A Moment of Assurance

A Moment for Empathy

Thank You, Brene Brown for this very beautiful piece of insight.

A Moment of Mindfulness

A Moment for Kindness

A Moment for Enthusiasm

The 100th Post

This is A Life with Wisdom's 100th post!  How exciting and so very surreal!

It's taken a little over 2 years to get here, but the journey along the way has been quite fun.  It's hard to conceive that 100 posts have been entered, considering that some of the longer essays took a few weeks to develop. One hundred is a fun milestone to reach; and particularly one to realize that a collection of late-night musings can develop into an online literary entity. 


How does one find the time to write?   If I wasn't writing on a free Saturday afternoon, I had to steal time from own sleep patterns.  So yes, I'm still awake at 1:00 AM, as I am most nights in order to "find time" to get some writing done.  But this is just my normal now.   If you can find enough time to do what you enjoy, it can certainly make 2 years fly by!  

One of the features that makes this Blogger site so helpful is that list in the right-hand column of this page which highlights the top 10 most frequented posts of the page.   It's been fascinating to watch that list change and redefine itself over the past 2 years.  However, for this post specifically, I wanted to highlight a list of my own.  I want to mention my own top 10.

So...for my 100th post, these are my Top 10 Favorites.

#10:   A Day without Anger

Click here to read:   A Day without Anger

It seems odd to have this one in a list of favorites, but I'm really happy to have written this essay and to be able to share it.   Being able to look back on these past 100 has really helped boost confidence and I'm quite proud to have an essay on Anger.

#9:   A Day to Be You

Click here to read:  A Day to be You

This entry is the only one on this list that is just an image.  But, of all the thoughts and philosophies I've been privileged to learn, this is one concept that continues to stand out.   What does it mean to be yourself?  How do you even know who you are?  Well... sometimes it starts with knowing who you're not.  This image exists to show how you're not other people.  One image can do that.  That's why it's on this list.

#8:  The Good Voice

Click here to read:  The Good Voice


What a unique essay this became!  This was my first spiritual essay that I felt was inspired enough and poignant enough to be worthy of its own composed essay.  This essay was my attempt to describe the very nature of intuition.   This essay is my best effort to describe the practice of listening to the Universe's message.   To this day I still return to this essay, sometimes after a bad day, just to remind myself how it's done.

#7:  A Day for Spirituality

Click here to read:  A Day for Spirituality

After feeling confident enough to make spiritual claims in this blog due to the Good Voice essay, I released this essay a year later.  This is as spiritual as spiritual can get.  This essay came at the tail end of 2015, which was a rather lazy year compared to 2014.  I let myself get lazy because I let myself believe that writing was a poor use of my time.   And then this essay came along!   Instantly, I was back into my note-taking and outlining; and I was hungry to write again.   The length of this essay proves that.  

#6:  Happy Tears

Click here to read:   Happy Tears

In February 2014, I only wrote two posts:  this one and The Original Sin, which has continued to be a most-frequented post for this page.   The reason I chose to highlight this essay in particular is that this is truly one of my favorite essays I've written.  I enjoy this one so much because of it's symbolism.  This essay is a description of the conflict between the ego and vulnerability.   This is one of the more psychologically charged essays and for that reason, I love it!

#5:  A Day to Honor Grief

Click here to read:   A Day to Honor Grief

This essay was never supposed to be on this blog.  This topic was strongly featured in my book and I felt a strange need to conceal it from the public eye.   I believed this was supposed to be for my eyes only... until November 16, 2015... the day my stepfather Ron Kershner passed away.  Everything changed.  I flung out the zip drive, found the part in my book on Grief, made a few edits, and copied the reminder over here.   Then, through tears, I hit 'send.'  This essay was my attempt to tell my family that everything was going to be OK, despite how sad and scared we all were feeling.   I'm holding back tears just seeing these words pour out of my fingertips again.  But, this is why I write.

#4:  A Day for Individuality

Click here to read:  A Day for Individuality

Of all the essays written for this blog specifically, this is the true first.  Still unaware of how or what to blog, I decided to write on the one topic I knew best:  being unique.  To this day, this essay has remained in the Top 5 of the Top 10 most frequented posts list.  I find that symbolic that evidently there is a need for individuality which explains the public's recurring curiosity for it.  

#3:  The Secret to Happiness... in 10 "easy" Steps

Click here to read:  The Secret to Happiness... in 10 "easy" Steps

Talk about a need and a curiosity for an essay!   As the first line quips:  "Ok, this is it.  This is the essay you've probably signed onto this blog to find."  But let's face it, it's a pretty accurate statement.   I really love this essay.  I enjoyed researching it. I enjoyed writing it. I enjoy being able to return to it.  I'm glad this is a popular topic.  It deserves to be, and you deserve to be happy. 

