Pursuing the Excellent Life

Ideas, values, and living life well

June 8, 2022

The Cage of Your Assumptions

 Many years ago, and I mean MANY years ago, I was in junior high and had a massive crush on a cheerleader. At the end of the basketball season, the coach threw a party for the team. We were allowed to invite dates, which was a very big deal. Ev…

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Aug. 24, 2021

Birds don’t just fly, they hop a lot too

No person ever steps in the same river twice, because it’s not the same river, and it’s not the same person. –Heraclitus   Recently I met Trudie Jackson, the first transgender candidate to run for President of the Navajo Nat…

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July 30, 2021

Living Between the Drought and the Deluge

[Note: This essay was originally written for the Flagstaff Business News. Monsoon comes in the summer in the desert southwest of the United States. It’s a pretty amazing time.] As I write this, we are well into the monsoon season, which for m…

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July 22, 2021

The Joy of Gratitude

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, a time for families and football. Many families have a tradition in which each family member stands up and declares their thankfulness for something. While such traditions are great, thankfulness or gratitude sho…

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July 16, 2021

You Can't Avoid Emotional Contagion with a Mask

When we lived in Arizona, my dog, Maggie, and I returned from an early morning walk when Maggie spied a rather large grey cat lounging in front of our house. Maggie did not take kindly to the cat’s presence. She tugged at her leash, trying to …

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