The C.A.T. Principle

A Train Ride to Goslar, a Train Ride to Change… The loudspeaker blared, “Goslar, hier Goslar” as my feet sprung from the train and smacked down upon the railway platform on a trip to this designated UNESCO World Heritage German…

Friendship and a Birthday in Berlin… Friendship is a peculiar thing. Two people meet and they might as well be sitting on opposite ends of the globe. Two others meet and it’s as if they knew each other their entire…

Gratitude: And Why It Matters… Having recently crossed the half-century threshold (see Aging: Reflections on Turning Fifty…), the mind develops a propensity to recall times bygone (at least mine does). People, places and events spring forth from thoughts of remembrance…

Aging: Reflections on Turning Fifty… Fifty! Wow…who would have thought? In short order, yours truly will turn a page of personal history, and vacate my forties to cross into my fifties. Or as one bartender put it: exchange the “young”…

Regrets: Do You Have Any? Regrets? Sure, one or two or maybe more, but who’s counting anyways? Let’s face it, to live, is to also regret. If we don’t get out of bed in the morning, then we’ll never have…

Boredom: The Death Knell of Life… Life is about living, but yet so many of us are bored. We’re bored of our jobs; we’re bored of our friends, and we’re bored of our spouses. We’re even bored of the newest…

Are You Happily Miserable?  Happily miserable: play on words? I beg not, at least not for those of us who seemingly thrive on drama, confusion, and conflict (and we’ve all encountered them). It’s as if life can’t be happy unless…

Choice: Do You Have What It Takes? If you’ve stopped to take a moment out of your hectic schedule to read this blog (or maybe not hectic if you’re reading this), you’ve made a choice. Nobody put a gun to…

Anxiety: “The Gatekeeper to Hell”… Last week, I had a conversation with someone who was clearly anxious about an impending event. The outcome could have dire consequences, if things didn’t go his way. He admitted that he hadn’t slept for…

Reliability: That “Boring” Stalwart of Character… It’s been said that there isn’t a road in the world that the Volkswagen Beetle hasn’t rolled its wheels on. From Kathmandu to Timbuktu, from Sao Paulo to Oslo, that funny car with the…