People say they want to be successful, but they behave like the person next to them. They try to make sure they are watching some of the same shows and make sure they are aware of the same memes, and the same viral clips. Let me be very clear: Success and commonplace do not walk hand in hand. Success and average have no common path to tread. Success and what everyone else does are not neighbors. Because the average person is not successful. I am American, so let’s talk about

It is legion the number of things you will not be. The greatest football player in the world is not a concert hall pianist. The greatest physicist in the world is not a painter with their pieces hanging in the Louvre. The greatest violinist is not also working as a director of chemical engineering in a pharmaceutical company.   That is not to say they cannot be these things; perhaps they could have been. That is what makes us amazing as human beings.   You can be a star athle

My wife and I were recently in Boulder, Colorado. If there were a poster child for trying to do the right thing by way of the environment, this might be the place. Let’s ignore all politics for a moment and whether you agree or disagree about that, and talk about the act of “being good.”   We helped clean out a garage that hadn’t been cleaned out in decades. We had to dispose of scrap metal, scrap wood, Styrofoam, old paint, long-expired rat poisons and plant sprays, road fla

“Hey Bob, how’s it going?” “Tim, how goes? It’s okay, just back from Memphis.” “Good ribs, right?” “You know it.” “Watching the game tonight?” “If my boss lets us leave when he’s supposed to, yeah...” Make your conversation fit the person and the place. Blah blah blah . Do I need to be here for this? Not really, and you don’t either. And neither were Bob and Tim. That conversation could be had on autopilot, and probably was. You know its content from the beginning, and you k

But thinking makes it so. The Buddha (via Dhammapada, Buddhism): “Mind precedes thoughts, mind is their chief, their quality is made by mind; if with a base mind one speaks or acts … then suffering follows … If with a pure mind one speaks or acts … then happiness follows.” AKA, our experience of good or bad arises from the mind. AKA, “thinking makes it so.” Qur'an / Muhammad (Islam): The hadith: “Strange indeed are the affairs of the believers: for all their affairs are good.

You are going to have a last flower. You are going to walk into your garden one day, and that day will be the last day something new blooms before winter overtakes you (at least where I live!). It will be stark, beautiful, and a reminder of the things that have bloomed before.   My Last Flower Then you will walk through your garden and see the flowers that didn’t finish. They almost bloomed, but in the lateness of the season they were halted and they will be only that: buds t

I cannot recall what I was listening to, or if it was reading that discussed the asteroid conundrum. Here is the question at hand: You are an artist of some kind, a painter, sculptor, writer, musician, and you have been working for years of your life to become gifted at what you do. You learn that the world is going to end in 30 days, and all human life and everything we have ever created is going to be destroyed. Humanity will never rise again, and all works of humanity will

Winding down doesn’t mean done. I am always a little sad at the end of every gardening year because I have to wait from about November 15th to about April 15th before I see signs of life in the garden again. Everything goes to sleep, folds up on itself, and waits. I won’t lie. I am envious of those who live in warmer climate zones sometimes and grow an extra two months or more. Fall in the damp garden I have tasks to do in the yard, like moving stones about, mulching, cutting

I’m going to give away a spoiler: in the most amazing story I have ever seen, heard, or read, the hero dies in the end. They may fight...

The Old Ball and Chain... My wife won’t let me get fat. Within limits. I am very grateful she won’t. I won’t let her be sedentary, though...

On Thursday, I am picking up a cake for a dead man. I do not write much in the way of true details about my personal life on this site....

Trust me, stay for the result of this... In the last thirty minutes the following things have happened and the following thoughts have...

So many people seem to be ashamed of themselves. There are things to be ashamed of, but people are ashamed of the wrong things. I’m not...

It makes me angry when otherwise amazing people find excuses to fail. Plenty has been written about what I am about to say, and none of...

Every day, remind yourself you can quit tomorrow. But not today. You can put it off as many times as you like, but you can only actually...

In a garden almost nothing is forever. Trees can be moved even when they are towering fifty-foot specimens. Shrubs can be split and...

I watch a show from time to time called Gardeners’ World . One of the gardens you see frequently belongs to the host, and is a place...

Weeds are part of every garden, every garden bed, hiding beneath every plant, growing alongside them, or even towering over them. A weed...

I want to admit a few things today about editing, writing, and my journey as a writer through the brutal course of authorship. Some...

The most important thing you will ever do in your garden, nobody is going to see. Today, my neighbor asked me, “What are you planting? I...