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Dear Quest Fans: Laura and I have been offering journaling workshops for over a year now, almost every month. They tend to be on weekday afternoons, and she could tell you that I often arrive stressed, tense, worried that something is not in order. But as soon as people sit down and we begin to...

Dear Quest Fans: Last week a friend showed up to our hike wearing a sweater with RESIST printed across the chest in big bold letters. To be honest — that word makes me shudder a little. It does every time I see it, and I see it a lot around Oakland. Signs in windows, emails from friends inviting...

Some people come to a coaching session with a problem that, at first glance, is caused by someone else. I hear statements like: “I can’t be happy because he doesn’t listen to me.” “I dropped out of the workshop because they weren’t my kind of people.” “She said mean things, and now I need to...

Ever since COVID, it sometimes feels like the world has been dishing out one major event after another. Most of us didn’t plan any of it, didn’t ask for it, and certainly didn’t create it. And yet here we are, living inside it. We each have our own names for the political turmoil, the economic...

Some mornings I wake up and feel really down—on myself, and on the world. There’s always plenty I could point to: Will AI eliminate half the jobs? Is a recession coming? What happens when my mom gets sick? There’s no shortage of “looming” things I can grab onto and use as evidence that today might...

Some people drive thirty minutes to sit with strangers and talk about topics that might stir up difficult thoughts and feelings. Others sign up for a thirty-minute Zoom call out of curiosity—and then don’t show up. I’ve encountered both recently. And I’ve been both. What separates those who show...

On Friday, we’re journaling again. If you’re in the Bay Area, and can get out of work a little early on Friday,  I’d love for you to join us. I’ve written a lot in these letters about the magic of having a conversation with yourself on paper. This week, we’re pairing writing with another equally...

As I reflected on my goals over the holidays, I had to acknowledge my very marginal progress. I made some changes, but I am not where I wanted to be. So what, you may say, as long as you did something, that's good enough. I used to believe that too. But looking back, the biggest changes in my life...

Hard to believe another year is already in the rearview mirror. Have you taken a moment to reflect on yours? I began last week during our wonderful journaling gathering, where we “harvested” the moments—big and small—that shaped us this year. This season is always a quieter one for me. I find...

I’ve been thinking about empathy a lot lately. Maybe it was triggered by a parking attendant and a Labcorp employee. I had to get some lab work done and, in my usual fashion, treated it as a nuisance—something to squeeze in before work. And as often happens when we rush through what “shouldn’t be”...