As I know it, being “Indian” – as Indigenous People have been called in the West – means being deeply aware of one’s relationship to everything. Knowing that an unseen force appears when we live this way. One begins to understand that the divine lives inside of relationship – which means that everything you are in relation to is sacred.

While difficult to practice in every moment, just striving for this ideal creates a better world.

So what has disrupted the Indigenous way …

Let’s start with the assumption that we are all born into two other people’s stories. Which continues backwards in time, of course.

At the level of DNA – whether you believe in “past lives” or not… we literally carry our ancestors with us. And at an “energetic” or “vibrational” level…. here’s my theory…

As infants, we are super sensitive to the energy around us and take it in through very fundamental and subtle vibrations in the environment. Almost as if – in the …

I helped bury a friend’s dog recently. I’d never personally buried an animal that I was so close to. I had never sat with someone I knew so well as they lost the animal that got them through so many emotional points in their life.

This dog had absorbed so much pain and joy from my friend. He was his trusted link to life. So when he became ill, my friend had to look outside his insular world built around him and his dog and realize that he had a community of friends that wouldn’t abandon …

Hallowed: 1) holy, consecrated <the church stands on hallowed ground>

2) sacred, revered <the university’s hallowed halls> <hallowed customs>

Hollow: an unfilled space : cavity, hole

It seems that institutions that once seemed paramount to a “civilized”, prosperous and growing culture are crumbling – or at least being brought into question – like never before.

Or maybe we’re just more aware of it because of the scale of the problem and speed of the news cycle. …

As I will probably say in many blogs, I’m all too aware that there are people that know way more than I do regarding just about everything I write. Generally, I’m just making observations as a casual but curious (and concerned) bystander. Often I find that my thoughts about a lot of things haven’t changed that much from when I was, say, four years old.

So with all that being said. This is what my four-year-old self thought this week.

I’m surprised that we’re not further along in our …

My book, Life is What You Make It, has been received very well. It’s been translated into over 15 languages and sold over a half a million copies. But every time I’m asked to speak about it, there’s a small part of me that just can’t get behind the title.

For many of us, it’s true. We’re defined by the choices we make and the stories we believe. Wrong turns become unpredicted life lessons that help us find our way. Seemingly impossible odds become just the thing that propels us into …

I wrote my latest song, Room Enough, at the end of the summer and last week’s blog that accompanied it was written just as I was nearing the end of what I think I’ll call – and try to replicate again – a summer of “being”. There was not a lot of “doing” going on.

It took a little time to get used to. But we are, in fact, human “beings”. So it was interesting to live up to the name. A lot of the experience was optimized by our recent move to the country from New York City. …

When I was young, I remember being awestruck at the massive power of the Saturn V rocket as it lifted astronauts into space toward the moon. It took so much effort to get that rocket off the ground. But then I would see animations of what would happen once the stages had been cast off and just the top of the rocket, the Command and Service Modules, were in space. The maneuvering looked effortless.

Specifically, it took over 7.5 million pounds of thrust to get to the first 220,000 feet. Once in …

Since “Independence Day” just passed, I thought I’d offer up aspects of that story that we sometimes forget in all the celebratory activity.

When a business wants to show that they’ve been around awhile they, quite naturally, display how long they’ve been established. You’ve seen the signage… Est. 1897… Est. 1974… whatever the number is that will give the business some heft. And, of course, the date chosen is the very earliest they could possibly make the claim. Longevity …

I hope we can agree on one thing: Everything goes in cycles. Nothing lasts forever (okay…two things).

We’ve been on a 150 to 200 year increasingly rapid cycle of “progress” and now maybe we can settle down a little. Of course things can still feel productive. And I’m certainly not romanticizing the past. I’m thrilled about indoor plumbing etc…

But now we can actually see, hear and measure the impact of seeking tangible monetary gains over any kind of loss.

Relationships are being …