Please restate the question because I have no idea what you just said

“How are you?” is a loaded question. Or not.

One of our most meaningful questions?

• We greet the grief-stricken with it.

• We use it as a way to communicate: “It’s been so long, I’m so happy to see you!”

Or one of our most meaningless questions?

• We use it rhetorically as a de minimis way to acknowledge someone.

• When it is not rhetorical, it can mean anything from “How are you in a vague and general sense? Are you good or bad generally speaking?” to “What is your greatest and most personal life crisis at this very moment?”

The question’s context is way more important than the words themselves.

Time is Money, Teaching is Learning

I learned differently than a lot of other people, so I learned how to learn on my own.
I learned that I taught differently than a lot of other people, so I learned how to teach on my own.

But what I mostly learned was that learning and teaching are two sides of the same coin. And, like coins, each side always has the same value. Improving how you learn improves how you teach, and improving how you teach improves how you learn. But unlike coins, there are no preset values for how effective learning and teaching are. We can mint any value coin we want, so long as we are willing to put in the time.

Tony Soprano is Alive, and He Meditates

I find it weird when people think meditating is weird. Because everyone meditates.

Call it what you want, but when you are zoning out, or wishing for something, or In The Zone doing work, or praying, or experiencing that amazing feeling when you first wake up and lie there for 10 minutes before having to do a thing... you’re meditating. The only difference between those moments and “actual” meditation is that, in the latter, you mindfully sit down, do nothing, and try to think nothing. It’s a difference sure, but not enough of one to make one meditation and the other not. 

Even Tony Soprano meditates.**

All of us fortunate enough to have watched the Sopranos remember those moments when Tony looked out over the water, Las Vegas, or his pool, smoking a cigar, and thinking real hard. Walter and Skylar White did the same, and I bet even Joseph Molesley did (or does?) Each mindfully sat, sensed, and explored his/her thoughts. They were meditating.

No need for sitting legs crossed with fingers touching. 

**Note the use of the present tense. This is because he did not die in the final episode. Of course, he might have died since then, but I choose to believe he is alive. I hope he woke up this morning and grabbed the newspaper from his driveway while wearing a bathrobe, smoking a cigar, mumbling about AJ’s latest failure, and dreaming of sushi.