Learning the difference between desire and expectation can keep us motivated while avoiding burnout. We all know expectation lead to disappointment. So how do we keep the motivational fire of our desires, dreams, and goals from hardening into expectations? This one is tricky for me, and I imagine for many. There is a real tension between these two when examined closely. Per the usual…

“What we’re not changing, we are choosing.” -Laurie Buchanan “What is to give light must endure burning.” -Viktor Frankel Suppose you want something. Or you think you do, until you find out what it takes to make it real. Or you kinda try to get it, and it’s harder than…

Control of our attention determines the quality of our lives. While writing a good friend’s wedding last summer, I stumbled across this quote from J.D. McClatchy: “Love is the quality of attention we pay to things.” With stunning simplicity, J.D. points to a fundamental but often overlooked aspect of our…

How can we be sure we’re listening to the guidance of our intuition, not a bias or self-sabotaging conditioned tendency? Our biases, fears & self-doubts are so sneaky, they can get in front of our thinking without us even noticing, influencing our decisions. Intuition is also fast moving, arising in…

Disillusionment. Bicycles. Venn Diagrams. How I found a life of meaning. The Realization I Tried to Avoid I had everything I thought I was supposed to want. I was living in gorgeous San Francisco, California. I biked to work each day to my six-figure tech sales job. My condo had an ocean view, off-street parking, and…

Dawn, day three. I step out into the cold and smile. “Same now, different day”. The words arise in my mind like sparkles off the frost to greet me. Before I dive into my experience, I will provide some background on what Vipassana is, & the structure of the retreat…

Compared with other psychedelics, bufo was hands down the most powerful & pleasurable experience of my life. Bufotenine and 5-MeO-DMT, the active constituents of Colorado River Toad (Incilius alvarius) venom known as “bufo”, produce a profoundly somatic trip. …