Practice Believing

Humility, New York Style

Shawn — Fri, 17 May 2013 03:31:21 +0000

See, they believe in themselves and that they're capable of doing some pretty punk-rock things, but they know that they can't do it alone. They know what they know and look to others for advice and help on the stuff they don't know. That, my friends, takes some wisdom to figure out.

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Little Black Submarine by The Black Keys

Shawn — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 06:06:33 +0000

Little black submarines / Operator please / Put me back on the line / Told my girl I’d be back / Operator please / This is wreckin’ my mind / Oh can it be / The voices calling me / They get lost / And out of time / I should’ve seen it glow / [...]

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Poetry: Problem Management

Shawn — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:53:52 +0000

Here’s the deal with poetry and why it’s worth practicing, even if you’re bad at it (like me): it makes us listen. You have to get quiet in your own skin. You have to work through it, even if you end up nowhere special in the end. It doesn’t give us answers. It gives us [...]

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Here’s what I’m thankful for

Shawn — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:41:35 +0000

kay, fine. I’ll play. It’s Thanksgiving and I know this is a powerful little exercise. Write down what you’re thankful for. Don’t let the Facebook meme keep you from it. It’s worth it. It doesn’t have to be pretty; it doesn’t have to be long; you just have to write it down. Get it out [...]

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Let’s look at the world differently

Shawn — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 04:19:25 +0000

This video from loveeverybody.com sums up in 1 minute and 36 seconds what I've been trying to say during dozens of recent conversations and 9,000+ words. It's lovely. You should watch it (and then you should do it).

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Hypocrite Because You’re Human

Shawn — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 06:19:11 +0000

I might be alone on this one, but I hope I’m not. I hope it’s familiar enough to be a joke in a stand-up routine. I hope it’s one of those universal struggles. I hope we all have feelings of inadequacy and stinging disappointment that come with being aware that we’re not who we want [...]

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On being a bad friend

Shawn — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:38:42 +0000

First, an apology: this is going to sound a lot like a confession. You're the priest, I'm the sinner, and this flimsy little webspace--it's the tigthly-woven wicker screen between us. I'm apologizing because confessions aren't all that fun to read.

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Less like pharaoh, more like Moses

Shawn — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:14:24 +0000

I’m beginning to think that the whole Exodus story (yes, that Exodus story) is more about each of us, and less about a huge group of people in the desert. It’s an epic metaphor about our struggle to be worthwhile; it’s about our quest to be better than we are today. There are two ways [...]

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I believe in Batman

Shawn — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 23:04:42 +0000

We all believe in something. For some, it's religion and science. For others, it's an ethical flavor or political team. Some of us use art or sports or music to satisfy the itch for something more. We're a varied, fractured bunch. But I think we have a lot of common ground out there; there's something that makes sense to most of us. Most of us believe in stories. We believe in heroes. And a lot of us, well, we believe in Batman.

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Music Monday: True Colors by Sabrina Starke

Shawn — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:31:03 +0000

This one is for my daughter, M. True Colors by Sabrina Starke. Cyndi Lauper did the original. It's fantastic, especially because Cyndi's voice is beautiful and it sounds like a cartoon character.

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Your work is to discover

Shawn — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:56:56 +0000

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it. Pretty nice, eh? Except for the hard parts, of course.

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Walking on water

Shawn — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 02:00:09 +0000

Here's how the story begins: One evening, after eating a lot of bread and fish (sounds like my kind of dinner), some fishermen walk down the shore and hop in their boat to rest for the night. A friend of theirs is feeling a little contemplative and needs some alone time.

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