I get to spend this weekend working with Vantage Point Foundation helping my fellow veterans make peace with the past, become more present in the moment, and discover their purpose for the future. For me this is game time. It is the reason I study and train. My hope is that I can be at […]
Not everything matters and you don’t have to care. I have to tell you it feels good to write that, and at the same time I have a sense that reading it might “split the room.” The idea I am digging at here is the pressure we sometimes feel to get involved cognitively or emotionally
Not everything matters and you don’t have to care. Read More »
Focusing on the task at hand can feel overwhelming in a world of constant distraction and interruption. I think there is an inclination to blame modern distractions like phones, email, streaming, marketing, advertising, and every other external factor for our inability to stay on task or in the moment. What I’m about to say might
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Society and popular culture puts a lot of pressure on us to “be yourself.” There are a lot of presumptions that go into quippy catch phrases like this, not the least of which is that we have the slightest idea of what we want ourselves to be. Thankfully, we have the capability and capacity to
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From the Stoic perspective there are three main areas of our lives that require dedicated attention and energy to develop. They are our desires, our motivations, and our ability to reason. Increasing our capability and capacity in each of these areas enables us to make decisions that enable us to live the life we want
Desire, Motivations, and Reason Read More »
Many philosophies and religions advocate for the use of mantras to focus thoughts, help regulate emotions, and sustain helpful behaviors. I was thinking about some of the mantras that I have used in my life and I had the thought that if you don’t select your own mantra your mind will find one for you…
The Power of Personal Mantras Read More »
The past few weeks I’ve been trying out this idea of “doing” more. I’m not talking about adding more to my to-do list, the idea is to take more small deliberate actions to live the life I want to live. Maybe some examples will help me illustrate what I’m talking about. My wife and I
One of the trends I see in my role as a teacher and as a counselor is the harm that can be caused by oversimplification. Typically what I see is that someone will exaggerate their thoughts or emotions by using language that may speed up expression of thoughts and feelings but can also minimize or
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A few years ago I jotted down a note that said “external resources don’t solve internal problems.” This note predates my shift from military counterintelligence and law enforcement work to clinical mental health counseling and teaching. I like to think my education, training and experience has helped me refine this thought a bit. But it
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The Stoics practice of daily reflective journaling is something that I have never really come to terms with establishing as a regular habit. I’ve had fits and starts over the years with some success but mostly the practice devolves into a daily log of “what I did today.” I do like the idea of holding
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