#TheGoodLife

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Dec 8, 2022
2 min

Day 25 ocean swim

The kite guys are back. They asked me if the water’s cold. Heck yeah, it’s cold! But so’s life sometimes—and that don’t stop me jumping in! #GoingAlone #TheGoodLife #JustLive! The Good Life Meditation is my daily recitation and reminder of personal objectives and principles used in pursuit of a purposeful life in spite of a universe of seeming indifference. Learn more about The Good Life at my website GoingAlone.org or by reading my book Going Alone. And visit our Discord at

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Dec 8, 2022
2 min

The Good Life - 12/08/2022 - We are gritty *

I’m tuning into the mark this morning. This happens sometimes, just like the hard days happen sometimes, when we duke it out through difficulty or glide like a bird on better days like today. Nothing is more sure than these cycles of up and down days; which, as Emerson said, tend to “resolve themselves to the average tendency.” There’s the true mark and goal: to lift that ”average tendency” by slight degrees into something better each year than the year before. Not happ

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Dec 7, 2022
2 min

Day 23 ocean swim

My body seems to be enjoying the cold. I’m not even putting on a shirt to go home, though I do shiver hard. That’s a good measure of a good day—shivering: for fear or cold. Either will do for a memorable finish for a Wednesday. #GoingAlone #TheGoodLife #Fun The Good Life Meditation is my daily recitation and reminder of personal objectives and principles used in pursuit of a purposeful life in spite of a universe of seeming indifference. Learn more about The Good Life at m

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Dec 7, 2022
2 min

The Good Life - 12/07/2022 - Cost, Time, Quality *

Yesterday, I teetered on the edge of a cliff. I was working with the team to resolve a challenge when I “saw the light” and realized the source of our problem, which is the perennial challenge of Cost, Time and Quality, and the fact that with every project we can only pick two—something MUST then always be sacrificed in favor of our selection. I was then on the edge of a cliff, as reason demanded I now act on my understanding while the momentum of the team carried us al

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Dec 6, 2022
2 min

Day 22 ocean swim

Warm skin. This winter sun speaks today of September and April. ”Stay for a while” it seems to say. Enjoy a few minutes with the waning day. I would, but the dogs would like a walk in this sun, too. So, goodbye warm evening. I’ll be back tomorrow, and the day after. There’s lots of time yet to get acquainted. See you tomorrow, then. #GoingAlone #TheGoodLife #GoodUseOfTime The Good Life Meditation is my daily recitation and reminder of personal objectives and principles us

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Dec 6, 2022
2 min

The Good Life - 12/06/2022 - Demanding of myself a good day of work *

I’m caught up and even ahead at work, which is dangerous as it’s tempting now to coast and be less productive than my employer deserves and expects me to be. So, I’ll organize a plan not just to meet but to exceed expectations, which is hard ‘cause I do not really care. That’s the toughest part—working hard at something that is fundamentally uninteresting. But someone’s gotta do it. And if that someone is me then I’m gonna try my best to do it well. Yeah, it’s Tuesday.

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Dec 5, 2022
2 min

Day 22 ocean swim

Winter’s here. The beach is deserted. It feels good running down the sand towards the waves. A little voice inside yelling, stop!! But afterwards, that small voice is silent. Because what’s fearful inside always departs, just as soon as it knows I mean no. #GoingAlone #TheGoodLife #Fortitude The Good Life Meditation is my daily recitation and reminder of personal objectives and principles used in pursuit of a purposeful life in spite of a universe of seeming indifference.

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Dec 5, 2022
2 min

The Good Life - 12/05/2022 - Forcing it *

My adult sense knows that Monday won’t last more than today, and that I can push into it with the same quiet resolve I’ve used with nearly every Monday I’ve met, until the work week is underway. Resolve is like that. It’s like swimming underwater from one end of the pool to the other, ready to burst from the water at the other side having made it. And it’ll be good once through, once on the other side, another solid day of good work complete. Another good, adult day don

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Dec 4, 2022
2 min

Thoughts about grave robbers

Parker and I tackled some interesting ontological questions during our hike yesterday, including death. However, neither of us were prepared for our discovery of human bones scattered about in a ghost town grave someone had dug up. We both picked up the bones, asking aloud “are they human??” This video captures the moment when we realized they were, as well as our responses, both visceral and objective. #GoingAlone #TheGoodLife #CompleteOblivion The Good Life Meditation

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Dec 4, 2022
2 min

A day of adventure with Parker Bell

Here’s the whole video of my day of adventure yesterday with my amazing nephew, Parker Bell. Such fun! Such thoughts! From desert ghost towns, to the discovery of grave robber’s work and the handling of real human bones (which really shook us both), to discussions of death, what it means to live well, unraveling the stories told in geology, the process of creativity, finding one’s tribe, climbing volcanoes, learning to drive and listening to the entire Dark Side of the

