There is an old Chinese proverb to the effect that a person can live for three weeks without food, three days without water and three minutes without oxygen, but you can’t survive for more than three seconds without Chi . Chi, Prana, Spirit, Mana . Ancient belief systems from India to Polynesia mention a Life Force that animates all living things. WIth the right cultivation, this force can be harnessed: for health, for longevity, to gain mastery over oneself or opponents. Har

The Universal Tendency to Drift Every once in a while we find ourselves in a place where we need to change something in our lives. We make a resolution - as befits the beginning of a New Year - and usually one of a few things then happens: we pursue our resolution with too much enthusiasm and are quickly met with an injury perhaps or rebuttal of some kind, forcing us to put off our plans. Or, after an initial show of good results we plateau and soon get bored. Often we find o

I. January. For those in the gloomy northern hemisphere often a time of grim knuckling down . Many of us have made our resolutions - to stop drinking, cut sugar, start a regular squats   routine. Maybe we actually started. Maybe our new discipline is already plateauing, if not actually crumbling. The sense of mission creep may already be looming, adding to our bleak January outlook. Naturally, we want to be better, stronger, more productive, better off, less anxious. We may w

The Choice Paradox, The Joy of OHIO and Don't Hunt Unicorns