What do you do in your free time? We ask this harmless question to better know a person by their interests or when we want to steer the conversation away from work. I pose it when I sense that people aren’t inspired in their career, because of the way they say things like, “It’s just a job”, with the same tone of resignation one might use in the phrase, “But I can control it with medication”. Free time is a strange concept, because it implies that the rest of our time is not free; we pay for it with our labor. It is only the small remainder of spare time that we can call our own; the leftovers from the banquet of life (more…)

My wife and I have this game we play called, “What day is today?” Throughout the week, we periodically ask each other and then challenge the other’s response. So Nam will ask me and I’ll say, “Tuesday?” to which she will reply, “I thought it was Wednesday” and then I’ll second-guess myself and offer, “I’m pretty sure it’s Tuesday…or Monday. Definitely not Wednesday.” Turns out it’s Thursday. I used to be this calendar-driven guy, complete with to-do lists and pop-up reminders on my Palm, but not anymore. I stopped wearing a watch, except when out on my bike, so I know my turnaround time. And yet, without noticing the passage of time, I am getting important things done; certainly more than I ever was working in an office. (more…)

This past week I was back in my old haunts around China and having been away for only a few months, I was still amazed at what had changed. It’s harder and harder to find a quiet back street where one can enjoy a few beers at a family restaurant. Every time I go back, I realize that I can never really go back. As Heraclitus said, “You can’t step into the same river twice, for fresh waters are forever flowing in upon you.’ Not only is the river never the same river, but I am never the same man. (more…)

UnboundedLife is my exploration of personal freedom, and a key aspect of this is wellness. I like to think about it as freedom to consciously choose and be accountable for the quality of our life. There is so much confusion about wellness in modern society, because it has become a huge industry, and there are so many corporations, trade groups and special interests, bombarding us with false choices, all trying to sell us wellness. (more…)

You’re not who you think you are. This, according to movies like The Matrix, Fight Club, the Bourne Identity, The Truman Show, Lost Highway and many others. Not only are you somebody else, but you are actually living “in a world where nothing is as it seems”, to quote one of the most popular movie trailer lines. This theme of alienation reflects our modern disconnectedness with ourselves, each other and especially with the natural world. The stories are popular because they provide an entertaining look at our own delusions, where we confuse our own identities with a diploma, a brand name, a job title or a neighborhood. (more…)

There’s a movement I came across called heart-based living. I found it on a website called Heartmath. The Heartmath organization says it’s “dedicated to enhance people’s well being by helping them live a heart-directed life.” Though I don’t exactly understand it, I thought this was an interesting way to talk about wellness and reducing stress. There’s no mention of the usual expert recommendations of better managing time, getting organized, thinking positively or practicing mental relaxation techniques. (more…)

You may have heard the practice of Japanese fishing ships keeping a small shark in their fish tanks. The first time I heard this I wondered, “Why would you want to put a fish in the tank that will eat other fish?” What the fishing companies found was that because they were having to go further and further from Japan to catch tuna, if they froze the fish, consumers didn’t like the taste. When they put the tuna fish in the tank, they would become sluggish, which apparently, also affected their taste. The shark, however, would keep the tuna darting around the whole return trip to avoid being eaten. So how can we stay fresh while avoiding life’s sharks? (more…)