sethpollins 
I wear a Whoop strap to track my daily cardiovascular exertion, my nightly sleep, and my daily “recovery” based on my resting heart rate (RHR) and heart rate variability (HRV). Since I started wearing the strap in November 2019, the analytics have motivated me to tweak my daily routine to emphasize sleep and recovery. I feel better … Read more
Last week, I wrote about how “focus is the currency of resolve.” Without focus, we cannot maintain resolve. In a sense, focus and resolve are similar. When we resolve we “settle on a solution” or “decide firmly on a course of action.” I also wrote about notional boundaries, the beginnings of days, weeks, or months … Read more
A few months ago, I watched a video from my children’s elementary school: The kid’s principal, Mr. Mac, was announcing the week’s “blue ticket” winners. A student earns a blue ticket for embodying the school pledge: I am a positive, proud, productive, and patriotic member of the Fort Washington community. I will try my hardest. … Read more
This is a (lightly edited) copy of an email I sent during the second phase of the pandemic to my family about meeting. The email opened up a few conversations about meeting (and hugging). Perhaps it may be helpful for your family now and later…Earlier this year, in mid-march, we hosted a birthday party for … Read more
Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time. Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison … Read more
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are,” Brillat-Savarin wrote in his masterwork, The Physiology of Taste, a collection of recipes and parables with topics ranging from “the inconvenience of obesity,” to digestion, to food’s effect on dreams, and so much more. In investigating food’s relationship to the body, however, Brillat Savarin … Read more
Medical literature often describes the immune system as a wartime defense strategy against invaders. “Without an immune system,” Medical News Today writes, “our bodies would be open to attack…It is our immune system that keeps us healthy as we drift through a sea of pathogens.” “When functioning properly,” LiveScience writes, “the immune system identifies and attacks a variety … Read more
How do you feel? We hear this question so often, in so many different contexts, and our answer is invariably the same: “Good.” Or perhaps, “Fine.” Yet, during any given day, how often do we stop to sincerely consider this question. How do I feel? How do I feel right now? Learning to improve your … Read more
The photo above was taken twenty-five-years ago on the Ocean City boardwalk. Karen was seventeen, young and carefree. She wanted to travel around the world. She wanted to go to college. She wanted to learn several languages, to work for the United Nations. I was eighteen, extremely serious and painfully in love. I wanted to … Read more
It is 10:10 on Sunday morning in Ambler. The sky framed in the window is white, the pallor of a startled face. Lately, the weather defines my mood. Sunshine feels like a gift from Apollo. On a day like today, though, I think of Camus’ line from The Myth of Sisyphus: “There is but one … Read more