If I only had a dime for every time that exhausted, I had to entertain the power of HOPE. Waiting for its deliverance, resenting the need to have to summon up its promise, struggling to find the strength to trust in it again — if I had a dime for every time -

I would indeed be rich.

HOPE is the lonely man’s companion; the faithful man’s best friend and it is, without a doubt, the luxury that no man can…

“Pride attaches undue importance to the superiority of one’s status in the eyes of others; And shame is fear of humiliation at one’s inferior status in the estimation of others. When one sets his heart on being highly esteemed, and achieves such rating, then he is automatically involved in fear of losing his status.”

You’ve been there, you’ve done that, in fact you might even be doing it right now. Everyday, whether actively or passively, people every where are working overtime to avoid messing up somehow because let’s face it, few things are more unsettling in life than someone else watching you when you’re about to look bad…

It is not uncommon these days, to pick up a newspaper or turn on the T.V. and find out about a courageously inspiring good deed. An ordinary man or woman, who will choose, in an impulsive moment of self abandon, to forsake their own self interest in exchange for the opportunity to help another person in their moment of need, will capture our attention and captivate our sensibilities each and every time.

The guy who jumps on the subway train tracks, sacrificing his body as a human shield in hopes of saving the kid having an epileptic attack, the woman who jumps in the river, forgetting that she never learned how to swim, to try and save the family trapped in their car, are the kind of examples of altruism that seduce us and oblige us to ordain someone a hero. But, does a truly generous act of heroism, require anything more than the simple, compassionate act of temporarily suspending our own particular needs or wants, so that we may recognize that their might in fact be someone, in a singular, yet ordinary moment in time, reaching out with hope, that someone like you or me might be willing to reach back?

It was about 10:00 PM when we finally heard the doorbell ring…

There is a popular school of thought going around lately that would
suggest that we are all ultimately responsible for everything that
happens to us – the good and the bad. A lot of people think that you can
concentrate, focus and determine your way out of negative outcomes or
hard times. I don’t. Sometimes stuff just happens! No matter what we
do or how hard we try to avoid it, sometimes all hell will just break
loose, whether we want it to or not.

When faced with a crisis, blind-sided and caught off guard, what
matters is not what you may have done or what you could have done
differently. What matters is -

I am not the first to acknowledge the fact that there are no shortcuts to greatness and I will not be the last. Many before me have discovered for themselves that there is, after all, no easy road to extraordinary accomplishment and no unobstructed path to achieving that desired sense of profound self satisfaction and reward. Many more will inevitably conclude the same, and discover for themselves that…

Have you ever wished that you had something, that you didn’t know exactly how you were going to get, and then as if by magic, somehow you just got it?

It is arguably because we receive the signal so early on that it is necessary for each of us to establish our net worth as a human being, that many of us have difficulty grasping the notion that we can simply be accepted just because — we are. We find it harder still to comprehend the possibility that we could honestly be celebrated, and dare I even suggest pursued, because — we are unlike any other.

When we fail to realize the power of…

It reads:

To my children, who I hope become like Fletcher and go -

Love, Your Mother.

I have always been fascinated, to the point of near obsession, with those people who devote themselves unapologetically to the pursuit of -

realizing an impossible possibility.

I stand in awe of the few who endeavor to discover what reality might exist on the other side of predictable. Those restless souls, refusing to be contained, determined to escape the boundaries of normal, who set out to challenge the status quo and raise the bar, introducing a new truth that expands the world for us all.

Beyond the daily grind, beyond what we already know to be true, beyond “it just can’t be done”, there are the few who will choose to respond to that persistent whisper that beckons from …

Shadenfreude is a German word used to describe the act of taking pleasure in the pain or misfortune of another. It is derived from two words, schaden which means to damage or do harm, and freude which means joy.

Schadenfreude (SHOD-n-froy-duh).

It’s a funny word to read, its even funnier to say, but how much fun can you really have, how much joy can you truly experience, how much satisfaction can you actually get, when it comes as a direct result of someone else’s bad deal?

I take great comfort in knowing that, every morning no matter what, the sun will rise in the east and at the end of the day, it will set, reliably, in the west. I like not having to worry about that.

I get thrown off balance however, when, in my personal universe, things do not proceed steadily and according to the way that I imagine they should. Don’t we all? If I plan for my day to unfold in a certain way, I don’t want to have to experience any unauthorized surprises.

I don’t like to have to adjust…