I hate to be gender-normative (or even breed-ist) and yet… At the end of the day, my chocolate lab Belle was always the perfect lady. She was the straight-A student (and class president) who was kind to all her friends and still found time to read to the blind. Vlad is…well… A lovable bad boy m...

Lawrence Kasdan, co-writer of Raiders of the Lost Arc and a bunch of the Star Wars movies summarized my fate best: “Being a writer is like having homeworkevery night for the rest of your life.” This began as a rare week where I thought I knew early on what I was going to write this newsletter about, ...

Life is full of important rites of passage. Weddings and funerals. Baptisms and Confirmations; Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs. Military service and college degrees. This week, young Vlad experienced a major one, onethat not everyone else enjoys. Namely, seeing his name for the first time in p...

Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; You can use it anytime, anywhere unobtrusively.” –Sharon Salzberg Almost everyone now believes they “should” be meditating. There are endless studies proving how just good it is for us. (And God knows we need it.) And yet something so...

I wish I could tell you what I’m launching in a month. (I can’t…not just yet.) But I can tell you that it involves the power of groups, of tribes, of like-minded people gathered together. And part of me hates that because … Like 2/3 of the people in a recent Wharton study, I̵...

“The worst crime is faking it.” –Kurt Cobain I admit that have been TOTALLY ABSENT from social media (and newsletters like this) lately. This is considered a serious crime (at least by my agents and managers and publicists) for anyone who creates original work,...

Over 1.4 Million people get the DailyOM email blast every morning. And honestly a short nugget of spiritual inspiration isn’t the worst way to start your day. They also offer a ton of online classes where you can pay either a suggested $25 (or $10 or $40) and then either “Find True Love in 2...

I honestly think that there’s nothing more annoying than being told by a New Age person that you need to “Let Go,” to “Surrender.” This is particularly true when your life hovers somewhere between (a euphemistically phrased) “Challenge” to “Outr...

“If Someone Steals Your Cab, Then It Wasn’t Your Cab” • Taxi Cab Driver Wisdom I almost never go out. I vastly prefer having friends over. Last Friday, though, I gathered my courage and headed out with my crew to a downtown party of an old friend. I lasted about 15 crowd-filled minutes b...