Everyday Living
Three Essentials To Meaning
My time spent in the happiness of pursuit -- the journey not the destination -- has slowly transitioned towards the creation of meaning. We often conflate meaning with happiness. We hope that if we find happiness, we'll also find meaning, but they aren't the same. Happiness derives from the influence…
Practical Authenticity
What does it mean to be authentic? Answers vary based on individual values and needs. Our desire for authenticity reflects our desire to create something more in our lives. For example, if someone values relationships but they can't tell that friend they have a crush on how they really feel,…
How To Be Aimless
Throughout our lives, especially in early adulthood, we have periods when we don't know where we're going or what we should be doing with our lives. A bad breakup, job loss, death of a loved one or a change of heart can make once immutable goals seem irrelevant. We become…
Making Our Dreams a Better Investment
The most important thing I learned from Robert Kiyosaki about real estate investment was that a house isn't an asset. It's a liability. I don't own it. The bank does. It costs me utilities, maintenance, insurance, taxes and interest each month. Over a 30-year loan, I will have paid over…
Fulfilling our needs
I've never been a fan of Mazlow's hierarchy of needs because I never saw people moving from Physiological needs to Self-Actualization in any type of linear progression. We jump around. Sometimes love is more important than eating. Sometimes people forgo love completely for esteem through achievement. Instead, I prefer Tony…
Healthy procrastination
I like junk food. I love Kit Kat bars and triple chocolate cheesecake. I like soda. About a month a go, I stopped drinking two sodas each day. I use to get to work in the morning and drink a Mountain Dew for the caffeine. Then I'd have a Coke…
Why things fall apart
Yesterday, my 6 year old daughter's teacher told us that my daughter R. has been acting up in class. Mostly, it's just refusing to do the current class activities. When did this happen? I thought everything was going fine. R. can read Harry Potter and recently used "discombobulated" in a…
Role vs Identity
I think that INFPs are the worst at confusing Role and Identity because that idealistic Extroverted Intuitive (Ne) mental function wants our roles to be our identity. Everyone plays many roles in their life, but we only have one core identity. In my daily life, I have several roles: father,…