No, it’s not all bad

Tim Ferris gets a lot of credit for the term ‘lifestyle design’, though I can’t verify that it originated with him. Nevertheless, he relentlessly promoted the concept with his books, podcasts, and blogging until it became a thing. I like to think of it as lifestyle redesign since at my age I can look back and see at least five times in my own life when I changed pretty much everything, including over the past two years.

It’s really a form of reincarnation that you do while you are still alive, killing off things that no longer work and becoming a new person, while retaining your collective knowledge. Two years ago I was a software marketing executive working in the big open office of a young company. …

Let’s see what’s in the fridge

Stone Soup is a children’s story from my childhood. Based on a European peasant story, it tells of poor travelers who have no food but set up their cooking pot outside a village. The villagers won’t share their food so the travelers put some stones and water into the pot and sit around the fire tending it as though it is a delicious pot of soup. The curious villagers are tricked into sharing bits of vegetables and other ingredients to make it even tastier, until it is a delicious soup.

I loved this story as a kid, in part because I loved cooking. And it has served as an inspiration for my own brand of food improvisation. There is nothing I like better than to be at a friend’s house when they say they have nothing worth eating. It becomes a challenge to conjure a meal out of whatever I can find. And I can almost always find things they have overlooked or pushed into the rear of the freezer or fridge. …

We used to cook brussels sprouts into grey mush. And, as a result, they were the most hated vegetable. Then we discovered roasting them and suddenly they were among the most popular veg. But there was a problem. Sprouts, like other cruciferous vegetables, are largely made of cellulose, a dense plant fiber our systems cannot break down during digestion.

Heat is the solution to this. It breaks down cellulose. But while the dry heat of the oven tends to bring out the sweetness of these little cabbages, it also keeps them tough. …

Can a business problem-solving hack help you focus?

The Five Whys is a system for getting to the true underlying source of a problem by asking a series of ‘why’ questions. It was developed as a means of increasing efficiency at Toyota manufacturing plants in Japan in the sixties and seventies. It was later incorporated into newer efficiency schema including Kaizen and Six Sigma. Can a process used to solve manufacturing problems be applied to mindfulness?

First, let’s look at how this works on a basic level

Let’s walk through an example:

In a meeting.

“We have a problem. We are having problems with availability of a critical part and it is holding up production.”

“Why?” (#1)

“We changed suppliers and they are falling behind.” …

Sometimes an empty fridge forces improvisation

I am in a second week of quarantine with no symptoms and, as a result, I’m a little low on fresh veg. A friend is dropping off some tomorrow but tonight I had to make do.

What can I do with cabbage besides coleslaw?

To be honest, I rarely cook from recipes, baking being an exception. I read cookbooks and watch shows for ideas and techniques. …

I love a good cinnamon roll, but I do not love an overly sweet one. Yet nearly every recipe I find has at least twice as much sugar as necessary- in the dough, in the filling, and smeared over the top as icing.

The recipes that emulate famous mall brand rolls are the worst offenders, huge and dripping with a thick glop of icing. It seems the criteria for a good American pastry is how much sugar you can pack in. …

Frameworks move us into new states of mind faster

A shaman takes a group of acolytes into the forest. They have fasted for two days. When they reach a hidden clearing, they watch as he speaks to unseen beings, asking permission to bring his group to a new place.

A monk sits on her cushion, silently. In her mind she takes a slow breath, exhales, and in the moment between breaths, takes refuge in the Buddha, then with the next breath, the dharma, followed by the sangha. The Example, the Teaching, the Community.

A chef spends his morning prepping everything he will need for the evening’s rush. Everything in its place, everything clean and ready. …

Short cold grey days make November and December a rough time of year

Subsyndromal SAD is a milder form of SAD that 14% of Americans are affected by. The full form of SAD is a depressive order that can also be a bipolar disorder requiring medication and light therapy. It is a more serious condition that may require therapy.

In my case, which is self-diagnosed, I simply lose motivation when the light is lessened in the northeast where I live. I’ve dealt with this all my life but it was years before I knew it was a recognized and common condition. …