THE NEXT TIME SOMEONE OUTSIDE your comfort zone wishes you a merry holiday-you-don’t-celebrate, don’t take umbrage — just wish them a happy “Same To You.” This three-syllable Teflon Shield of Banter will save you from giving and receiving earnest but…
Category: Life
Each moment is different. Here are some of mine.
Mindfulness Question
EXACTLY WHAT IN YOUR LIFE requires an opinion? And can kneejerk acceptance be as valid a personal evolutionary strategy as kneejerk fulmination? Contemplating these questions may not make you wiser, but may make you happier. (But there’s no real guarantee…
One Conversation
WE WERE DISCUSSING SYNAGOGUE FUNDRAISERS, and I suggested an egg toss. E. G., who knows who he is but may not want you to, looked at me with the sad seriousness of the ex-military and first responder. “Eggs aren’t for…
Listen Up
TODAY IS THE NATIONAL DAY of Listening, which, if you hadn’t heard — and I hadn’t until about five minutes ago, which saddens me because it’s such a neat idea and it’s in its third year — is dedicated to…
Pithyism #11/25/10
WITHOUT GRATITUDE, NONE OF THIS would matter.
Accented Enlightenment
SO MANY OF OUR VERBAL surroundings are invisible to us; we live like blind fish in a sea of words. Two experiments to make the background pop out: 1. Try shifting the accent on multiword phrases; e.g., “Vanity Fair” turns…
Whence Snark?
SERIOUSLY — CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL me the advantage or otherwise positive aspect to snark? Because something can’t have so infested every aspect of our culture without it being good for something. Does it help make us more patient? Wise?…
Pithyism #26
“I MEANT WELL” DOESN’T MEAN enough.
Arm’s Reach To The Stars
PERHAPS “ARM’S REACH TO AN asteroid” would be more accurate, but: For the first time ever, humanity has reached out with metal fingers and grabbed a hunk of asteroid to hold before its face. To put it less poetically, Japanese…
Pithyism #2a: A Daily 22-Year-Relationship Joy
“I WAS JUST ABOUT TO say the exact same thing!”
Pithyism #248
EVERYTHING IS EASIER SAID THAN done. So?
Pithyism #8
THERE’S A REASON CLASSIC SONGS are classic: they sound only like themselves, and whatever comes in their wake.