Agenda:
- Buddhist practice of Making Merit
- What is Making Merit?
- Thai culture of good deeds for good karma
- Video clips at the temple with the monk
- Praying for deceased family members
- Blessings from the temple - reflection, calm, peace, joy

Making Merit in Thailand - A Birthday Blessing

In this newsletter:
- Holidays - Wonderful & Stressful
- Sources of holiday stress
- Holiday Industrial Complex
- Distance brings clarity

Holidays - Wonderful & Stressful

Hello from Ko Tao, Thailand, a tiny island in the Gulf of Thailand.

I hope you are enjoying the holidays. After all,

“It’s the...

In this newsletter:
- Happiness paradox
- Comparison damages happiness
- Living in Chiang Mai
- The downsides

The Happiness Paradox

Side note
I’ll be spending more time pursuing interests in the wellness business, traveling around the Southeast Asia region, educating myself about Asian culture, a...

In this newsletter:
- I moved to Thailand
- To be free is everything
- It's My Life - Bon Jovi
- My Way - Frank Sinatra
- Find your freedom

I moved to Thailand – I am free

This might sound crazy, but I moved from Miami Beach to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

My plan was to spend two months in Southeast A...

In this newsletter:
- My audience
- Albert Camus - Lermontov
- Thoughts can destroy us
- A mental prison
- Thoughts determine happiness
- Taking a break from writing
- Bali research trip

People ask me who is my audience, who am I writing for. Some guys think I’m writing about them, or me, or my decease...

In this newsletter:
- A Man in his Sixties
- Men's Passages
- Estate planning
- Medicare enrollment
- AARP - Brooke Shields
- Top 5 killers in your sixties
- Family photo

A Man in his Sixties

“Life offers many rich and varied seasons through the forties and fifties and into the sixties and seventies and ...

In this newsletter:
- Quiet - The Power of Introverts
- Janus, the god
- Individuality versus mutuality
- Calm, not speed

“In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.”
-Isaiah 30:15 

“Peter, you’re a loner.”

When I was married, my wife said that to me more than once. She didn't mean i...

Last week, I wrote about the Men's Group meeting I attended. One of the guys mentioned something that reminded me of a conversation I had with my friend, Dave, years ago.  

Dave - a true story

Dave:   “Peter, I told my dad I love him.”
Me:      “Seriously, Dave? What did he say?”
Dave:   “He ...

In this newsletter:
- Men's Group Meeting
- Solitude is Luminous
- Sins of the Unlived Life
- Georges Homsi - Transformation Coach
- A Blessing of Solitude

Men's Group Meeting

I recently had coffee with a friend here near the beach. He told me about his rise…and fall. He said he hit bottom. That’...

See previous newsletters or visit the website.

In this newsletter:
- What is a Practice?
- A Practice versus a goal
- Practice and Identity
- My three practices
- Scott Seidewitz - The Ancient Assassin

What is a Practice?

Question: What does it mean to “have a practice?”
Answer: It means to pursue a...

In this newsletter:
- Self-Control
- The Power of Habit
- Three Willpower Studies
- What is Self-Control?
- 8 ways to boost Self-Control

Self-Control

My friend
My friend recently told me he’s a sex addict. He was serious. I’ll spare you the details.

We've been close friends for over 50 years, eve...

In this newsletter:
- The Middle Passage
- My midlife crises
- Carl Jung
- James Hollis
- Pablo Casals - Never retire
- Ray Bradbury - Never worked a day in his life

“The midlife crisis, which I prefer to call the Middle Passage, presents us with an opportunity to reexamine our lives and to ask the somet...