The Examined Life

What’s in your Blind Spot?

When I first learned to drive, one of the hardest things to comprehend was the concept of blind spots; the idea that a car could be right next to me but that I couldn’t see it. For most of us, when we are teenagers, it is difficult to pay attention to things that are not […]

Lessons from Normandy

On this day, 71 years ago, at approximately 6:30 AM, Allied troops began their historic assault on Normandy beach in an effort to free France and Europe from the Nazi war machine. Nearly 9,000 men lost their lives in so doing. Most of the men that boarded those ships, bound for an assault on an […]

Are you Listening?

When people speak, do you listen? Of course you listen to the words that leave their mouth and process their surface-level meaning. If you didn’t do that you wouldn’t get very far. But there is listening, and then there is deep listening; the kind where you immerse yourself fully in the other person’s perspective and […]

Finish What You Start

When we were younger we were always told by our parents to finish the food on our plate. Kids change their minds constantly; the things that they want one minute bear no relation to the things that they want a minute later. Part of maturity is figuring out what you want and sticking with it, […]

Pale Blue Dot

A rabbi once wrote that every man should carry two stones in his pocket. On one should be inscribed “I am but dust and ashes.” On the other, “For my sake the world was created.” Today I am writing about the first stone. A light year is defined as how far light can travel in […]

When it’s going well

When it’s going well: when deals are being signed; when you’ve just cleaned all the dishes in the apartment for your roommate; when you and your significant other get back from an amazing vacation, that’s the time to invest in the relationship. If you wait until things take a wrong turn, you’ve waited too long. […]

Tell ‘Em Tomorrow

In the heat of the moment, our anger seems justified. And yet very infrequently do we regret the harsh words that we choose not to utter in moments of passion. Benjamin Franklin once said “Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the […]

A Single Degree

At 40 degrees we call water cold. At 95 degrees, we call it hot. But it is still water. At 211 degrees it is very hot. But only at 212 degrees does water boil and produce steam. A single degree makes all the difference. How many people throughout history have stood on the edge of […]