We are literal stardust, a replica of the universe. Element % in Earth’s Crust % in Human Body Role in Humans Oxygen (O) ~46% ~65% Found in water, most organic molecules Carbon (C) Trace ~18% Backbone of all organic life Hydrogen (H) Trace ~10% Found in water and organic compounds Nitrogen (N) Trace ~3% Key… Read More Breakthroughs
She gargles the fire in her throat (upstairs), makes lunch (downstairs), dusts (both floors), washes the sheets (downstairs), reviews geography with her son (upstairs), heats the castor pack (downstairs) hacks into the waste bin, does her saline wash (upstairs), empties the trash bin (downstairs), gets her boy more blankets (upstairs), checks the soup (downstairs), does… Read More Men and Women: Oh, the Flu
As passionate as I can be about things, I’ve only just begun to connect with the spectrum of emotions I had buried all my life under the stoicism. When you reflect on your day as you turn out the lights, you are in fact revisiting how you felt about it, not what you thought about… Read More The Tyranny of Feelings
How is it that Facebook famously feeds depression? The Happiest Virtual Place On Earth can feel like one endless reminder of the Things That Are Missing in our life. Offline, I look at the people around me. My single friends would give an arm to be married. Those with families of their own each have… Read More Why Everybody Else Is Happier Than You
Forty-two days after burning in a fatal crash, Niki Lauda jumped back on the Formula 1 track to defend his championship title against James Hunt. Single-mindedness. Insane resolve. I wasn’t into racing, but this was my kind of story. The film Rush opens with a portrait of Hunt as a handsome, charismatic, successful racer with… Read More Greatness: Till Death Do You Part
I caught crickets with the boy you would marry. “I’ll give you a quarter for the Queen,” I offered, and he dispensed the prize insects in glass Coke bottles. My cousins got to keep theirs on the fire escape but aghast at the sight of black crawlies in her home, Mom threw mine down the… Read More A Million Signatures of Friendship
It was a summer sun and autumn wind. He felt both awkward and snug in the sweater as the heat bore through and the air blew in tidal breaths about him. He couldn’t help look up as he made his way down the gully using his spade for a walking stick. The sky, a wash… Read More Burial
I imagine people don’t know what a recluse I am. I socialize at church and in the homeschool gatherings stand tall, take initiative, make announcements. My parents, struggling to piece together a life in a country where they were Other, taught their little girl to write large and speak loudly. That’s me in the school… Read More I Hear Voices
Hi, you have a brand with organic ingredients for the lips? The color I have in mind is a cross between plum and raspberry. No, a little brighter than that but not pink. Would you have it as a lip liner? Matte but creamy. Wide-stick. (Eh, a little lighter than I wanted.) Oh, I wish… Read More Men Have It Easier
Yana’s hard to miss. She was born with achondroplasia. In her late twenties, she’s four foot six inches tall, and she’s undergone ten operations to lengthen her arm and leg bones. “Everybody always looks at me,” she mused. “But never for the reasons I want.” “Everybody I know,” I said, “especially the performers, has such… Read More Why Are You Looking At Me?
1. Think big. I have to start living the the way I’ve come to blog. On unsure terrain in those early days, I put out safe posts, ones within my interests — on homeschooling, for example — assured I was “doing the right thing” looking like other bloggers. But gradually, I began to tap deeper… Read More Seven Mental Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers
When she was young, she lived on her last dollar and books and dreams. She worked as though her life depended on it. She watched and smiled, said yes I’ll marry you. She died and birthed her boy. She played her heart on that piano and her husband heard and loved her again. She questioned,… Read More My Obituary
What color is make-believe, you ask? It is the color of time that never runs out, the sun streaming over a land where children are kings and queens, It is the heart of Middle-earth The color of Cinderella’s tears, the color of beauty who loved the beast Pinocchio’s lies and the virtue of knights, the… Read More The Color of Make-Believe
1. Your username sounds like your real name. To you. 2. Friends will reach you faster through a comment than email. 3. Readers start showing up in your dreams. 4. Your sweetheart quotes you from your posts. “It’s not aBoUT you, k?” 5. The dish pile has become part of the furniture. 6. You know… Read More Ten Signs You’re a Real Blogger
There’s no shortage of cool, wealthy people to work with in a world abundant with opportunity, says Daniel Priestly. The serial entrepreneur, as I’ve seen, has yet to prove himself wrong. I recently got to sit down to lunch with two-time Emmy award-winning television producer Rushion McDonald who helped mastermind hit game shows like Family… Read More Flourish
1. We become what we repeat. 2. Pain + Reflection = Progress 3. Failure is the most information-rich data. (Entrepreneur Tom Bilyeu) 4. We experience life according to our beliefs. (Author Ken Honda) 5. We all fail. Failure is not a life sentence. It’s a moment. We don’t have to stay there. 6. Don’t think,… Read More Starting Over When I Should’ve Gotten There: 12 Truths
1. Thou shalt not waste readers’ time. Offer up thy readers a worthy sacrifice that they might take and leave satisfied. 2. Thou shalt honor thy muse. Be prepared in season, out of season to seize inspiration when she comes that ye might write, dance, photograph, paint thy bliss. Be not caught without thy scroll,… Read More The Ten Commandments of Blogging
A therapist once told me of a client who kept her Christmas tree up all year because it made her feel good. The woman brought to my mind Miss Haversham from Dickens’ Great Expectations who from the moment of her abandonment at the altar does the rest of her life in a wedding dress. But… Read More Great Expectations
When I was just myself, not latched onto and not stalking my own breath, I was not aware of how much I could unfold and conform the male race to my recesses… >> Read more My poems in The Writing Disorder, a literary journal that features award-winning writers, poets, and artists: Happiness Stillborn My Breasts… Read More Happiness
Who ever imagined that Times Square in the Big Apple would empty into a ghost town or the streets of Toronto would clear like smoke? Shuffling behind Asia, we’ve surrendered our Starbucks ritual, vacations, graduations, and worship gatherings. And in so doing, we’ve torn from the social fabric of our humanity: community. What has really… Read More THE PRESENT CRISIS: LIFE DOWN TO ITS ESSENCE
Being alone was one of the bitterest disappointments of my young life. People made fun of my stilted manner, my pedantic speech, and my detachment from other people. I walked through the scenes of my life like an outside observer, stepping carefully over the rubble and staying out of trouble. There was very little happiness… Read More Autistic Genius
I was crossing a rough set of tracks in a 28-wheel diesel truck in October of 2013 when to my astonishment and horror, the crossing gates suddenly dropped, the red lights began to flash, and the warning bells rang. With not even time to think, all I could do was tighten my grip on the… Read More Hit by a Train
I was going to say no, I didn’t fall off a cliff, but I – uh, actually, did. And though I lay on the rocks, wishing nothing more than to be wiped off the planet, I somehow made it back up, half-carried by angels, broken bones and all. The bruises linger, but the bones, to… Read More It’s All in the Suffering
A Holistic Journey 