I really enjoy the podcast, Levar Burton Reads. Levar is an actor best known for his roles as Geordi La Forge in Star Trek, Kunta Kinte in Roots, and as the host of the PBS series, Reading Rainbow. Levar Burton Reads is a grown-up version of Reading Rainbow. Mr. Burton — or Levar? I feel… Continue reading Life Lessons with Levar
An Updated Pledge of Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the Principles of the United States of America;That all people, regardless of gender, race, religion, or whom they love,are created equal with unalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,That Governments derive just power from the consent of the Governedto uphold these rights,That Absolute Power corrupts, and a robust… Continue reading An Updated Pledge of Allegiance
Drop Your Center of Gravity
Years ago — too many years — my friend Mike showed me a T’ai Chi practice called Push Hands. It’s a mix of dance, practice, and sparring. You and your opponent (or partner) face each other with one foot forward, your front feet touching. You put your hands up, palms open, pressed against those of… Continue reading Drop Your Center of Gravity
Seeing the Whole Picture
I wrote and published this internally at my company, Automattic (we’re hiring!). Some of it is specific to us, a distributed technology company, but I suspect some pieces may resonate with others, so I’m sharing more broadly. We often have a sort of narrow-mindedness where we focus on our own tasks or our own areas… Continue reading Seeing the Whole Picture
COVID-19: April 2
I’m not gonna lie. Today felt really hard. The hardest day yet. Yesterday I started a conversation at work that I knew would be difficult, it would mean disappointing people, arguing, debating. Leaving people unhappy, disappointed. That’s the job. It just feels harder in the current environment. But I think it sapped all my energy… Continue reading COVID-19: April 2
COVID-19: March 29
More notes and thoughts… We walked into the cul-de-sac today, joining our neighbors singing happy birthday to a neighbor boy turning 18. Later, we took some family portraits as a photographer drove past people’s houses taking “porch portraits” for donations. This weekend (Saturday) was Max’s birthday. He got a decent haul of gifts that he… Continue reading COVID-19: March 29
COVID-19: March 22
I started writing this post over a week ago, but never finished. I’m going to post it as-is to keep track of what was going on at the time. The world feels very surreal right now. In less than a week we went from being excited about our spring break trip to Disney World to… Continue reading COVID-19: March 22
A Sabbatical, Some Learnings, and a Mantra
I work at Automattic, and one of the incredible perks we get is a three-month, paid sabbatical after five years (we’re hiring). This is as awesome as it sounds. And it was a personal turning point for me. Here’s the interesting thing though. It wasn’t the sabbatical itself, it was the leadup to the sabbatical.… Continue reading A Sabbatical, Some Learnings, and a Mantra
Mindfulness and Self-Reflection
The other day I wrote about stoicism and control. While I was reading about stoicism I was also learning about mindfulness, and I found some really interesting overlapping ideas. In that post I had written; We control our reaction to others. We control how we feel about the world around us. We control whether we… Continue reading Mindfulness and Self-Reflection
Stoicism and Control
In one sense, we are powerless. We cannot control anything external to us. Oh sure, we can take our little brother’s hand and smack him in the face, saying “stop hitting yourself.” This is nothing. We cannot control who our brother is. We cannot make a person evolve. We cannot make them love us. We… Continue reading Stoicism and Control