Coming back to the U.S. after living so many years abroad is always a bit jarring culturally.
There are the obvious things, of course, such as driving on the other side of the road and using different money.
On the plus side, talking with others is pleasantly effortless. It doesn’t require the extra half-oomph of concentration that [...]

Went back to high school today — the old school I attended nearly 50 years ago.
It’s still standing, still serving the community well, and its students are, unlike the kids in my day, incredibly young for their age… or so it seemed to this old geezer. And that goes double for the teachers.
It was nice [...]

Okay, so here it is 3am and I’m wide awake. My body’s still on Japan time, even as it sits in a hotel on Chicago’s Michigan Ave.
Yesterday was more than 30 hours long, what with the trans-Pacific flight and all.
My wife and I kept ourselves going on excitement till 9pm last night, when we staggered [...]

Most of us spend 12 to 20 years learning to be a child…
Then it’s time to discard our comfortable childhood ways and start learning to behave as an adult. The most important part of this is social skills.
Adults are expected to act and behave differently than children do. But how many adults do you know [...]

Your life is like a piece of music. Any passerby quickly knows whether you’re in harmony or not — even if you yourself aren’t sure.
Harmony is described in many different ways. Some use the word “congruency,” while others (more pithily) call it “having your s**t together.” But whatever term you use, it always means the [...]

Are you still searching outside yourself for something that will complete you, make you whole, and finally make you feel like a “real” person?
Do you still feel that you don’t quite have what it takes to be as successful, as smart, attractive or desirable as the next person?
Well, the truth is, it isn’t “out [...]

Making decisions seems to be a sticking point for most people. The higher the stakes involved, the harder it becomes to choose an action. Simply put, most of us treat decisions as stopping points rather than turning points.
And the bigger the decision, the bigger the stop. But why?
Again, it’s simple. We fear making mistakes. Sooner [...]

Many of my friends write well. A very few write divinely. But Susan writes like crystal. So clear and easy that you can’t quite figure how she imparts her images and concepts with such simple words.
Here’s one of Susan’s latest articles; superficially it seems just a charming bit of fluff. But if you pay attention, [...]

We see them everywhere - on billboards, magazine covers and tv shows - and they always seem to sparkle. I guess that’s why we call them stars.
According to peak performance expert Peter Murphy, however, you also can learn the skills that the beautiful people use to stand out in any crowd and to charm everyone [...]

There are a lot of ways to motivate yourself, and Anthony Robbins is well known for his mastery of the subject. Posted today at his blog, Easy Motivational Strategies, he provides a list of things you can do to keep yourself focused on forward momentum.

Recently I stumbled upon Donald Latumahina’s excellent Life Optimizer blog, and this article in particular grabbed my attention:
15 Tips to Stay Positive in Negative Situations
Though it’s not easy, it’s important to stay positive in negative situations. Latumahina recommends 15 positive things you can do so you don’t succomb to the negative that may be going [...]

My wife and I spent about a week and a half in Thailand having a great time. Bangkok is an exotic and exciting city, and Chiang Mai, up in the northern part, is even more exotic. At the same time, I saw foreigners everywhere. Thailand makes it very easy for tourists to visit.
Apparently they also [...]