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Today’s guest post is from Sarah Raymond Cunningham, the author of multiple books. Sarah quit her job so she could write what she’s passionate about and keep building a community called STORY. She also contributes to projects she believes in at People of the Second Chance. You can follow her newest endeavors, like onethousandpremieres.com, at her blog, www.sarahcunningham.org. My son, the two-year old Emperor who claims to be Supreme Ruler of our household, has taken up sprinting parking blocks. I could stop him by mumbling something about the dangers of concrete. But who knows? Maybe this quirky sport is going to take off like planking? Who am I to squelch such genius? Here’s how it works. The Emperor teeters on one edge of the bright yellow concrete beam. He does not even stretch out his arms for balance. With hands slicked down to his side, he is inarguably better positioned for being shot out of a cannon than walking a narrow beam. The Emperor then charges ahead as if he believes he can run across the whole beam at full-throttle. Then he tumbles off, awkwardly smacking into the ground with so little awareness that he doesn’t even raise his hands [...]

Today’s guest contributor is Anne Jackson. Anne writes. She’s written some books and although most of the time she doesn’t like the internet much, she occasionally writes at AnneJacksonWrites.com. She also rode her bicycle across the country much like Don, although much slower. I pulled on the chain for my hotel window’s curtain, a small part of me hoping to see sunlight filling my room as the shade lifted. Nothing is more perfect than a sunny, autumn day in New York City. With each tug, my room didn’t brighten. The puddles that were forming in the parking lot three stories down confirmed the weatherman on Channel 2 was accurate in the previous night’s forecast. Rain. Rain is not the end of the world. In fact, I kind of enjoy it. The water gives life to the plants, the animals, the forgotten. It washes away soot and smog and carries it to the sewer grates. It promises something new. As often as I travel, of course I come prepared for rain; the word prepared meaning, “I know there is a small shop in the train station that sells umbrellas for $3, so if it rains, I’ll be okay.” Off to the [...]

Today’s guest post is courtesy of Jesse Rice. Jesse is a speaker, musician, and author of The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community. He and his wife, Katie, live in Seattle-ish, WA, and he blogs at www.churchoffacebook.com. Dear Fear-Of-What-Others-Think, I am sick of you and it’s time we broke up. I know we’ve broken up and gotten back together about a bazillion times, but seriously, Fear-Of-What-Others-Think (or FOWOT, for short), this is it. We’re breaking up. Because I’m tired of over-thinking my status updates on Facebook, trying to sound more clever, funny, important. And I’m tired of wondering which Tweets might drive the most traffic to my blog, as though my value as a human being were truly numerical. I’m tired of wondering which picture to post online so that my in-danger-of-over-expanding gut doesn’t hang out too much and cause others to think I’m a normal late 30-something male, God forbid. Or that I vacation not in Hawaii or Paris or rural Vietnam, but in central Oregon, if I can afford to go on vacation at all. I’m sick of feeling anxious about what I say or do in public, especially around people I don’t know that [...]

Today’s guest post is from Sarah Raymond Cunningham, the author of multiple books. Sarah quit her job so she could write what she’s passionate about and keep building a community called STORY. She also contributes to projects she believes in at People of the Second Chance. You can follow her newest endeavors, like onethousandpremieres.com, at her blog, www.sarahcunningham.org. I hope I‘m not the only person whose life circles back to different versions of the same question: Should I sink my energy into tackling new ambitious projects? Into chasing some noble goal? Or … should my ambition be to relax off the hero button for a while; to settle into a more natural, less-stressful life rhythm? Could the simple acts of living and loving somehow be just as noble? To top it all off, I face this question without the infamously Christian “life verse”. (I have a life Bible, does that count?) I don’t even have a life mission statement tacked to my mirror or refrigerator or car dashboard. What I do have is a little visual that’s all my own. It doesn’t feel commercial or gimmicky or demanded of me by some charismatic leadership figure. The visual is inspired by [...]