The V-Word

“Hope begins in the dark,  the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.  You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”  -Anne Lamott

Some days the best you can do is show up. You agree to not make any big decisions about the future on these days. You are happy for busy work and the small acts of efficiency that can come from moving things around...

“Give me a fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truth for yourself.” ~Vilfredo Pareto

As the last days of the positivity quest dwindle to a close, I thought I would use as many of the remaining posts as possible to outline the foundations of creating a positive life. I will be looking for the major thematic units that have woven the...

“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there  is of you.”  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

It has been just over two months since I spent a couple of nights with my son in the hospital, wondering if life would ever be the same. It was a miracle, and remains one- even now 60 days later that life could be so much back to normal. For all outward appearances, except for a significant scab on the back of his...

“For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today I was overcome with the visceral gratitude that I have long been seeking. I have been struggling with unexplained pain down my arm and was thinking the worst… or at least researching the range of ailments that would...

“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.” ~Albert Einstein

The true test of our life is whether we go to bed at the close of each day and know that we have done as much good as possible and that we have followed our instincts towards our sense of self respect instead of self interest. This seems like it should be a clearly demarcated path, but these instincts...

“A crisis is an opportunity riding the dangerous wind.” -Chinese Proverb

How we come to interpret the events in life is everything. This is most especially true at the most unstable moments in life. Whether in the passionate beginnings or abrupt endings of relationships, how we come to think about the transitions and change we experience is the most dramatic influence on the outcome of most...

“The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

After reading the New York times style section cover storyabout the urgency shared by millions to get onto the Oprah show and the industry building around it, I thought to myself, “As much as I would love to chat with Oprah, I don’t want to be on that waiting list.” I also thought about the...

“Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.” -Mahatma Gandhi

I am working to change my belief system. Instead of believing that I must create all the situations and events that will make my new book project successful, I want to believe that I my real work is about being available to the opportunities as they find me. In truth it...

“If it’s not fun, you’re not doing it right” -Bob Basso

This is one of the most challenging parts of positivity for me to keep my eye on, the fun quotient. I forget often about having fun and, worse still, fall out of touch with just the fact that the whole point of life should be fun. I don’t know why being so serious seems so much more adult to me or if it just a bad habit, but between the...