The gentle art of sanity amidst civilization
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Today I fired one of my bosses. Last year I took on a commitment that sounded like a good idea at the time. It didn’t look like a lot of work, and it wasn’t, but I never really got on top of it. It took me a while to realize that I didn’t actually want [...]
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An expert poker player will shred a novice every time, even though both players have the same chance of drawing strong cards. Knowing the odds has something to do with it, but not as much as you might think. In Texas Hold’em, today’s most popular form of poker, each player only gets two cards so [...]
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I’ve received a fair bit of email asking me to write about how to be more comfortable in your own skin, particularly in unfamiliar places. Many report some level of anxiety at the thought of venturing into crowded venues, exploring new neighborhoods, or traveling alone. I won’t pretend I’ve conquered self-consciousness in all its forms, [...]
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Just before flying to Thailand, I spent five days at a retreat community called Hollyhock. It’s a humble, rootsy little hamlet on the relatively remote Cortes Island. I knew very little about the program I’d signed up for, only that it was about Buddhism. It turns out that it was a rather intense regimen of [...]
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A recurring theme in Raptitude is that why is a more useful question than what. Why is the mother of all whats, and tells a much more meaningful story. A 600-foot triangular stack of stones sitting in the Egyptian desert for five thousand years is notable, but it’s the mystery of why someone was compelled [...]
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There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way. ~ Christopher Morley The principle of the life list is simple. You list all the things you want to do in life, and cross them off as you do them. Try to do them all before you die. It’s [...]
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So I get on one wagon and fall off another. My third official Raptitude experiment, 30 Days Without Drugs, was a resounding success in my eyes. I accomplished my goal and dismantled a persistent problem in my life. I’m now much less inclined to compromise my state of mind with the offhanded use of alcohol [...]
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Asking for help has always been so hard for me. I always hated it when I couldn’t do something for myself. I felt like a failure. I was so used to being asked for help, I sort of felt like I’d lose my identity as “the knower” if I put myself on the other side [...]
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Over thirteen years of grade school, the average student probably hands in a small forest’s-worth of worksheets, journals, drawings and assignments. So much of it is profoundly unmemorable: lab notes, arithmetic tests, book reports, and all other sorts of by-the-numbers tedium. The creative work, however, is much more revealing. When a kid is asked to [...]
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Life is still upside down at the moment. Everything is packed up and ready to go, my apartment is just a computer surrounded by cardboard boxes. My inbox is overflowing, as is my brain. A million things to do. Raptitude posts will be short and sweet until probably July 6. *** I’m sure some of [...]
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