career.
• Consider doing yoga, three times a week, and watch your life change in six months.
• Put aside the daily news and updates in service of universal lessons and contemplation.
• Mediate, and the place where you mediate should not matter as much as the act itself.
• Commit to trying something for 7 days, then evaluate it.
• Spend real time understanding why you do things. Build a company around people who share the same why.

Of all the points he shared, being patient with myself resonated the most. Without that, none of the other points are possible. The conversation also wasn’t a cheesy self-help one either. My friend has gone through difficult times and emerged a good person and successful businessman. This advice was given from his experience and shared her for our benefit.

What’s the best advice you have received lately from a friend? 

Read Full Post »

Notice how this man distinguishes himself from occupy protestors. A subtle touch on the street in New York.

Read Full Post »

I have a new favorite story blog, Humans of New York. According to the site “The Humans of New York Project is an effort to create a photographic census of New York City. The project seeks to collect 10,000 street portraits, and plot them geographically on an interactive map.” According to me, the project is tour of the faces of New York City, those same faces on which your eyes would linger if you were to see them on the street. Rather than looking away quickly, fearing being caught in an awkward confrontation, this project invites you to look a little deeper, a little longer. I am very grateful for site, and I encourage you check it out.

P.S. Its Facebook page delivers a right sized story every day.

Read Full Post »