#2:  A Day for Courage

Click here to read:  A Day for Courage

One of the things about being a writer is that it takes a ton of introspection.  One of the things about introspection is that it makes for great therapy.  So if it hasn't become evident already, I'll hint it to you here:  most of what I write began as an attempt to self-diagnose and self-soothe.  This essay is the perfect example.  Due to all the research, reflection, and introspection it took as a precursor to this essay, I write because I need it too.  The most challenging aspect about being a writer is that you're constantly drawing a new route on the map to the center of your heart.  However, the other thing about being a writer is that most are afraid to share that map.  I'm very proud of where I've come from just to be able to look back on an essay like this.


#1:  A Day for Forgiveness

Click here to read:  A Day for Forgiveness

The origin of why I write is due to this very topic.  The topic of Forgiveness initiated the whole locomotion enough to inspire me to write at all.  For that reason, I love talking about Forgiveness, I love teaching Forgiveness, and I love to forgive.  As described earlier, there was no greater method to self-soothe than to study Forgiveness and then later to forgive one of the most important people in my life.  To this day, Forgiveness is my favorite topic because it saved my life.  Through forgiveness, I found my power.  This is why I write.

So there you have it, my personal favorite posts...thus far.
I already have a continuing list of future topics that I plan to write about.  So just because I made it to the 100 post milestone, I am nowhere near finished.

Please remember, wisdom is knowledge in action.  Therefore if you can make a day... if you can dedicate a day to forgiveness, and then courage, happiness, compassion, etc... then by the end of your living, you will have A Life of Wisdom. 


Thank you for your time.
Joe. 

A Moment to Share Love

A Moment of Publicity

This January, A Life with Wisdom received a beautiful nod from Delaware Today Magazine.

 Click below to read it:
Delaware Today Magazine

Thank you so much for the recognition!   
There are many more posts to come!

A Moment of Kindness

A Day without Anxiety

A Moment for Opportunity

Opportunity is knocking.

Can you hear it?

During our lifetime, on the course of this journey, there are many obstacles and opportunities.   

Sometimes the opportunity is very evident.  Sometimes it takes form as a mammoth storm.  Sometimes, it's just a whisper.   However they manifest, be vigilant for them.   Even the act of you reading this very paragraph in this exact moment is part of how your path was designed.  Smile.  Pay attention to that.  How can you utilize that knowledge?  Understand that your journey is specifically yours. 

There will be times where you and a friend could view the same opportunity differently, so remain aligned with your core being to know what is your path and not that of another.   Clearly paths intersect.  People are brought into our lives with purpose.   Sometimes we need to receive, and other times we are the givers.  "Let us be grateful for the people who make us happy.  They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."  [Marcel Proust]  Along those lines, there could be a day or opportunity where it is your responsibility to be the charming gardener for another. 

Every moment, every day is an opportunity.   You have the authority to choose how you want to live and how you want to occupy your time.  Because most of what life is is the privilege to experience time, all moments become an opportunity.  A full day can be an opportunity.  An entire year can be an opportunity.  And finally, your entire lifespan is your greatest opportunity.  How will you choose to use that opportunity? 

Opportunity is all around you.   Whether from obstacles or opportunity, how you choose to spend your time defines who you are.  The signs and symbols will come and go; they will appear and reappear.

Are you paying attention?

You are on this path for a reason.

Your path is what you make of it. 

Thank you for your time.

The Science Of Motivation

A Moment from Yoda

 With Star Wars back in the theater, I wanted to reflect on possibly one of the wisest thoughts by the its wisest character: 

It's so simple and it's so amazingly inspirational.  

Yoda is only here to modify Luke's way of thinking.
 So what's the difference?

Try does not imply an expectation to fail. Try implies the expectation to quit. Try implies an incomplete mission. The process of climbing a mountain is still climbing a mountain, whether or not you tried it or did it entirely. Yes, if you stop climbing, you've tried. Maybe your "try" attempt is the farthest you've ever gone. Wouldn't that be part of the path to success? The difference between Try and Do is your spirit of conviction. 

Whatever it is, how much do you want it?

A Brief Lesson from Nature

Consider this: 

Many believe that a strong exterior reflects a strong interior, but in fact it is quite the opposite: a hardened exterior conceals a softer interior. Consider the design of oysters, their shell is developed for protection. We will emotionally develop a similar shell purely for protection. Conversely, the softest exterior reflects a stronger interior. Consider the design of a peach fruit. It has a solid pit and its fleshy surroundings, but the peach utilizes that design as nourishment for the growth of the seed. Try to see beyond the allegorical descriptions, for there are genuine analogies that can be made.

This lifestyle is like that of a pine tree. Under the heaviest amounts of snow, the pine tree's branches will never submit. However under the same circumstances, any other tree's branches might all be broken. One could find irony in that the pine tree yields the softest woods of the trees yet remains standing in spite of its incredible duress.

The greatest paradox about the self is that vulnerability is the ultimate strength.

A Year to Save Money

Saving money is a very common and reasonable New Year's Resolution.

Thanks to the people at BuzzFeed for assembling a very smart list of suggestions.

Find it here:

14 Tricks to Save Cash in 2016

Happy Savings!

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