ALL EPISODES

Humanity likes to fool itself into thinking it knows the world it lives in, but we don't. We are surrounded by darkness so thick that even the light we shine doesn't go very far. But there's a kind of comfort that we can take from living in the darkness because that same darkness gives us permission to stop thinking so hard about what is.

If we had a metaphorical cup that needed to be filled up to feel contentment, what would we have to fill it with? I know what we try to fill it with. I know we try to fill it with all kinds of things, but sometimes I think the real problem isn't that we don't have things to put in the cup, but rather that the cup has a hole in it.

Everybody starts out in life as a bully. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but children are savages. I find it amusing sometimes to watch my kids pick on each other. They are masters of poking at each other's insecurities. The funniest to watch is my three-year-old, who likes to tease my six-year-old. She is three, and she already knows how to get her brother to hyperventilate.

The reason words matter is because when we cannot accurately name or describe a thing, we are powerless to take action. How could we? Without a name for that which we are experiencing or seeing, we do not even know the thing that needs to be acted upon. When we are afraid, if we can learn the source of this fear and put a name to it, that fear often goes away, or at the very least, it's weakened.

Our pride is tied up in the picture we create of ourselves. It's what we see when we look into the mirror of the mind. But in truth, the whole thing is made up. We are not the person in our imagination. If we could eliminate this perception of ourselves, we would be free of pride. And pride is effectively the fence we build up around us.

When I'm watching a movie and something bad happens to a dog or a baby or a little girl or boy, or even a grown woman. I feel pretty sad for them. But you know who, I don't feel bad for almost ever. Men, typically. I'm just waiting for them to suck it up and move on to trying to fix the problem. Watch.

I love the old Shaker song, Simple Gifts. I don't entirely know why the idea of being simple resonates so much, but I thought it might be an idea worth exploring. Maybe it's a gift to be simple. Because if you can be satisfied while living simply, then you've found contentment. Speaking as a person that feels they have a complicated life, the very idea sounds like relief from the hustle and bustle of the day.

What in life deserves our time and attention, and what things don't? I hope that as we consider that question, along with other topics...

I don't like the word vulnerability. To me, it strikes a tone of weakness. I think I understand what people are getting at when they say that we need to be vulnerable. The problem with vulnerability is that the word actually means that you are susceptible in some way to an attack from someone or something.