Personal Development

…and a brief meditation on the impermanence of life — I love the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes for its meditations on our purpose on this earth. In sharp contrast to a world today, where many claim simple answers to life’s most profound questions, the book’s author dwells on his human frailty in a universe of which our existence is…

Over the past few years, I’ve learned to dread Pride, but I still love what got us here. — I used to be sad all Pride month. It had something to do with the idyllic life I imagined all queer people to be living: Out there, free, having figured out exactly who they were and what they needed, part of a community that understood and supported them, having sex…

I started questioning the 9 to 5 routine 2 years into my career as an industrial designer in Singapore. It just happened that my lease was ending. The more houses I viewed the more I questioned: do I really want to pay $2500 monthly rent for a tiny concrete box…

There once was a man who was very quiet. Because of his quietness, people thought the man lacked confidence. His quietness made others feel uncomfortable. One day, a lady asked the man why he was so shy. “Shy?” The man replied. “I’m not shy at all.” “But you hardly say…

From a sprawling AIM friends list, to an arbitrary player ranking in an online virtual world game, to a view count on your budding TikTok page about travel tips, online presence has always been represented by numbers. We’ve seen it at every point in our collective adolescence. It is concise…

It’s about letting go. — I was listening to another amazing Mickey Singer talk yesterday (at tou.org) when he brought up the great 19th century Indian saint, Ramakrishna. This guy was the real deal. How so? Rather than chronicle his life and teachings, of which many thousands of pages have been written, I’ll relate a…

(It’s time for us to relax, to recharge, and to connect with ourselves) — The most important skill is solitude; the art of being alone. We live in a world where we’re constantly connected to others. We’re always on our phones, our computers, or our social media. We are in a world where we’re connected to everything except yourself. People have become increasingly out…

I am out of control. I can’t possibly be happy when there are so many terrible things happening in the world. Life seems so meaningless and unfair. No one makes an effort to respect me. No one would care if I was no longer here.

Even if you’re “young,” reading how my much-older friends prosper can shine a bright and hopeful light on your path, too. — The Project I started “collecting” old ladies before I turned 50 — by accident and in spite of myself. At 46, I had no clue. In this 24-minute interview with another Crow’s Feet writer, Warren Turner, I explain how my old ladies became my guides to a part of life I hadn’t…