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Humans have always had a complicated relationship with weather. Ancient cultures prayed and made offerings to gods in hopes of receiving conditions conducive to growing crops. Adverse weather, then, w…
Humans have always h…
Humans have always had a complicated relationship with weather. Ancient cultures prayed and made offerings to gods in hopes of receiving conditions conducive to growing crops. Adverse weather, then, was often interpreted as displeasure on behalf of those same beings—a punishment for failing to observe proper rituals. It doesn’t take a history scholar to understand this impulse. Weather, now as then, is both an enemy and ally. On one hand, it provides everything from the raw material for food—sunlight driving photosynthesis, wind the primary method of plants spreading their seeds—to …
Sometimes, writing about art and theater feels a lot like falling down the proverbial rabbit hole as I try to find the angle to write about wandering through a haunted-theater immersive experience, ge…
Sometimes, writing a…
Sometimes, writing about art and theater feels a lot like falling down the proverbial rabbit hole as I try to find the angle to write about wandering through a haunted-theater immersive experience, getting splashed in a Halloween horror show in the basement of a spaghetti emporium, sweating through a DIY D&D in a comic shop, savoring (har har!) Sweeney Todd’s enraged high notes, and trying to quiet my howling dog in a public house. I’ve found myself in some odd and awkward scenarios. To update the metaphor, writing this column is a lot like drunk-clicking through an endless algorithm o…
Jessie Hanson
January 8, 2020
Deep within the core of each of us lies our life force...our internal fire. At times, it burns with varying degrees of intensity, but it’s ever present. Just as each of us is unique and individually…
Deep within the core…
Deep within the core of each of us lies our life force...our internal fire. At times, it burns with varying degrees of intensity, but it’s ever present. Just as each of us is unique and individually gifted, the constitution of our fire is dynamically different. The passion and intensity from one won’t always resonate with another but that doesn’t make it any less significant. If we were all driven by the same things, our world would lack the diversity, creativity, ingenuity, and grandeur that make it the beautiful melting pot it is. Tremendous ability lies within each member of our tr…
Thomas Muir
September 2, 2024
Each of us has dreams, desires, and ambitions. There are races we want to enter, promotions we want to apply for, fitness classes we would like to take, languages we wish to learn, businesses we want …
Each of us has dream…
Each of us has dreams, desires, and ambitions. There are races we want to enter, promotions we want to apply for, fitness classes we would like to take, languages we wish to learn, businesses we want to start, and the list goes on. We make plans to get there and oftentimes can even see ourselves there, having accomplished what we really want to do. Yet some of us stop before our pursuit has actually begun. We convince our self that it is not worth it, or it will never happen; consequently, we never take the chance. In nearly all of these instances, our stopping before we start can be traced to…
Thomas Muir
January 29, 2024
No two granules of sand are alike, no two snowflakes identical, no two people the same. In all the ways we are extraordinarily similar, we’re distinctly unique. The similar composition with which we…
No two granules of s…
No two granules of sand are alike, no two snowflakes identical, no two people the same. In all the ways we are extraordinarily similar, we’re distinctly unique. The similar composition with which we are comprised tends to allow us to more readily compare our self to others and this is typically done from a singular, outward view. However, each of our existences are fundamentally different where one minor detail within our field of experience has the ability to leave us miles apart from someone else of equal composition within any number of days, let alone years. One slight degree of separati…
Thomas Muir
January 22, 2024
Each one of us is fully capable of accomplishing anything, and more importantly, everything we put our mind to. We have desires, dreams, and ambitions for our time here. Accomplishing them is no easy …
Each one of us is fu…
Each one of us is fully capable of accomplishing anything, and more importantly, everything we put our mind to. We have desires, dreams, and ambitions for our time here. Accomplishing them is no easy task, but we are aptly suited for our challenge. We truly have limitless potential residing inside. It’s lying dormant, desperately waiting for us to set the wheels in motion, enabling it to crack through the surface where it can be put to use in our pursuits. At times there can be a disconnect between our desires, dreams, and ambitions, and our current reality or perception of it. Life happe…
Thomas Muir
December 11, 2023
In our interconnected world, it’s pretty much a given we will have a multitude of interactions with others each and every day. We have co-workers, teammates, spouses, friends, family, and the list g…
In our interconnecte…
In our interconnected world, it’s pretty much a given we will have a multitude of interactions with others each and every day. We have co-workers, teammates, spouses, friends, family, and the list goes on. We communicate with a host of people directly and indirectly, through social media, etc., every day. Throughout these sometime brief or sometime lengthy conversations, a lot can be transmitted. When someone says a little or a lot, their body language can communicate even more. The sentiment of the communication in all of these interactions can be positive or facilitative, it can be negativ…
Thomas Muir
November 27, 2023
