Discover Your Relationship’s True Meaning in Santa Fe
So many couples spend years managing the logistics of life together without ever stopping to ask the deeper questions: What does our love mean? Who are we becoming together? And what do we want our next chapter to look like? On June 19 - 22, 2026, Esther and I are gathering couples in Santa Fe for a retreat named The Meaning of Us. Just to be clear, this is not a couple therapy, but an opportunity to: - Gain a shared vocabulary for what you each most deeply want - Understand your relationship as the complex, living thing it actually is - Do the individual work that makes the relational work possible - See your differences as a source of depth rather than friction We'd love to have you join us: https://t.co/miQlJc33UK
Happiness Is a Skill, Not Just Genetic Luck
Half of your baseline mood is genetic. And if yours runs low, you got lucky. The people born with naturally cheerful brains coast through life. Their default setting is good enough, so they never have to develop the habits that make...
Parents Say “I Don’t Know” While Children Cite Toxicity
38% of American adults are estranged from at least one close family member. That's a remarkably high number. What's especially interesting is that parents and adult children often tell completely different stories about why the relationship broke down. When adult children are asked...
Experience a Small-Group Retreat at Rising Circle Ranch
If you've read my latest book, The Meaning of Your Life, and you're ready to do the work in person, I've partnered with Modern Elder Academy—the world’s preeminent place for retreats about life’s biggest questions. MEA’s Rising Circle Ranch in...
Toxic “You’re Perfect” Fuels Despair or Misplaced Blame
Some of the worst damage in your life came from people who love you, in the form of a poisonous sentence wrapped in good intentions: “You're perfect just the way you are.” The reason it landed as damage rather than kindness is...
Shift From Work‑life Balance to Work‑life Integration
Work-life balance sounds reasonable. It isn't. The moment you talk about balancing work against your life, you've already conceded something: That your work isn't part of your life. That it's a cost you pay to get to the time that actually...
Embrace Imperfections: Honest Self‑Acceptance Beats Denial
In this week's episode of Office Hours, I explore why we avoid uncomfortable truths when feeling down, and why the better path towards fulfillment is honest self-acceptance—embracing your imperfections, and taking on the challenge to improve. https://t.co/TLFQve9coy
Savoring: A Conscious Rebellion Against Our Negativity Bias
Savoring is rebelling against yourself. We’re wired to notice what’s wrong before we notice what’s good. That helped our ancestors survive, but it also means we move through life without fully experiencing the moments worth savoring. Savoring doesn’t come naturally. It’s...
Kids Learn Faith by Watching, Not Hearing
People ask me all the time, “How do I keep my kids in the faith?” The answer is simpler than most people want it to be: your example matters more than your words. Children learn by imitation long before they learn by...
Join Our Growing Northern Virginia Content & Social Media Team
Our Northern Virginia–based, in-person team is growing. We’re currently looking for new talent to join our Content & Social Media team as a Content & Social Media Producer at ACB Ideas. Click the link to learn more, apply, and help spread the...
Savoring Turns Good Moments Into Lasting Meaning
If you don’t practice savoring, even good moments can pass without much impact. In this week’s episode of Office Hours, I explain why that happens and what to do about it. Because of our built-in negativity bias, we tend to overlook...
Graduation Marks the Start of Life’s Purpose Quest
Graduation looks like an ending — it really isn't. It's the start of a harder, more important question: not just what they're going to do, but what their life is actually for. I’ve been thinking about that a lot in...
Easing Grief Signals Healing, Not Disloyalty
Grief doesn’t stay the same forever, and when it begins to ease, a lot of people feel unsettled by that. It can feel like something is wrong, or even like you’re being disloyal to the person you lost, as if...
Boys Thrive When They See Father Love Mother
What children see at home shapes them more than anything they’re told. For boys especially, one of the strongest predictors of future success is watching their father love their mother. Not hearing about values, but seeing them lived out.
Grief Reveals Love’s Depth, Not Mental Dysfunction
Grief is part of the human experience. If you love, you will lose. And when you do, the pain is inescapable. It can be disorienting, overwhelming, and in the case of acute grief, the symptoms can even resemble something like...