Meditative Beauty & Simplicity in a Qi Gong Ba Duan Jin
Ba Duan Jin (or 8 silk brocades) is an ancient (7000 year old) Chinese series of Qi Gong exercise postures used to “enhance vitality and strength; learn to create balance;…
Book: MOONWALKING WITH EINSTEIN by Joshua Foer
MOONWALKING WITH EINSTEIN: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer is a brilliantly titled book. Seriously, who isn't intrigued by the possibilities to be found within. I…
Canceled Vacation Plans? Consider Mindcations Not Just Staycations
The research is clear. Vacations are good for our health — physically, mentally, and emotionally. According to David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, vacations are good for your…
Music: Singtree by Solar Quest
I’m not sure how I stumbled across Singtree by Solar Quest on Youtube, but it immediately resonated with me and quickly became one of my go-to pieces of music to…
Words: “The Ultimate Weakness of Violence …”
From the last book written by Martin Luther King, Jr. — WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE: Chaos or Community? (Beacon Press 2010 edition) -- there are two passages confirm his continued…
Backyard Engineering: Bike Experiments In Speed
Most of us like to try new things, especially if they are relatively safe and easy to do. But, would we be willing to endure hardship in order to explore…
A Shortcut Method For Making Eggplant Parmesan
My eggplant preference is the heirloom variety called Rosa Bianca and they are plentiful in my area at this time of year. Rosa Bianca eggplant is an eye-catching variety of…
PSA: Helmet Has Always Been A Good Idea
To helmet or not to helmet? That question was long ago decided in favor of helmets at least in the US where our streets and traffic are less than friendly…
Do You Have A Nappuccino Habit?
A Nappuccino is the combining of a 20 minute nap with a pre-nap coffee to create a short, strategic, restorative break without the post nap inertia. But the key to…
Embracing Ridiculous
If "possibilities are endless," where and how will we find them? And when should we stop looking? Because lately it feels as if too many of us stop looking for possibilities. We've settled…
Words: “We Seek An Enlargement Of Our Being” — CS Lewis
In AN EXPERIMENT IN CRITICISM, C.S. Lewis answers the question of Why We Read and also provides the answers to why all forms of storytelling are so important: “We seek an enlargement…
Words: Research Your Own Experience
When ever we seek to make changes for the better, it is helpful to remember there is never only one path, one chance, or one solution. Better is a process.…
Happiness: A Blissfully Splashing Dog
We tend to think -- if there are limitations in our lives, then there are also limitations in our happiness. But is that true? Is our happiness really limited? Or…
Music: Leonid & Friends Cover “25 or 6 to 4”
A bonus of our current Covid-19 life is having the time to find an awesome cover of an old favorite — Chicago’s 25 or 6 to 4. Especially when you…
The Truth About Meat, Protein, & Strength
Food plays a crucial role in the functioning of our daily life, yet who among us really knows what the optimal diet is for human health and performance? So much…
Happiness Is A Superfood. It’s Not Something You Earn
Happiness is a superfood. It is what feeds us. It's not something that needs to be earned or achieved. This seems like a radical thought when the universal law of…
Music: CELESTE & BLONDE by Roger & Brian Eno
Cue the classic movie scene of contemplation and it is almost always a ride through the countryside. You see a passenger in a car or on a train, deep in…
Perfect Summer Bread — Italian Focaccia
Looking for just the right bread to serve during the summer? Here is a recipe for an easy-to-make Focaccia — an Italian bread that is perfect with salads and grilled…
Nature’s Neon Lights: Aurora Borealis & Aurora Australis
Beautiful, magical, eerie, surreal, awe-inspiring… It’s hard to come up with adjectives to adequately capture the sight of the colorful, glowing, shifting curtains of light we know as the Aurora…