“We should choose for our friends men who are, as far as possible, free from strong desires,” Seneca wrote while contemplating friendship, “for vices are contagious, and pass from a man to his neighbor, and injure those who touch them.” Thinking about this timeless advice made me wonder about the opposite side of friendship — … Read more
“My religion is kindness,” the Dalai Lama is said to have said. These words remind me that the movement of the heart as we practice kindness mirrors the movement of the heart when we let go of conditioned views about ourselves and others. Every person has been conditioned to think and behave in a certain … Read more
“Observe both the things which come first and the things that follow; and then begin the act,” Epictetus wrote in his meditation on making wise decisions. This seems simple enough, yet many of us fail to heed the advice. Again and again, we repeat the same mistakes, oblivious to our tendency to stand in our … Read more
I love Nick Cave not for his music but for his writing. While loyal fans go to his concerts to listen to his songs, I go to his blog to read his sentences — beautiful and tender yet powerful and uncompromising sentences. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s called The Red Hand Files. It … Read more