Surely you’ve heard of phantom limb syndrome? You know—the perception of pain or discomfort in a limb that’s no longer there? Apparently 80% of people with amputated appendages report phantom pain, and it goes something like this: “Oooh, my old tennis elbow is really flaring up today.” “Yeah but Ralph, you don’t have an elbow...

It’s True or False time! True or False: You put off calling/ Zooming/ visiting an old friend/ boss/ mentor/ family member because you assume you can just connect with them “later.” If you answered True, you are so fabulously human, and we shall bond in our gory take-things-for-granted humanity together here. We suck, but we...

You know there are different kinds of regrets, right? Different flavors of “ugh,” if you will. Exhibit 1.0: "The Regret Coiff" There are regrets of commission: stupid things we said or did that we wish we hadn’t (like my hair in grade nine; see exhibit 1.0) These regrets tend to fade over time as we...

I did a decidedly weird thing when my Grandmother was 100: I sat down and interviewed her, right there in the dining room of her retirement home, with my voice memo app recording her answers to my ~748 questions over a soft-foods lunch. She handled the interrogation interview like a champ! We all knew she...

In the “‘tis the season to feel grateful” spirit, let’s serve up a gravy-soaked story of gratitude. (I had you at gravy, didn’t I?) I’ve thought a lot about this story—and not just because I spend so many of my hours writing/ talking/ daydreaming/ actually dreaming about the power of our mortality. My hope is...

Hello Fellow Lifers (i.e.: us folks interested in living before dying), I told you a few months ago about Landing The Book Deal, and you might recall I was on the verge of peeing my pants at that time. I am all too pleased to announce that there is more pants-peeing news to share! You...

You’ve seen this in every near-death-experience movie scene ever made: “It’s like my life flashed before my eyes,” declares the befuddled woman whose heart stopped for three minutes before being resuscitated. (This same baffled woman also saw a light at the end of the tunnel and felt like she was floating above her hospital gurney,...

When I’m delivering workshops I like to mess with enlighten the participants by asking two key questions: #1. What is one activity you love to do—that thing that sweeps you off your feet, makes you feel fully engaged and alive, makes you lose track of time and self-consciousness (a la flow)? #2. When was the...

“Trooper Douglas Dolan is lucky to be alive” was the lead-in to a news article which went on to explain DJ Dolan’s ordeal while apprehending a routine motor vehicle stop gone awry. More than awry: DJ was dragged by the suspect’s vehicle, assaulted after he hoisted himself up and into the car (total Tom Cruise...

You know that quote by William Arthur Ward that goes, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it”? We’re going to bastardize it a bit by swapping out the “feeling gratitude” part. Here, let’s try it on for size: “Having pretty much any kind of good thought about...

Sound the alarm bells, Happy Smurf. You might be shooting yourself in the foot with your daydreams about the life you long to live . . . because fantasizing about the things you want to happen can fizzle the sizzle of the dreams. [Here is where I would insert an illustration of a wet blanket...

I met Derek Weaver at a workshop I delivered called “How Many Mondays Do You Have Left,” and we chatted afterwards about how he spent the first part of his career working for the largest funeral service provider in the world. (As a death enthusiast that absolutely caught my attention.) Derek prepared thousands of dead...