Every day, we are creating, developing, fostering, nurturing, and strengthening our relationships. Life is interconnected. As our journey through it continues, we meet new people, keep up with others …
Every day, we are cr…
Every day, we are creating, developing, fostering, nurturing, and strengthening our relationships. Life is interconnected. As our journey through it continues, we meet new people, keep up with others to varying extents, and unfortunately as life sometimes dictates, things can fade to a state of dormancy. It is very hard to keep strong connections and have meaningful relationships with everyone in and throughout our life; no matter how much we would like to. Life as we live it in the 21st Century, simply doesn’t allow for it. Of all of our relationships, one of the most integral to our eventu…
Thomas Muir
November 6, 2023
Take a breath. Exhale. Take an even deeper breath. Exhale. You just connected with every living thing past, present, and still yet to come. The very oxygen each one of us is presently breathing has be…
Take a breath. Exhal…
Take a breath. Exhale. Take an even deeper breath. Exhale. You just connected with every living thing past, present, and still yet to come. The very oxygen each one of us is presently breathing has been in the lungs and blood stream of every living thing that’s spent one second of life here. That same oxygen in your lungs has contributed to the life of every flower that’s ever bloomed, every tree that’s ever sprouted, every bird that’s ever flown, every fish that’s ever swam, every animal that’s ever run, and every human that’s ever entered this world. We’re connected to one an…
Thomas Muir
October 30, 2023
Feelings are a human commonality. Each and every one of us has them. Something takes place, or we observe something, and it has the ability to elicit feelings deep within us. We have the ability to fe…
Feelings are a human…
Feelings are a human commonality. Each and every one of us has them. Something takes place, or we observe something, and it has the ability to elicit feelings deep within us. We have the ability to feel strongly about something just as easily as we can feel nothing at all about something else. We can feel compelled or emboldened by something or we can feel as if we’re being held back by something else. We can feel supportive of something or we can feel like working against it. Our feelings are very powerful, and they are a constant throughout our existence. Understanding their origin, impact…
Thomas Muir
October 23, 2023
The only way to do something, is to actually do it. Hitting a golf ball requires us to swing a golf club, just as riding a bike, requires us to ride a bike, just as giving a speech requires us to stan…
The only way to do s…
The only way to do something, is to actually do it. Hitting a golf ball requires us to swing a golf club, just as riding a bike, requires us to ride a bike, just as giving a speech requires us to stand up and speak. On the surface, this appears quite obvious, but performing anything at the level we’re fully capable of requires us to dive a little deeper. Simply performing an action of hitting a golf ball, riding a bike, or giving a speech does not mean we’re going to get the results we desire. When we want to be at our best, we have to do more than just show up and go through the motions. …
Thomas Muir
October 9, 2023
The mind is the most powerful tool we can put to use within any endeavor we undertake. It holds the power to enhance and increase our capabilities or to exacerbate our limitations. Henry Ford very acc…
The mind is the most…
The mind is the most powerful tool we can put to use within any endeavor we undertake. It holds the power to enhance and increase our capabilities or to exacerbate our limitations. Henry Ford very accurately broke it down when he said, “if you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Mr. Ford was talking about our mindset. Our mindset provides the framework and sets the tone for how we approach everything we do. The things we think, the way we interpret our environment, and our ability to find success in challenging situations are all intimately linked to our mindset. Our m…
Thomas Muir
October 2, 2023
All living things share a litany of commonalities. We’re comprised of carbon, we need nutrition in some way, shape or form, we benefit and get energy from sunlight, we need hydration, and the list g…
All living things sh…
All living things share a litany of commonalities. We’re comprised of carbon, we need nutrition in some way, shape or form, we benefit and get energy from sunlight, we need hydration, and the list goes on. When a child looks at a group of adults, they typically see no differences. For them, it’s a collection of individuals much older than they are and they tend to generalize them. They do not know or understand the difference between 20 somethings, middle aged individuals, or their great grandparents. Human nature is to cluster. We group like with like and spend little time differentiating…
Thomas Muir
August 28, 2023
Life is full of limits. Perceived or real, we find them everywhere we look. Society places a significant amount of them on us and if those aren’t restrictive enough, we place even more on ourselves.…
Life is full of limi…
Life is full of limits. Perceived or real, we find them everywhere we look. Society places a significant amount of them on us and if those aren’t restrictive enough, we place even more on ourselves. Have you ever told yourself you’re too old, too slow, not smart enough, or you don’t have the time? These are self-imposed limitations and more often than not, they’re illusionary. They lack the credibility most societal limitations are based in but are far more debilitating to our actions. Nearly everything we use or do in our daily lives has a prescribed or perceived ‘limit.’ In certa…
Thomas Muir
January 22, 2023
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