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Dec 4, 2022
2 min

The Good Life - 12/04/2022 - Hike with Parker

I have not had an adventure like yesterday’s in a long time. My nephew Parker and I filled the day with living. Hard, earnest living from sunup until well after nightfall. I’ve earned this exhustion, and will move fast now through every necessity; and maybe I’ll even lie down and take an unheard of nap. This older me needs help recouping. Another true limit I must recognize and accept. #GoingAlone #TheGoodLife #PrincipleOfFun The Good Life Meditation is my daily recitati

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Dec 2, 2022
2 min

Day 21 ocean swim

I missed doing this yesterday. Work kept me late. I actually left the house after dark to go for a swim anyway, Yumiko commenting “you aren’t going to swim in the dark, are you?” I was. But I didn’t. It was cold. And the sea was black. And the beach deserted. I stood and stared and then turned and went home. “Back so soon?” ”Yeah, I changed my mind...” “Good idea, dinner’s ready.” Hmmm... Young me would have gone in. Old me’s no fun sometimes. But, Yumiko’s right, coming

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Dec 2, 2022
2 min

The Good Life - 12/02/2022 - Saddle sore *

Recovering my balance a little today, though I’m still wobbly from this tough week. It’s interesting how dependent my mind is upon the vehicle of my body, like a horseman on his steed, reigning in and spurring on a mount which can only do its best. My best is still pretty good, though wow! my younger co-workers sure are swift and nimble on their ponies. I don’t think I can keep up—don’t want to, truth be told. I’ll gallop along best I can. “You all go on ahead. I’ll mee

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Dec 1, 2022
2 min

The Good Life - 12/01/2022 - Running out of steam

Wow! That was a rough night for both Yumiko and me. Problems at work ambushed us both and we couldn’t sleep. Laying there in bed discussing our challenges while a dog snuggled between us sensing our stress. I’m finding work, and the challenges of work, harder to manage as I close in on sixty. There was a time, back in my thirties, when I kept a sleeping bag at work so I could sleep under my desk when the workload required a twelve or fourteen-hour day. I can no longer e

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Nov 30, 2022
1 min

Day 20 ocean swim

I’ve lost my glasses and can barely read what i write, so I’d better make it short. Br safe… But not too safe. #GoingAlone #TheGoodLife #Limits

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Nov 30, 2022
2 min

Walking in Japan - Japan farm rope-way in operation 日本農園ロープウェイ運行中 - 日本でのウォーキング

Making good use of this day off, I’ve completed my first Walking in Japan video in almost ten years. This clip utilizes my old formatting and thumbnail style, but with a new video closing screen which points viewers in the direction of my website and book. This is the format which the new content in Japan will take (for this series at least) after Yumiko and I return, get settled, I get a new hat, and once more resume exploring the mountains of Japan. A word about this

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Nov 30, 2022
2 min

The Good Life - 11/30/2022 - “My life is done” *

“My life is done.” What a curious thing to say at the start of the day. It’s not even 5:30 AM, yet that’s what I said. And I meant it. The reason is that it’s true. My life is done. As I’ve completed everything within the scope of my decided life’s purpose: family, virtue, mission—all complete. Not done, but complete. My life can end today, or tomorrow or anytime now and that’s alright—though I’d like, and do hope, to stick around. “My life is done.” What a funny conseq

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Nov 29, 2022
2 min

Day 19 ocean swim

When I dove into the sea just now I banged into something fishy. Not a shark of course, but a fish, maybe a stingray. I was startled, especially at the thought of a stingray, which really hurt and cause us to bleed like crazy when they puncture and slice us with their barb. Stingray are a good reason to be cautious in the sea around here—but not sufficient reason to stay out. Likewise with everything else in life—or, nearly everything. There’s good reason for caution go

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Nov 29, 2022
2 min

The Good Life - 11/29/2022 - Less productive

Not as productive yesterday as I’d like. I hate that. It really, truly bothers me not to complete a work day driven hard and difficult—leaving me worn and spent. I don’t like not feeling like I’ve given the day my all. But that’s kinda the nature of end of year, things are a little slower, people are out, and there’s a deceptive sense of being caught up which January will gladly soon disabuse. I’m therefore going to do three things to address this December malaise: firs

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Nov 28, 2022
2 min

Day eighteen ocean swim

Teeth chattering today. It feels like winter now. There’s no one at the beach. This feels like a challenge, but it’s not. It’s rehearsal for when life really gets hard, and I push through without complaint, like a difficult day at work—like today, in fact. But, I got through the workday, just like the rest of the adults in the room. Heck, I only complained once, and that was to my wife, but that’s what we’re there for each other for. This cold plunge in the sea is nothi

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