Brian Clark

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. ~ Marcus Aurelius The ancient wisdom is true: Happiness is not something you seek, but something you become. In fact, chasing happiness is most likely going to make you unhappy. And contrary to popular belief, success …

Every next level of life will demand a different you. ~ Leonardo DiCaprio It’s no accident that the mythical symbol of the phoenix punctuates the Further logo. If we’re continuing to grow as people, we do experience something akin to rebirth from the ashes of our former selves in order to meets the demands of …

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. ~ Henry David Thoreau What does it mean to be wise? We certainly have popular conceptions of wisdom. And it’s usually of some all-around well-adjusted sage. But it’s likely more compartmentalized than that. We’re all a bit wise in some context (well, all …

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. ~ Charles Spurgeon Ah, the tropics are something magical. As long as you protect against the sun and bugs, that is. 🙂 I’m still in Costa Rica, and about to take my son for a surfing lesson. So please forgive …

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. ~ Charles Spurgeon Ah, the tropics are something magical. As long as you protect against the sun and bugs, that is. 🙂 I’m still in Costa Rica, and about to take my son for a surfing lesson. So please forgive …

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. ~ Michael Pollan Greetings from Costa Rica! I’m hanging out in Ojochal, an ex-pat community on the Costa Ballena (Costa Rica’s southern Pacific coast). Even though it’s a tiny village, Ojochal is known primarily for one thing — amazing food thanks to relocated restaurateurs from around the world. …

Let’s cut to the chase — the answer to the question posed by the headline for many people will be yes. It’s an inevitable next step in the relentless march of techno-capitalism combined with an insatiable desire for personal improvement. That said, it seems like an unlikely time to trumpet the next big thing in …

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. ~ Albert Camus It’s been a bit since we focused primarily on health in Further. And given that we’re wrapping up the first month of 2018 today, the topic of weight loss seems appropriate given the amount of New Year’s …

What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. ~ Viktor Frankl First off, let me say thanks to all who wrote me in response to last week’s issue of Further. The idea of seeking self-improvement for the right reasons (and conversely avoiding …

While we generally regard striving to better ourselves as a good thing, there’s always the flip side. In this case, that comes from an article in this month’s New Yorker called “Improving Ourselves to Death.” As you might guess, the piece is fairly cynical, with a healthy heaping of hipster snark. Still, valid points are …