I’m pleased enough with the side effect of regularly meditating that I can sit in a full lotus position for an extended time that I don’t mind posting possibly the most boring video on the internet. After first meditating at a Vipassana retreat in 2007, starting with a ten-day no reading, writing, phone, etc experiment, I practiced irregularly but deeply, doing more 10-day, 5-day, 3-day, and 1-day retreats slightly less[…] Keep reading →

I happened to check: today is my 1,300th consecutive day picking up at least one piece of litter per day. It’s my dirty sidcha. I do it to develop leadership experience and skills to hasten the day when we view single-use packaging how we now view asbestos and leaded gasoline. Yes, you too will cringe at takeout and to go, now matter how much you relish it today. One day[…] Keep reading →

Call me vain or unprofessional if you want, but I’m sharing the results of my recent decision to reach a fitness goal I’ve meant to work on for years, maybe decades. Call me self-obsessed if you want for how many words follow, but the journey has been for more enlightening, satisfying, and delicious than I expected. For context, as a child I felt ashamed enough from being teased for excess[…] Keep reading →

Following rowing on my roof, since my tomato plants weren’t pollinating in my bee- and bug-free apartment, I put them on my roof. Since I avoid taking the elevator, watering them means walking up 11 flights every day until tomatoes form or the season ends. I share some of the story. Sorry for the sound but I wore a mask and was behind the camera. Here are the plants Here[…] Keep reading →

I haven’t missed a post here in almost ten years. My left mouse button broke—rather the track pad, an integral part of the computer. I found a used mouse on Craig’s List I can get tomorrow I think I can use while ordering a new track pad, which I think I can install myself. In the meantime I’m seeing if I can post without a left button and keep the[…] Keep reading →

I recently reread Frederick Douglass’s What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, which he delivered on July 5, 1852—a celebrated condemnation of slavery by a man born a slave when it was legal in this country. You’ll do yourself a favor to read it if you haven’t recently. Here’s the passage where he turns the corner from praising the nation: I am not included within the pale of[…] Keep reading →

I knew my daily streaks of writing in my blog and doing burpees of nearly ten years were just starts. I like to find role models. I discovered sidcha streaks that dwarf mine, in fact that started before I was born. Two organizations—Streak Runners International and United States Running Streak Association—track people who have run at least a mile per day. Their slogan: “Through weather, injury, illness, and life events,[…] Keep reading →

The Heroes of New York podcast host Anu Senan posted our second conversation. The show features people who show exemplary behavior in the epicenter of the epicenter. Listen to the episode. She liked the episode enough to invited me for a second episode. Here are the show notes: In this episode, Josh and I talk about change. There is only one way to fight climate change, pandemics and systemic racism.[…] Keep reading →

Erin and Michelle host the Style Your Life podcast. They wanted to learn and share with their audience about habits, which are the foundation of a lifestyle. They can be if you choose. They led a conversation around habits and how to keep from quitting them. I talk and write a lot about habits and sidchas here. This conversation is a friendly, non-intense entry point. Few things improve a life[…] Keep reading →