Welcome to the X.

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down "happy". They told me I didn't understand…

  It’s difficult not to draw parallels between our lives in Chapter X and autumn. After all, to put it bluntly, it is the autumn of our lives. Sounds terrible, right? Well, it doesn’t have to. Consider the following: Take some time and watch leaves…

If my mind is focused on a specific task and something or someone disrupts my progress, I tend to get annoyed. Not screaming, raging, aggressive annoyance, but a feeling of uuuugggghhhh. You know that feeling, right? But interruptions can be fuel for growth. They can…

I took a walk. My mind swimming with the news, with work, with all the chattering of my over-filled brain. I was alone. No phone—no music. Just me and the trees and whatever small (or large) animals occupied the surrounding woods. Just me and the…

I’m reading David Brooks’ book “The Second Mountain”, which I have to say should be required reading. The section where he discusses joy vs. happiness got me thinking. I went to bed pondering those two words to find an example that would make it real…

There is little doubt that life in Chapter X requires new and expanded thinking. While certain traits and habits can be important, helpful and in some cases necessary to navigate life after work, some can be downright disastrous. Think about some of the characteristics of…

I was listening to the podcast No Stupid Questions with Stephen Dubner (Freakonomics) and Angela Duckworth (Grit)—Episode 20 to be exact—when Voltaire’s quote from Candide was thrown down. “We must take care of our garden.” They offered their thoughts about man’s (taken in the non-gender…