PICK ONE
"There's always an alien battle-cruiser, or a Corillian death ray, or an intergalactic plague that's about to wipe out life on this miserable planet. The only way that these people get on with their happy lives is they DO NOT know about it."
- Agent K, Men In Black (1997)
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Do you ever have days when it looks like the world is going to hell, humanity is devolving, and Armageddon is just around the bend?

And if all that isn't enough to start researching "Living Off The Grid", someone who owes you money doesn't pay you when they said they would? Arrrgh!!!
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The easiest solution to the growing emotional distress is just to disconnect your internet or TV. Out of sight, out of mind.

But then all the storms of Life - and the next alien battlecruiser - could totally take you by surprise.

Besides, you couldn't binge the next escape on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Dang.

Another option is to learn how to overcome them both. Ugh.
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When it comes to the Storms of Life,...

You've Got A Friend IN Me

“The thing that makes Woody special is he’ll never give up on you. He’ll be there for you, no matter what.” – Andy, Disney's Toy Story 3 (2010)

Much has been written about "true" friendships, whether between characters like Buzz Lightyear and Woody in Toy Story, Riggs and Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon, "best good friends" like Forrest and Bubba in Forrest Gump, or between real-life relationship partners in the real world. True friendship, as defined in the Book of Proverbs,  "a friend who sticks closer than a brother."

The problem is real friendships can be messy. Members of true friendships are often made up of real life characters as dysfunctional as Felix and Oscar, Tango and Cash, or Rocket and Drax. Or Rocket and Thor. Or Rocket and anyone.

And yet, a magical synergy somehow blossoms between them. In friendship, the whole really is greater than the sum of the parts.

Sadly, those who've never believed in the best...

WHAT ELSE ARE YOU SAVING YOUR “ALL” FOR? 

"Let me remind you that it is only by working with an energy which is almost superhuman - and which looks to uninterested spectators like insanity - that we can accomplish anything worth the achievement. Work is the keystone of a perfect life. Work and trust in God."  - Woodrow Wilson

One of my favorite characters in film is Forrest Gump (1994). Forrest certainly gave his “all” in everything he set out to do, whether in military service, playing ping-pong, or building the Bubba Gump shrimping business. It’s a household name. 

Forrest was also considered the village idiot. But Forrest’s character was actually the embodiment of many great principles, including commitment, faith, conscientiousness and loyalty.

There is, however, a single character strength - a habit that I'm not sure has a name - that truly defined Forrest Gump. And I believe if you can adopt this one habit, it will propel you...

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: TRUST YOUR GUT

"Hear me now and believe me later." - Hans and Franz

It took the science community over 60 years to even begin to be qualified to scientifically confirm what Albert Einstein correctly hypothesized in the 1920s.

According to a Nader report, over 300,000 people die every year in hospitals from medical errors and misdiagnoses.

Waiting for a 7 year research study to be concluded before confidently taking heroic action that benefits kids, the oppressed or any other people who cannot help themselves will guarantee 7 years of failure and unnecessary sacrifices. 

Have you watched the news lately? Our little girly-man scientific solutions are getting their butts kicked by real problems in the Real World.

Historically, there have been numerous scientists including Sir Isaac Newton, Einstein, Madam Curie and Bill Hewlett who describe experiencing a breakthrough or “aha” moment when searching for a technical answer to a complex problem....

BITE ME

“The struggle for existence is a struggle ‘for’ something; it is purposeful and only in so being is it meaningful and able to bring meaning into life.” - Viktor Frankl 

Nothing says “good morning” quite like discovering that the steering wheel, headrests and contents of my truck’s cab are now interconnected by hundred of crisscrossed spiderwebs, glistening in the sunlight like a time-lapse aerial shot of flight traffic over a major airport. Even though I was raised by a mom (until I was grown, at 8), who raised Black Widow spiders in jars in the bathroom of our cinder block house, something about sitting in the midst of fresh webbing is a tad creepy. But then I remembered what I learned from Viktor Frankl…and Peter Parker. Let’s start with Frankl.

When U.S. forces freed Viktor Frankl, this Austrian doctor who was thrown into 4 successive Nazi concentration camps over a 6-year span for the crime of being Jewish when...