Forgot to mention: my new book Courage, Love and the Meaning of Christmas is now available in a non-holiday edition: Courage, Love and the Meaning of Life.

I wrote the original version of this book (Gone but not Forgotten) in three weeks and it piled up a lot of enthusiastic fans. The most frequent feedback I got was that people started reading too late at night, then stayed up till 3 a.m. to finish because they didn’t want to put it down. I spent 10 years (off and on, of course) revising it and this version is way better. Translation: you want to order one. Everybody’s doing it! Just once won’t hurt.

You can order from Amazon.com, and if you’ve already read it, do me a big favor and leave a review there. Thanks!

I walked outside this morning and enjoyed the refreshing sensations of the first day of autumn.

The sky was filled with high, dark clouds spreading an even, muted, shadowless light; a stiff breeze tousled my hair; and a few rain drops darkened the ground.

With a few pleasantly warm days behind us, this cold front reminded me of the reprieve from summer’s heat that usually arrives sometime in September. Its cool slap in the face has a way of waking you up from the stupor of sizzling August afternoons and making you feel ALIVE again.

It reminded me of a cool summer I spent in a wood-framed tent, running the climbing program at a scout camp near West Yellowstone.

Every morning we walked quickly through the brisk air alongside a clear stream to an outdoor shower, breakfast, and flag ceremony. Snow-white weasels with black-tipped tails sometimes trotted along the trail before us. Continue Reading »

I just read about a Harvard Business School study which identified traits of high achievers. Even above the expected intelligence, education and attitude came Speed of Implementation.

I find facts like this exciting because how fun is it to make a decision and then carry it out immediately? How thrilling is it to make things happen? And if all goes according to plan, how wonderful is it to succeed? Even if some efforts fail, it’s still fun to try – more fun than sitting around wondering what to do, or whether to do something, or wishing you could do something other than whatever you ARE doing. Continue Reading »