We are all the same before we are born and all the same after we are no longer. We come from and go to a calm, timeless, eternal place where only the soul resides. Some call this place heaven. Infinite selves are born of the soul. The selves make their way through life but cannot survive the transition back to heaven. Only the soul survives in life and heaven. In life, we are a temporary self identity and the eternal soul identity of which we are often oblivious. When our identity is the selfless soul, we are in heaven....

“You can’t go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending." While this quote is misattributed to C. S. Lewis, a British writer and Anglican lay theologian, it is consistent with his general thinking. We can't simultaneously hold onto the past and have a firm grip of the steering wheel....

Wealthy and admirable are those who make the best with whatever little they have. Poor, pitiful and absurdly funny are those who try to appear wealthy, as the emperor who had no clothes....

In this holiday season, marked by gift giving and celebrations, it feels great to be wealthy. Wealthy are those whose have what they need in terms of food, shelter, security and health and know they need nothing more. Wealthy are those who rejoice with what they have now and are not distracted by desires for that which they don't have. Moreover, the wealthy are grateful as they know their circumstances could always be worse. When we are wealthy, we are great-full; full of feeling great....

We are born at sunrise and start making our way, following our shadow which gets smaller and smaller until midday. Then our shadow behind us again grows and we follow the sun to where no one knows. The way forward is clear after midday unless our shadow appears which means we're going the wrong way....

“Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.” This motto is the mindset of those with the eating disorder anorexia. Anorexia aside, the motto may serve well those trying to diet and exercise for good health outcomes and conventional good looks. A change in diet and an exercise routine take time before their effects on health and looks are noticeable. For many, these desired outcomes are not as enticing as the immediate gratification from eating with abandon while sedentary, watching TV. However, a diet and exercise program also provides immediate gratification when we focus on how we feel when we dress in the morning and our clothing feels a bit but noticeably less tight than yesterday; a wonderful feeling that lasts all day. Nothing tastes, or lasts as as long,  as good as that feels. Moreover, while a healthy diet and exercise are positively correlated with life expectancy, time and effort spent to increase one's life expectancy is a fool's errand as no one is getting out of here alive. However, diet and exercise forestall chronic diseases which are often overwhelming distractions from simply enjoying being alive. Health life expectancy is the time before the onset of chronic diseases. On average, health life expectancy is ten years less than life expectancy. Ten years maybe is a reasonable sentence for the foolish crime of abusing one's body instead of rejoicing with consciously eating and sex, an exercise which provides immediate gratification and longer-term health and appearance benefits. Maybe that's why Kate Moss liked the feeling of being thin, that made her attractive so that she could engage sexually with anyone she wished and have fun exercising....

The past is just a small number of photos which we weave into a movie. While constrained by what's depicted in the photos, seemingly happy or sad scenes, we nevertheless have great freedom to make the movie a comedy or tragedy. Our attitude determines the storyline. However, when we take what we see in the photos seriously, we lose our freedom to make the movie to our liking....

When I was a child in Act 1 of the play of life, "Terrific," my parents, friends and teachers showed me the ways of this world. However, their views were not as interesting to me as the views of the elders, my grandfathers. As my grandfathers' perspectives were from the end of days, Act 3, I felt the light they projected from their position to mine would best show me the way forward. My paternal grandfather came from Leipzig, Germany. He, my grandmother and father escaped to Israel in 1938, just before all roads out of Germany closed to Jews. My grandfather was a successful businessman in the printing business in Germany and the envelope manufacturing business in Israel. Yet, after 18 years in Israel, my father, who worked for my grandfather and had married my mother in 1950, yearned for the economic opportunities he envisioned in America. So in 1956, when I was 6 and my sister was 2, we moved with my grandparents to Brooklyn, N.Y. My grandfather opposed moving to America. Before leaving Israel, he told my mother to take a long deep look at the comforts she had in Israel because it would be a long time before she would have those comforts in America. He was right. My family arrived in America during a recession and struggled for several years. My grandfather went through many ups and downs in life. However, with his ability to see situations from many different perspectives, he always found creative solutions to whatever problems arose. Moreover, he always found a perspective that made a situation funny and was always grateful as every situation could have always be worse. This was the foundation of his happiness. His was the attitude that I naturally adopted. My maternal grandfather was a dry goods store owner in Haifa, Israel. His approach to life was to enjoy the physical pleasures of life; eating, talking and sex. However, as his lifestyle took its toll, in his last years, he was overweight, diabetic and unsteady on his feet. That taught me that getting fat is just deserts for eating just desserts. While he would likely have been in better shape had he restrained his desires, in his last days he felt the pleasures he realized were greater than their costs. He too was happy. Enjoy the physical pleasures of life is what I learned from his life. My grandfathers made clear my way; to physically enjoy life and realize my potential by making the best of every situation. That describes my life in Act 2. While my grandfathers would likely not have approved many of the choices I made on the way to where I am now, a grandfather in Act 3, their light guided my way on a happy life which is all my grandfathers would have hoped. Moreover, now that I'm in Act 3, the transition, I'm no longer interested in the views of elders. I'm drawn to the energy of those younger; especially my grandchildren. They are closer to where I'm going than I am. Maybe they can reflect the light from which they come to guide me to where I'm going....

The definition of "expensive" is costly. It's etymology is Late Latin expensa, "disbursement, outlay." However, perhaps the root of expensive is simply things people buy without (ex) thinking (pensive) about price. Only without thinking about price, one easily buys an off-the-rack Kiton sports jacket ($9,995) at Neiman Marcus instead of an equally functional jacket at Men's Warehouse for $100. That’s what the Emperor does if the emperor has no clothes. Those who buy expensive jewelry are schmucks. Schmuck is the German word for jewelry....

"I make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes." All that's now is now no longer. What is gone doesn't exist. All there is is what comes next with which we can just do our best....