2014 has been a year of travel for me. I found myself flying domestically and internationally very often, and taking long cab rides to and from airports. If you travel much, you know that most taxi drivers do not notice much about their passengers, but there is a small group of drivers that represent the […]

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines gratitude as “a feeling of appreciation or thanks”, and appreciation as “an ability to understand the worth, quality, or importance of something”. To be grateful is to run an inventory-check of the good things in your life, and to be reminded of their value. It’s an interesting exercise, because when you […]

A few days ago I gave my daughter a ride back from school. It was a sunny fall day, and the sky was clear blue. We both enjoyed the cool air and remained quiet, looking out the window, taking it all in, and postponing the typical “how was your day” conversation. When we arrived at our […]

Life before money was sometimes unbearable. Let’s say you had two goats, some homegrown tomatoes, and a sack of salt, and you needed eggs. You would try to find someone who had eggs, but is in dire need of one of the things you have. If it turned out that the guy with the eggs […]

Pause for a second, and turn your look away from this screen. What is the reality that you see around you? What are the objects, their colors, and their shapes? Are they in motion or are they still? This reality that you see is the world as it is right here and now. It may […]

As kids, we didn’t have dreams. We had plans. We planned to become astronauts, rock stars, movie stars, authors, and inventors. These were never dreams. They were very concrete plans. But with age, the language started shifting. We started saying “I may” instead of “I will”, and “someday” instead of “when I grow up”. Plans […]

Last Saturday I went the beach with my family. The days are the last days of summer. The sun was comforting, the breeze was cool, and everyone at the beach were in a wonderful mood. Everyone but me. I couldn’t quite tell why I was groggy. I had no imminent reason to be upset or […]

There’s a lot going on in the critical moments when you lie in your bed with your eyes closed. As you slowly fall asleep, your brain goes through the gradual process of disengaging from the external world, and quieting your normal train of thoughts. At first, the brain exhibits increased alpha activity, and you start […]

In his 1982 hit “Jack and Diane”, rock singer John Mellencamp describes two high-school sweethearts, who are  oblivious to the inevitable awakening of adulthood, waiting around the corner. In the famous chorus, using only a handful of words, Mellencamp conveys one of the saddest processes that many people experience: “Oh yeah – life goes on […]

By now, we all know the risks of distracted driving. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, every year thousands of people die in car crashes where the driver was occupied in something other than driving, mostly texting on their phones. A driver who is texting is 23 times more likely to be involved in a […]