When a group of meditators in the Zen tradition meet at a temple to practice together, the meditation usually starts by the leader hitting a gong or a bell of some kind. This is not only a signal that the group will start meditating soon, but it is also a way of directing attention. Attention, the most important part of meditation, wanders away quite quickly. Using the five senses, we can channel our attention back to the present moment.

No one knows anything. The journey of being a parent is a series of questions and half-answers that barely satisfy. It’s unique to every person. It can’t be any other way. I used to think of love as something special, an action you take to connect with someone on an intimate level. I’m starting to think that it’s an endless stream hidden by a curtain, and you can bathe in it anytime you want.

What if… we deleted any application that didn’t exist before smartphones? we used an old school alarm clock and kept our phone in a separate room? we created more content than we consume? we took control of our own minds to stop technology from hijacking our brains?

Is there anything more glorious than a seed? A tiny, rounded, object that goes into the ground and produces an entire forest. Sometimes, I’ll eat sunflower seeds and I’ll forget, conveniently, that each one contains the possibility of an entire sunflower. I’ve never watched a flower grow in slow motion. But I imagine it’s a lot like watching a child grow. Children seem to bend space and time, growing slowly a little bit every day, but transforming as quickly as possible.

I’m addicted to researching topics on the internet. If I’m going through something (fatherhood, an illness, buying a car), I soak up as much information as possible from people on the web. Anecdotal stories about how to sleep train, and what nutritional plan works best are helpful because they let me zoom in on actual stories. General data is perhaps more helpful though, since it’s gathered scientifically (usually). Seeing the big picture can often make individual stories less relevant.