Guest Post

Lately I've been thinking a lot about exploring edges. Edges are where wisdom is found. Some edges we are more familiar with: the edge of a table, or the edge use case for a new product you're putting into the market, or even the edge of your own comfort zone in a new relationship or in a new job.

I have a confession to make. I don’t have the world’s best breath. It’s not camel breath. It won’t drop you to your knees. But by no stretch of the imagination is it inviting, which explains why, in my house, I tend to get the cheek much more than the lips.

Many of us, today, are working and worried. Gone are the days when having a job meant “doing your job.” We are feeling anxious and worried because we can no longer expect our work to be the same as it was in the past. Staying ahead of the game is what it takes simply to be part of the game. We feel the pressure to renew our most important asset – ourselves.

In 1988, Daniel Goleman -- then a journalist for the New York Times, later the bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence -- sat down with Erik Erikson and his wife, Joan, for a chat. Erikson, then 87, was one of the world’s greatest theorists of human development. Joan, 86, was his collaborator.

By now most of us have heard the term mindfulness and how it has been proven to help reduce stress, anxiety, depression and chronic pain. But what is “mindfulness” and how can we utilize it in our daily lives and still be productive in our fast paced culture?

Introduction by Chip Conley: The beginning of my 2013 sojourn working with Airbnb was almost simultaneous to when a middle class Baby Boomer couple from Seattle, Debbie and Michael Campbell, chose to go out on the road for what has now been seven years of adventure.

Uprising was planted into the soil of the United States of America. It seeps into the water, permeates the air, and is ultimately ingested by each body that feeds off its land. The moment of now is simply the result of a harvest planted over 400 years ago.To quell the rage, plant new seeds.

You don’t need to hear my voice today. You don’t need to hear Chip’s voice today. You need to hear the voices of black Americans. We all need to listen. And act.

During this unprecedented crisis, entrepreneurs, small and big businesses alike are facing massive challenges due to the Coronavirus Pandemic and its impact on the economy, culture and everyday life. At times like this, the garden is a place of refuge, sustenance and inspiration for how to navigate extremely challenging times like we find ourselves in now.

"I mean Negative Capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason" - John Keats, 1817