I have a problem. I’m a self-help junkie. I love reading self development books. The problem is that I read them but I don’t take action on what I learn. I’m not great with the follow through. Darren Hardy said, “Learn less, do more.” Most of the time, we know enough. We know enough to…
Why are the first 24 hours of an extended fast so difficult? You’d think the longer you went without fasting, the harder it would be. But, no. Every time I do an extended fast, it’s in the first day that’s a killer. That’s when I have to deal with temptations, excuses, or rationalizations. Every time!…
Resistance is lurking every where! And just when you think you’ve conquered it in one place, it pops up and wrecks havoc in another place. I’ve been patting myself on the back for being productive. I’ve been focusing on my daily “frogs” for the last couple of weeks. I thought I had shown Resistance who’s…
This was a productive week for me. I’m surprised. I accomplished many things that have been on my to do list for weeks. How did I manage this great feat? Simple. I stopped thinking so much. Don’t get me wrong. Thinking is important. More people should do it. But I think too much. I suspect…
I was thinking about Seth Godin and what he says about writer’s block. He says he writes how he speaks, and that people rarely have trouble talking. We don’t suffer from Talker’s Block. There might be a silence or pause here and there, but conversation flows. For some reason, when there’s a blank piece of…
I’m reading The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman. It’s a pragmatic view on how to achieve peace of mind. I’m only on chapter 3, so I can’t review the book yet, but I’m enjoying it so far. I’ve been mulling over one of the lines from the book:…
When the pandemic started, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get things done. Like working on my playwriting or blog posts. Being stuck in my home should have removed all the distractions, right? I should have been able to focus on my goals, right? Wrong. Like most people, my Resistance and procrastination…
I turned 58 a few weeks ago. I was a bit late to the Pandemic Birthday Celebration Club. But at this point, it looks like we’ve all become members. Another year zoomed by. So what did I learn in my previous year? Last year I obsessed about the Covid pandemic, like everyone else. But there…
“It’s the good advice, that you just didn’t take And who would’ve thought it figures?” Alanis Morrissette A year ago, my brother suggested that I make a Kindle version of my book Laund-o-mat at the End of the World. (The typo in the title is deliberate.) It’s a collection of three of my one-act…
I was listening to the song “A Plea from a Cat Named Virtute” by the Weakerthans the other day. I love that song but it always gets me. It hits me in the emotional gut. The song is the imagined monologue of a cat to its depressed owner. I remember the first time I heard…
peter gruner 