After our baby’s recent Kasai procedure (liver duct bypass surgery), my wife and I are optimistic about her chances of full recovery. While we love seeing Nat as her active and cheerful self these days, we also know that there’s a strong likelihood that she will soon need a liver transplant. While most people would look upon this as a catastrophic, I feel a sense of serenity. It’s as if I waded out into a violent surf, was knocked down, tossed around pulled out into the calm beyond the breaking waves, where I can now contemplate the nature of the ocean without drowning in it. (more…)

For those faithful readers, I wanted to take this opportunity to tie together a few of my recent topics, and offer some practical solutions to a modern conundrum. As everyone knows, a conundrum is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. But this should not daunt those of you with insatiable curiosity and loads of spare time. (more…)

In recent weeks, I’ve noticed unprecedented public outrage directed at insurer AIG. I get that people are angry about how a group of morally bankrupt executives are rewarding themselves at taxpayer expense after selling the world economy down the river. AIG was just one participant in this race to the bottom, but I think there is a special hatred for the company because it is the most visible symbol of what has really been destroying the American economy for years: health insurance. (more…)

From previous posts, you’ve probably come across my interest in the virtual world. This is not the computer/cyber world, though we’ve built computers to mimic the processes of our own brains. The virtual world I’m interested in is one constructed from our own mental projections. It’s the waking lucid dream we refer to as reality. (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…)

I took several classes on Buddhism in college and even went to study in Sri Lanka in 1986, where I attended the University of Peradinya, in the central highlands of Kandy, a fantastic place. As part of my field research, I wanted to know what it was like to be a monk so I became one for 30 days. I took vows and lived in a monastery on the remote island of Dodandua off Sri Lanka’s Southern Coast with about 20 other monks, some of whom were also westerners. Most of my day was spent working toward achieving “enlightenment” by ridding myself of desire. In Buddhism, desire is the root of the cycle of suffering (Samsara) and the way you free yourself from it is to meditate for long periods of time. For anyone who has ever tried this, it’s extraordinarily difficult for two reasons: (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…)