Chapters 📖

I. New Series: Eating Healthy in the Wild 🥙
II. Kindness For Dummies 😊

New Series: Eating Healthy in the Wild 🥙

I hold nutritious whole foods in a high regard.

Healthy foods are the building blocks of our connection to the world and the people in it.

Food has the power to shape the way we feel and behave. 

The problem is, we don’t have the time to locate and prepare this good food, and discerning what’s “good” or “bad” can be challenging in the first place.

With pervasive messaging like “everything is bad, so you may as well eat whatever you want,” attempts to eat well can feel hapless.

Fortunately for you, I’ve identified several quality food options through popular restaurants and chains across the country. 

Whenever you’re stuck somewhere with nothing but fast-casual, I’ve got you covered with powerful alternatives to the grub we know and love. 

Our first candidate is DIG, a spot you’ve surely noticed at lunchtime, with a line as long as the DMV.

Health novice or wellness pro, there are no excuses now.

Get ready to get fit!

Kindness for Dummies ☺️🫵🏽

I used to believe that I was incapable of true, deep emotion. I thought for a long time that I was fated to be cold and heartless.

I realize now that this is untrue. While not the most expressive, I do experience emotions on a broad spectrum, much like most people do.

I believed for a long time that my being and personality was “one way,” and changing it was impossible.

I was wrong. I have finally accepted that I have moods, and that these moods are active choices. 

No, I haven’t just realized that I have agency over my actions, but through careful experimentation of what I will “radical kindness,” I have found that your reality is the product of what you put into it.

The concept is quite simple. Be as kind as possible, (don’t overdo it, this should feel natural) and see what you yield.

You’ll soon realize that kindness produces the most optimal outcomes, even if they feel unfamiliar.

But that’s what makes kindness so powerful.

It’s a time-tested practice that spans eons; kindness, generosity and sharing is almost certainly the reason tribes of ancient humans survived challenging landscapes.

So, it isn’t just mushy, cringey verbiage that goes on Hallmark cards.

And it definitely isn’t just “being nice”. 

Kindness may not be easy.

Especially for beginners, the practice of being kind can feel like a performance. 

If you are used to reticence and negativity, kindness may genuinely feel painful.

Granting the benefit of the doubt for those who do wrong by us can feel like personal betrayal. 

Kindness is support. Kindness is service. Kindness is an execution of our duty to serve and protect all that is good.

Kindness is a moral strength, and it has infinite cases of utility. 

I’m sure you know what it feels like to act kindly, and the opposing feelings that come with being unkind.

Through my recent experiment, I’ve engaged in radical acts of kindness, (and intentional unkindness) and have noted my observations of how it impacted me. 

How I Feel Being Kind 😊

Secure: I know I am protected when I am kind. The universe bends in my favor when I am kind to myself and others. 

Certain: There’s no guessing when there is kindness. My intentions are clear and definitive. What I am doing is right and correct. 

Refined: I feel like my best self when I am kind. I feel polished and ready for presentation.

Timeless: Time seems to fade when I’m kind. There’s no urgency, because I’m already doing what I need to do. I’m right where I need to be.

Purposed: My purpose becomes clear when I’m being kind: to help people and be generous. Giving is good, and I feel that.

Youthful: Children don’t like to make room for negativity and doubt. They prefer to be free, and to share. Their kindness is a reflex that empowers their actions. I feel this deeply when I am kind. 

Abundant: I have more than enough when I am kind. So much, that I am happy to share and give in abundance. Liberally, I communicate the feeling I have inside by sacrificing something for others. 

Graceful: I seem to glide when I am kind. Untouched and unbothered, I can feel the rush of positivity that motivates me through life and around stress.

Blessed: To be kind is to be privileged. I have so much that I can give to others with a smile. That is a blessing.

Generous: I feel like a good guy when I’m kind. I know others will feel my generosity because my actions are solid and pure. I have the power to make people smile. 

Warm: Sensations of womb-like warmth wash over me when I am kind. It’s the sort of forcefield that you don’t want to leave.

Unserious: When I am kind, I have no worries. When I have no worries, I forfeit the performance of interaction, and let myself open up to the whimsy of the present moment. I am free … 

How I Feel When I Am Unkind 🤬

Selfish: I feel like my “self” takes precedence over the benefit of others and the greater good when I am unkind.

Egotistical: My deepest complexes and ideals plague my better judgment when I am unkind.

Defensive: There is something to hide when I am unkind. I am keeping something from the light.

Weak: My attitude is compensating for an imbalance. 

Isolated: I feel separated from others when I am unkind, operating from a remote place in my mind rather than engaged with the present.

Dirty: Something feels icky when I am unkind. Negativity and doubt can’t help but cake my mind and body in filth.

Disruptive: There is a natural flow of positivity and optimism that unkindness harshly interrupts.

Embarrassed: I know when I am unkind, as do others. They may or may not show their shame and disbelief, but the guilt is distributed evenly. 

Regretful: I don’t relish in the brief, corrupted pleasure of unkindness for very long. Soon after the infraction, shaking the notion is challenging.

Why was I this way? 

Give kindness a try. You won’t be alone in your experiment – billions of people actively practice this every day, including me.

While I try to be mindful, I am not always aware of my behavior. I can’t always claim the benefits of kindness – my actions sometimes don’t deserve them.

That’s because I am human. And I am learning.

It’s not a rush; I simply want to be the best version of myself that the present moment can offer. Any improvements are welcome and encouraged. 

I want to break my habit of selective kindness; I find that I can be choosy with what and whom I am kind to, and that is a practice that conceals joy and perpetuates animosity.

If I can be kind to all, including myself, I maintain a power that no force of brutality can thwart. 

They say New Yorkers are kind, but not nice. Southerners, apparently are nice, but not kind.

I don’t know what exactly makes us this way, but our defaulting to kindness seems to be an understood obligation to the broader community of New Yorkers.

We all live side by side, and in support of each other indirectly, so how could we not uphold the unspoken-yet-understood contract of simple kindness.

Yeah, we can be rude, crass, arrogant, obnoxious and dismissive.

We might have a superiority complex. We probably are impolite.

But that’s for efficiency’s sake, or something like that.

Just move out of the way, and we’ll be alright. 

But let a Mom with a stroller approach subway stairs, and you’ve never seen anyone kinder.