In this world there is so much beauty. It can be all consuming. But it’s also so sad that this beauty is fleeting. It comes and goes, and each passing moment will never return except through our memories.

Business, and particularly small, family business, has always fascinated me. I love the hustle of it, the creativity, the cooperation. There’s a beauty and an art to the whole process that I’ve been chasing ever since I was a boy.

Slide shows were an important ritual of my youth and I still vividly remember the details. The rich, vintage colors of 35mm film. The slow dissolve between images. And of course the beam of light traveling through space, cone-shaped with distinct edges, illuminating the dust particles dancing in the air.

What is confidence? And why does this fleeting feeling come and go? I want to better understand it so that I can bring about more confidence in my life.

I have a gift when it comes to repressing feelings. I’m a self-proclaimed master with a superhuman ability to bury things that affect me deeply and just go on as if I never felt anything at all.

The number in my bank account goes up when I get paid on Fridays, and then it goes down when I pay my mortgage and monthly credit card bill. Up and down, up and down. It’s like a video game and I keep trying for a higher score.

It is said that the first humans evolved two and a half million years ago. Assuming each generation lasts twenty five years, this means there’ve been one hundred thousand generations of human beings.

The modern simple life is uncluttered and not over-programmed. There’s no commuting. There’s no spending money needlessly. There’s not nearly as much stuff. The modern simple life is efficient. It’s beautiful.

I have an overactive mind. I’ll get an idea in my head and go over it again and again for days and weeks, sometimes months and years. But when I take an idea and turn it into a blog post, something special happens. Writing it down and putting it out there frees me from it.