Last weekend I attended my niece Izzy and her husband Ollie’s wedding, at a ranch deep in Wyoming’s Gros Ventre Wilderness. I brought my good camera, knowing it would be worth it. When I got home — exhausted, still reeling a bit from the altitude — I started going through the pictures and videos, putting…
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Have you ever had a moment where you picked something up off the ground and felt the whole world in your hand? I had one a few days ago. I was at my town beach. I’ve been there hundreds, maybe thousands of times — to swim, to sit, to think, to work. I know this…
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I sometimes get asked how I came to meditation, and what it’s all about. Meditation means different things to different people, and most of what people think they know about it is wrong. It’s not just friends, either. Whether my client is a 62-year-old business owner, a 15-year-old student-athlete, or a college team, the problem…
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The Japanese fans stayed after the final whistle. Win or lose, they picked up trash from their section, bagged it, and left the stadium cleaner than they found it. The Jordanian team left something, too — a note for the next team in their locker room and sweets on the table. Kindness, addressed to strangers…
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The following is an excerpt from my book, The Why of Sports. Presence is the opposite of distraction. It is a fully embodied state of being where you are unified with your current moment-to-moment experience. Almost every student or athlete will say they’ve had a teacher or coach who tells them to focus. In my…
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Early in my coaching career, before a game against a team that was clearly better than us, I gave the speech. The amped-up one. We believe in ourselves. We want it more. Tomorrow is “our day dammit!” We were down five before the first quarter ended. I remember standing there watching it unravel and feeling…
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A late summer night. August, 1990. The southerly breeze was still warm deep into the evening. In the hazy dark distance, navigational buoys blinked their soft greens and reds. The band was cranking. We’d been dancing and stargazing by the seawall. Somewhere in the drift of that evening, as Molly’s ride was leaving, I climbed…
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Last night I went fishing with my good friend Mike. We’ve known each other for thirty years — a friendship forged when we coached against each other, deepened when we both ended up across Buzzards Bay from one another. That was ten years ago when I moved to Marion. We’ve been enjoying each other’s company…
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When I started down the mindfulness path, Alan Watts’ name came up a lot, so I started reading him. It also helped connect the dots to one of my favorite Van Morrison songs – Alan Watts blues. I got curious. Lately, I’ve been listening to the “Being in the Way” podcast that Watts’ son Mark…
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Two Stories About Steve Carey I eulogized my teacher and mentor Steve Carey in December. His wife Lee told two stories that day. I want to share them here, because they belong to more than just that chapel. The first is from his Tabor years. Steve had just arrived at a faculty meeting. A list…
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