So, I’m standing in line at the grocery store checkout last evening with my wife, Jess, and this couple behind us are looking at our groceries on the conveyer belt and they do something remarkable. They start talking to us.

In memory of Rudolph

A little over two months ago, I experienced one of the most difficult events of my life. Our little dog, Rudolph, passed away. My wife, Jess, and I don’t have children, so our lives very much revolved around our furbaby. Rudy was eight and a half when we adopted him from an animal shelter, a 30-pound former stray, small in stature but big in character. For over five years, he was our pride and joy.

I recently watched a TED talk by Srikumar Rao that really got me thinking about my approach to my work – and life in general. Rao teaches that we are all ‘hardwired for happiness’ and that it’s only our thinking that gets in the way. For a creative lifer, his teachings also have a lot to offer in terms of how we approach our creative projects.

Let’s back up a bit, though and talk about my Mum, because she was way ahead of old Srikumar. He’ll keep. Mum’s wisdom always comes first.

Hell yeah, I wanna write a blog!

That’s the sentiment that came to me a couple of months ago. It didn’t come to me suddenly, like a unicorn bursting through clouds, tossing me onto its back and carrying me off on my new rainbow adventure. The idea of writing a blog had actually been on my mind for about a decade and a half. Ever since ye olde days of ‘weblogging’, I liked the idea of regularly jotting some words for people to read on the Interwebs.