Responding to Terrorist Attacks: A Traveler’s Perspective, Moving Forward from Fear

I attempt to process what’s happening around the world by reflecting on where I am.

The morning after the terrorist attacks in Paris, I was glued to my devices, ingesting every update. At some point I needed to peel myself away from the news. So I went for a run in Tempelhof Airport Park, my usual spot in Berlin, to get some fresh air and to try and clear my head.

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On Gratitude

In honor of giving thanks, the best of intentions underpinning the Thanksgiving holiday, I offer this reflection on gratitude — the condition, the emotion and the state of being.  Note to Thanksgiving critics, skeptics and cynics: to underscore my awareness of the historical complexity behind the holiday, I point you to this article.  Also, if it appears that I’m repeating The Importance of Saying Thank You, I’m not.

Now, on gratitude.

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Channeling the Spirit of the Marathon: Hope Going Forward


As I struggle to process what happened at the Boston Marathon yesterday, I wonder: “How is it that we humans invest so much energy in our own destruction?

Then I consider what’s at the heart of the spirit of marathons, and the reasons why crowds of people were gathered at the finish line in the first place. Through this process, I attempt to restore some of my lost hope in humanity, because I believe if we lose that marathon spirit, that’s when we’ve really lost.

Pump your arms, your legs will follow…

— Marathon advice. Life advice?

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Six Years on the Road: A Journey Becomes Life

We just celebrated. An anniversary. Six years. On the road. Why am I addicted to sentence fragments?

Anniversaries, they help mark time. They remind us to remind ourselves to admire our arc, our path through the world in time. No, not to admire it in some self-satisfied way, but to admire that there’s a process of growing, changing, evolving, and continually understanding that our lives are portions of an unbroken circle connecting all the dots of who we’ve become. Anniversaries invite us to step back to view the path we’ve helped to unfold — a path that takes us from where we’ve been to where we are, all peppered with hints and imaginations of where we would hope to go.

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It Happened In Monterey (Or, How We Met)

How we met in Monterey, California

This is a story about finding love just when you'd sworn off looking for it.

In early September, Audrey and I co-presented at a conference in Monterey, California. Monterey just also happens to be the place where we'd first met almost exactly 15 years before, where our joint approach to life on the road got its start.

In the driveway, the exact spot where our lives together began, we got to thinking how best to answer another oft-asked question: “So how did you guys meet?”

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We Are All More Connected Than We Think

california

This is a short story in the form of a touching email I received recently. It demonstrates how life sometimes comes full circle in odd and delightful ways.

When Dan and I recall all the unusual yet universal connections we've uncovered throughout our travels and life experiences, we often reflect on how “we're all more connected than we think.” However, each time we accept this maxim and settle comfortably into its implications, life surprises us once again in an odd, humbling and inspiring way.

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