A Pilgrim’s Odyssey

Feel and Act: Waking Up From UnComfortably Numb

Emotional numbing shuts us down – we can’t feel, we can’t experience. We cannot see a route to change.

Sometimes the first step to overcoming our numbness is just feeling something, something physical that can cut through our injured psyche.

Join us today on The Pilgrim's Odyssey as we learn to feel and act in order to overcome the uncomfortably numb.

The Road of Redemption: The Via Dolorosa and The Thorn in My Side

Sometimes the thorns in our side can seem some overwhelming that we are left feeling abandoned in our hopelessness and despair. The truth is that we are not alone. Our pain is what unites us. 

Join me today as I share some thoughts on the walk of Christ to crucifixion, the Via Dolorosa, and my own thorns I've struggled with my whole life.

Perseverance: A Life Worth Living, Steve Jobs, and the American Eel

Perseverance is what separates many of us from getting the life we want. Some important lessons today from the American eel and Steve Jobs on how to persevere.

Bono and Merton: Listening Without Hearing, Responding Without Thinking, I Floated Out of Here

When I’m at my worse, I don’t listen. To my kids, to my wife, to my God.

When I’m at my best, I put the phone down, sit quietly without fidgeting, and just listen.

Today on The Pilgrim's Odyssey we talk about how to be our best with a little help from Bono and Thomas Merton.

Chasing The Light: Grandma Toodles, Hungarians and The Golden Hour at Lassen Volcanic National Park

The Golden Hour is that time right after sunrise and right before sunset that the light is redder and softer and spectacular. Finding the Golden Hour in photography is more about preparation than anything. Life is the same way. Today, we talk about some lessons learned from my Grandmother Toodles and some crazy Hungarians chasing the light at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

The Discipline of Love: The Power of Being Present for Parents and All of Us

Love takes self-discipline and an understanding of delayed gratification. It is best learned from our parents. But what if we didn't learn it from them, and how do we help others learn to love? Today an important lesson I learned from a young man in juvenile prison and the great psychiatrist, Dr. Scott Peck and his book The Road Less Traveled.

Morning Dew and The Path of Humility and Stillness

Join me today on Faith Friday as we examine a time honored path to peace. It is the path of humility and stillness that even in the darkest of times can help us focus on the transcendent and put the cares of the world in perspective.

Lessons in Parenting: Keeping Perspective, Even When Your 3-year old Wants to Punch You in the Face

As Parents, nothing can make us feel like failures quicker than a habitually disobedient child. Or a 3-year old who just won't go to sleep. I thought I had this battle won a few nights ago only to have victory snatched from me by a 3-year old with a mean right hook. 

Somewhere, there is a lesson in this. So take a listen and remember to keep your chin up when life reminds us how little we really control.

The News Has Made Itself Unnecessary (Sort of): or, A Life Not Lived Was a Tragedy

I read the news today, oh boy. (as the beatles would say!)

And what did I find? Division, obfuscation, and very little likely to make a difference in my life or that of my community.

Static and noise take us out of the moment of life. The meaning of life is living. The only thing that can keep you from that is YOU because most things that matter are simple. Don't allow yourself to be distracted by those things that make money keeping us distracted. We are not sheep. We are human beings designed to do things that matter.

On The Road with Jung: The Only Certainties are Found in Doubt

Without embracing doubt and experiment, the hero’s journey so to speak, life becomes smaller and more isolated in the pursuit of certainty. In today's episode I share some poignant words from the great Carl Jung on using our doubt and uncertainty to find truth.

In times like these, if we don't face and embrace doubt, we'll surely be lost.