Chuang Tzu, an ancient Chinese sage and one of the inspirations for Taoism, wrote that life was about wandering through ceaseless changes.

Separation is also about wandering through changes. My journal tells the story. This happened about 18 months after my partner and I first split.

June 28, 1997

Separation can bring sorrow to a family, but it also brings freedom.

Psychologist and writer Eric Fromm wrote this about "dissolving an unhappy marriage":

"The stock argument of parents in such a situation is that they cannot separate in order not to deprive the children of the blessings of...

I think of love as a beautiful backyard garden -- homey, friendly, natural, surprising, beautiful, sweet, peaceful... and laced with mines that will blow me to smithereens.

Risk goes with romance. Danger with delight. Pain with passion. If I am open enough to love and be loved, then I am...

MEMO TO: All Governments, Religious Leaders, Soldiers, Protesters, Suicide Bombers, Lovers, Liars, Freaks, Squares, Parents, Children, Sons and Daughters

SUBJECT: Ten Points for Peace in 2012

1.1

God's on everyone's side.

1.2:

All is made to continue,
And the continuing is all.

...

Appreciation is everyday magic.

It grounds me. It lifts me. It expands my mind and spirit while contracting my ego.

When an investment appreciates, it grows. When I appreciate, I make an investment in my own growth.

Naturally, I try to appreciate as often as possible -- in...

Blinkers. Blinkered.

Just two words, you might think.

So why is your future is at stake?

Because wearing blinkers leads to being blinkered.

We put blinkers on a horse to focus its attention straight ahead. Blinkers screen out distractions and improve safety. Blinkers increase the speed with...

When he asked me if I wanted a nuclear weapon with my chicken burrito, I sensed this was no ordinary fast food worker. Did he know what I did for a living? How did he know? I brushed such concerns aside and looked him straight in the eye. I said...

1. Focus on things in life you can't control. Seek to control those things anyway. Fail. Repeat.


2. In detail and with thoroughness, work out how these things which are out of your control will make your life harder, rip you off, treat you unfairly and generally create...

To his Facebook a student once swore
I'll update my status no more.
The time that I waste's
Better spent face-to-face.
For the rest, face-in-book, I'll explore.

My 18-year-old son called me with some remarkable news the other day, inspiring the limerick above.

The Japanese spider crab is longer than most men are tall. In Suruga Bay, Japan, Emory Kristof created this image with the help of a camera mounted on a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV). (A second ROV's headlights can be seen in the background.) The crabs...

A combination of Thanksgiving and Easter. That's the way photographer Natalie Fobes describes celebrations honoring the first salmon caught of the season. Read below about Fobes' 10 year photographic odyssey following Pacific salmon. Here, Raymond Moses tunes his drum before the Tulalip...

...

A small Atlanta design firm is attempting to redefine success for corporate America.

Unboundary, which lists companies such as FedEx, Coca-Cola, AT& T, IBM, HP and Charles Schwab as clients, believes the way to change the world is to re-think and broaden business strategy.

The Power...

South Georgia Island. Wildlife photojournalist Paul Nicklen says he seeks "intimate" images of animals like this elephant seal. Sometimes that poses risks. To his life. See below for more details on the elephant seal who tried to crush him. (The seal weighed...

Midway Atoll in the Pacific north of the Hawaiian Islands. "Every morning I had this group of [white] terns flying on my shoulders almost touching," says wildlife photographer Daisy Gilardidni. This particular white tern "was just really curious... She's really looking at...

There are 5 million orphans in Ethiopia, according to the official UNICEF estimate. Frehiwot Abera is one of them. Photographer Tyler Stableford met her on his volunteer work there. He says she lost both her parents by age five. She is now...

Ecologist and explorer Mark Moffett was in Brazil trying to get a photograph of a frog dancing. Honest. He says no one had ever done it before. Unfortunately, the frog seemed to have significant performance anxiety when faced with a camera. So...

Clyde Butcher is one of America's acclaimed environmental artists. Some people call him the Ansel Adams of the Everglades. But his technique is so largely based on intuition that he describes himself as a "point-and-shoot" photographer.

Little Butternut Key, Florida ( c) Clyde Butcher

Mark Fisher's job requires him to hang out of helicopters at altitude, get the "screaming barfies" from extreme cold (explanation below) and make hundreds of split-second artistic decisions on which ride many hours of preparation and many thousands of dollars.

He calls it "gravity-inspired photography," and often it involves...

Some people think blame is a way to escape trouble. If something goes wrong, they blame whomever's handy. It's easy -- just point the finger of guilt and run away from the pain and the mistakes.

Well, I've learned this:

First, it distracts me from thinking...