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“The flower is made of non-flower elements.” — Thich Nhat Hanh Outside, the first real blizzard in a few years is settling over southeastern Massachusetts. The wind has been howling since dawn. The lights are flickering. The yard’s buried beneath drifting snow. I’m not going anywhere. I’ve been thinking about harmony today — about what…

Last night, Ilia Malinin stepped onto the ice as the heavy favorite. The most technically gifted skater in the field. The “Quad God.” The expectations were enormous. And then the moment didn’t go his way. It always amazes me how surprised we seem to be when someone falters under enormous pressure — as if being…

“Lion at Rest” Your mind’s primary objective is to keep you from being eaten by a lion. Consider the implications of this for your life. That wiring made perfect sense once. But in modern life — and especially in sport — the “lion” rarely looks like a predator. It looks like a crowd, a scoreboard,…

Yesterday, my book The Why of Sports: Finding Meaning, Presence, and Purpose in the Game and Beyond was published. The ideas come from my life as the son of a coach, then as an athlete, coach, parent, and mindfulness teacher. The book consists of 61 short chapters, each 1-2 pages long, written in an informal,…

Credit: David Cannon Allsport via Getty Images I happened to be writing a short section “Competition” as part of a book I’m working on, when I started reading about the horrible fan behavior at the Ryder Cup. As a lifelong participant, coach and fan, sports has given me so much. In many ways, it has…

Been a while since I’ve posted. Please pardon the rust! One of the first things I do in the morning after brewing coffee is to check my weather app. I use WeatherBug, whose tag line is “know before” which I find compelling and ironic. I’ll check the hourly forecast and adjust accordingly. Raincoat? Shorts or…

I recently re-watched episode 1 of Ken Burns’ epic documentary: The National Parks. This episode prominently features John Muir, whose commitment to the natural world is beyond extraordinary. Time and again in the midst of documenting the beginnings of Yosemite and Yellowstone Parks, the episode reverts back to Muir, who essentially makes nature his religion.…

My friend, and one the most inspirational people I’ve ever known, Kenny Gramas. He died in a skiing accident in 1992 while working at an orphanage in Europe. I recently told a group of football captains: “Your job is to inspire your teammates.” Later, when talking to their coach, I said: “Your job is to…

Photo by Cristina Glebova on Unsplash I recently asked a client to list the names of people who really helped and impacted him during certain life stages: 5-12 yrs old, 13-21, 22-30, 31-50, 50+ My client took a few minutes and jotted down some names. We then discussed those people, how they helped him, and…

The most frequent question I get asked when working on performance with athletes is: “How can I stop the negative self-talk in my head?” This question cuts right to the core of one of humanity’s most perplexing afflictions. There’s no denying the power of a great story. It’s what draws us into movies, TV shows,…