Don't Worry
A Well Run Life
Don’t worry The song Don't Worry, Be Happy was written expressly for me. Because if there is nothing to worry about - than I worry about the absence of something to worry about. I am concerned I may not be getting my point across.... (see what I mean.) Over the years, I have tried to focus on what gifts I have as an antidote to paralysis. They say comparison is the thief of joy, and they may be right. However, I am keenly aware that I have many privileges not afforded everyone. My body is not the strongest nor my brain the smartest, but I have good use of both. I am far...
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Am I Vain?
A Well Run Life
I don't think of myself as a violent man, but when I hear: "You look great..... for 48." I get a little nutty. That qualifier sort of negates the compliment, no? Am I vain? Ok, so I am vain. I agree, it is not an attractive quality. And, I am sure that I have some measure of all the 7 deadly sins in my character. My oldest daughter is 23 and launching the next phase of her life. I sat with her this week. She is marvelous. People occasionally compliment me as a parent regarding the quality of my kids’ character. I assure you,...
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Ice Cream in the Morning
A Well Run Life
I have been traveling to big cities these past three weeks. Austin, Chicago and San Diego. I have walked to nearly all my meetings on these trips. The number of homeless people seems overwhelmingly high in these places. Is the number higher than usual? I can't say. How to give someone their dignity while keeping a reasonable expectation that I deserve personal space- is a question that nags at me during these encounters. Walking about 6:3 0 AM in San Diego a woman is ensconced in a restaurant’s doorway. She screams at the top of her lungs: I...
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Kissing Babies
A Well Run Life
My Mom is Italian and my Dad is Irish. I am in the immigrant cycle of Americans where the immigrants were passing in the first 10 years of my life. Those born in this country primarily identified with their country origin. As a kid - When I was with my Dad's side - I was Irish. When I was with my Mom's side - I was Italian. A cultural schizophrenic you might say. Each side of the family embraced a specific set of rules of behavior. Although the underpinning values of those rules were consistent, the expression of those rules were not the...
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Our New One
A Well Run Life
It was a big week in our family. I have a new niece as of last week. My brother-in-law and his wife added a perfect little cutie-pie to the family. Mother and baby are happy and healthy. And we are so happy to have the new one. I am rarely accused of being relaxed or calm. Even in repose, I am thinking of what to do next. One antidote to my monkey-mind has always been taking a nap with a baby on my chest. I've yet to squish one and my body's instincts seem to keep them safe even when I am unconscious. It was one of my great discoveries when I first...
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Here's Looking At You
A Well Run Life
I am not saying I am competitive, but I was 48 when it happened. He was 50. By “it” – I mean having to buy reading glasses. By “him” – I mean my Dad. The optometrist handled me well. I told him that I was there to confirm I did not need glasses. He appropriately and politely ignored me while conducting the exam. The journey from non-spectacled to bespectacled took less than 30 minutes and did not in fact kill me. And so, on July 9th 2019 my denial - that my eyes need help reading the newspaper on Sundays - came to an end....
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Flow
A Well Run Life
The ocean brings me peace in a way no other place can – In the waves of the Southern California Pacific Ocean I feel divine generosity and a safe smallness. Salt water and the oxygenated white foam always wash away fatigue and move me towards an awareness of my body that I can’t get on land. I am suspended. I am unequal to the power of the sea. And somehow, I am safe. Body surfing and diving under the waves never bore me. No two waves ever strike me as the same. Some defect of character makes me suspicious of ease. Nowhere do I notice this aspect...
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Renew
A Well Run Life
I am in a season of change. Although, it’s occurred to me that perhaps we are always in a season of change and we just come in and out of realizing it. Whichever is the case, I sense newness emerging in my life and myself. I can’t report precisely how I feel about it – Right now It’s just a fact to me. I remember listening to a wise spiritual man give a talk, and he was describing the basic motivations, fears and aspirations present in human beings. He concluded his remarks by saying: “This is the human condition. It ought to...
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Grace in the Morning Rain
A Well Run Life
The word Grace can mean so many things but idea of un-merited favor is my favorite. I live a life absent so many problems and full of so many blessings. My strengths and weaknesses are so closely bound to each other, that they often work simultaneously for me and against me. The divine is gentle with me. And I find enormous Grace in my everyday existence when I simply stop to notice.
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47, 48
A Well Run Life
For years, it’s been my habit to do a podcast near my birthday to mark the moment. Well, it’s been 6 months since my last birthday and so I realize I will soon be staring another one in the face soon. It is certainly a feature of aging that time is measured in different increments as we get older. 5 minutes seemed a reasonable length of time when I was 4, and now I measure time in decades. There will come a time when this annual podcast is full of wisdom, great instruction on living a full life and hilarious wit. But now is not that time.
info_outlineSomewhere in the mid- 1960’s he is in the 10th grade and doing a handstand on the top rails of the Empire State Buildings observation deck.
Some volunteer parent looking after the high school kids take one look and faint dead-away.
An unfortunate gust of wind sends him tumbling like a fall leaf.
But it didn’t and the story lives on in family infamy.