You & Improved

- - - | written by Jason on 4/25/2021 | - - -

How to Avoid Becoming a Slave to Your To-Do List

Hello, my name is Jason, and I'm a crossoffaholic.Have you ever done something that wasn’t on your to-do list, and after you completed it, wrote it down just so you could immediately cross it off?Me too. All the time. It's not weird at all.The truth is, we experience a dopamine hit – a happy little chemical reaction – any time we accomplish something, which is the reason crossing things off our to-do list makes us feel good. (Also, I may or may not believe I won't get credit if I don't write it down.)In general, I am a fan of to-do lists. They help keep me organized. And writing things down …

- - - | written by Jason on 4/18/2021 | - - -

Insert the Coin

My Grandpa and uncle used to own a tavern. Once in a while, they'd close it to host family parties. I remember the dimly lit atmosphere and the ghosts of spent cigarettes that hung in the air, but my favorite feature was the row of arcade games lined up against the wall. They were blinking, bright doorways to amazing worlds and grand adventures. I don't remember ever being given any money from my parents to play them. But no matter. Each game had a preview segment, showing a minute or so of the gameplay to entice you to feed it some coins. I just delighted in going from machine to machine, …

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- - - | written by Jason on 3/21/2021 | - - -

A Lot Can Happen in a Year

My wife celebrated a birthday last weekend. This year's edition wasn't nearly as monumental as last year's, which was the day after President Trump declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency.Good times.The day before that day, I had the whole family in tow for a speech I gave at a fundraiser for a children's museum in Indiana. There were all kinds of whispers about this "coronavirus thing." I was still trying to figure out if it had anything to do with that beer you drink with a lime. We were told to wash our hands more often, and a local college was rumored to temporarily close for …

- - - | written by Jason on 3/14/2021 | - - -

Cornerstone Faith

This is a picture of Kim and me at the Cornerstone music festival, very early on in our dating years. Together with friends, we camped out with thousands of other Christian music fans in the middle of a field during a sweltering stretch of Illinois summer.Here we are showing off our "hardcore" faith represented by sun-kissed cross "tattoos" made with two Band-aids.Nine years of Catholic school provided a decent foundation for my faith, but it didn't really come alive until the year after I graduated high school, about the time this photo was taken. I was on fire for God, excited to learn all I …

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- - - | written by Jason on 2/28/2021 | - - -

COVID Math and Your Mission in Life

Ready for a fun fact about COVID-19 (you know, the virus you've been inundated with information – and misinformation – about for an entire year now that's wreaked havoc on a global scale)? It has been recently calculated that all of the virus circulating in the world right now could easily fit inside a single Coca-Cola can. Yep, British mathematician Kit Yates figured out there are around two quintillion – that's two billion billion – of the virus particles in the world at any one time. Even calculating the fact that the spherical shape and spiky proteins would leave gaps when stacked …

- - - | written by Jason on 2/21/2021 | - - -

How to Remove Roadblocks

We are in the process of welcoming a new cohort of members to the Wonder & Whimsy Society. Each quarter, we send out a Mystery Mailing to members packed with all kinds of fun stuff. Some of the items included in January's red box were a custom-designed Tinker Journal, a set of greeting cards not yet available for sale, and an assortment of random Lego bricks.With those bricks came an important reminder Kim and I wanted to share with members, and one I want to share with you now. Just as the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, the building of a great castle begins with …

- - - | written by Jason on 2/14/2021 | - - -

Time for New Shoes and Wineskins

My Grandma on my mom's side used to tell us stories about her childhood. I remember a tale about her shoes. When the soles wore out, instead of buying new shoes, her father would re-sole them with rubber from old tires. She and her sister were mortified to kneel down at the communion rail at church for fear that their classmates would be able to read Goodyear on the bottom of their shoes.(I can't help but think how much the bottoms of modern-day sneakers look like tire treads, with brand logos stamped upon them. Perhaps my grandmother and her sister were just ahead of their time?)I can …

- - - | written by Jason on 2/7/2021 | - - -

When it Comes to This, We’re ALL Artists

Artists of all stripes are conditioned to fear the blank canvas, the empty page, the blinking cursor incessantly taunting you with a demanding, "Well...?"The little voice in the back of your head asserts that you can't do it, and you shouldn't even try. The despicable little bastard – we call it Adultitis around here – is not actually you, but it uses your voice to sound convincing:What if I choose wrong?What if I fail?What if I don't have anything to say?What if someone else already said this, only better?What if I've peaked and the best is behind me?What if they make fun of me?What if they …

- - - | written by Jason on 1/31/2021 | - - -

How to Make Every Monday Awesome

I know a person who, after four years of lament and loathing, is relieved to have a new president.I know another who is crestfallen and filled with anxiety over what the next four years will bring. Those two sentences? I could have easily written them this morning as I could have four years ago. To be honest, I have felt both emotions at different times in the last twenty years. But alas, talking politics is tricky business these days, with emotional landmines at every turn. So let's focus on something else.Like Mondays.I've written before about how Monday gets a bad rap. When we see Friday, …

- - - | written by Jason on 1/24/2021 | - - -

This Poison Tastes Great, Want Some?

I don't know who needs to hear this but drinking poison in order to feel better is a bad idea. That's basically what we're doing when we monitor the "news" of the day.Early in the pandemic, I came across the term "doomscrolling." It stopped me in my tracks because it resonated so much. According to psychologist and clinical assistant professor Ariane Ling, PhD., doomscrolling is “the act of endlessly scrolling down one’s news apps, Twitter, and social media and reading bad news."Seems like a bad idea. And yet, one reason we resort to this habit is to attempt to seek information in hopes of …

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