“Life does not change if you only modify the content,

your life will change if you will dare to alter the context.”

–Santosh Kalwar

Have you heard the commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace, called This Is Water? I hadn’t. It isn’t your typical commencement speech filled w...

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”

   Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is a story?  When I think of a story, I think of a fairy tale.  An imaginary account that has been concocted for entertainment.  It may also serve to teach a lesson or prevent ha...

“Being a dad means being there for your pups through thick and thin, teaching them, playing with them, and showing them love every day. It’s the greatest adventure of all.”
―Bandit Heeler

If you have young children, you might be familiar with the cartoon series Bluey.  For those unfamili...

“Once you accept your flaws, no one can use them against you.”

   Tyrion Lannister, Game of Thrones

I like to tell the story about the evening I met my wife.  We were out to dinner with a group of people, and she was sitting across the table from me.  After a friend made an annoying com...

What is this self inside us, this silent observer,

Severe and speechless critic , who can terrorize us

And urge us on to futile activity

And in the end, judge us still more severely

For the errors into which his own reproaches drove us?

   T. S. Eliot, The Elder Statesman

In...

“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.”
―Theophrastus

Fact: No one will value your time as much as you do. 

Time is undoubtedly our most valuable and limited resource.  Every day, so many people and things vie for our time.  Our families, friends, patients, hospital ...

“Monday is like a math problem.  Add the irritation, subtract the sleep, multiply the problems, divide the happiness.”
―Unknown 

Work dread.  You know the feeling even if you didn’t know it had a name.  It is that sensation in the pit of your stomach when you realize that the start of...

“Alone, we can do little; together, we can do so much.”
―Helen Keller 

For all its traumas, one of the most incredible gifts bestowed upon doctors is the community created during medical training.  When I think back to my Internal Medicine internship, I don’t think about the grueling,...

“Sometimes you are in the middle of your destiny before you even know it has begun.”
―Sarah Holman 

As a native New Yorker, I always assumed Chicago was called the “Second City” because, well, it was second to New York.  It turns out that’s a pretty common misconception about how my h...

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.”
―Eckhart Tolle

Q: “Daddy, will you play with me?”

Me: “Sure.  What do you want to play?”

Q: “Let’s play dolls.”

Me: “OK, sweetie.  Let’s play.”

Moments later, I start checking my phone, and my thoughts begin to swirl.  ...

“When you squeeze an orange, you'll always get orange juice to come out. What comes out is what's inside. The same logic applies to you: when someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, or says something unflattering or critical, and out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness, tension, depress...

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are taught from an early age to avoid comparing ourselves to others.  Then, we are sent off to school, where we are ranked, compared, and pitted a...