Life Lessons 6/21-22/25 New Haven

6/22/25- New Haven

1. Sometimes you pay for it, sometimes it’s free. 
2. As is often the case, there are layers upon layers. 
3. Even a staircase can be a work of art. 
4. It’s possible to live in a world where a series of 30,000 pound bombs are dropped on one side of the world at the very moment that you are eating chicken wings and drinking lemonade on the other side. 
5. Some debts we do our very best to ignore and deny, others we joyfully embrace, acknowledge, celebrate, and honor. 
6. Beware the trickster. 
7. There’s such a thing as too much judgment and such a thing as too little judgment. Among the many roles that judgment plays in our lives, judgment helps us discern, distinguish, clarify, and evaluate. 
8. Lyrics, like all forms of literature, are delish for misreading. 
9. Abstract concepts are fun for pondering, but limited in their ability to grab, inspire, and engage. 
10. Offering. 
11. It’s liberating to be freed of an obsession, even if that obsession was something you previously held dear. 
12. When gifted a decades old memory from a friend, know that you may or may not know what to do with it. 
13. May your most recent hang always be your greatest hang. 
14. The questions we ask, when greeting a stranger, are the departure point from which that connection embarks. 
15. It’s possible to be a great artist and a total asshole, unfortunately. 
16. A good friend takes you seriously and holds you lightly. 
17. Simple curiosity is a form of kindness. 
18. Shabbat coffee is different from Sunday morning coffee. 
19. To be part of a religious and spiritual tradition is to not have to make up words to speak and prayers to offer in moments when life makes your soul yearn to know what to say and what prayer to utter. 
20. The best meals really aren’t about the food. 

6/21/25- New Haven 

1. In order to be there, you first have to get there. 
2. To have “your” seat at the dining room table is to realize that you are part of the family. 
3. Some things are better than you remember them, some worse, but very few precisely as remembered. 
4. To truly greet an old friend after a long period of time requires honoring the present at least as much as honoring the past. When that happens, it’s pure joy. 
5. Riff. 
6. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. 
7. Sometimes folks want to join the band, sometimes folks want to listen. 
8. To hear one person’s story, told from the heart, is to hear, at least in some small way, all humanity. 
9. Going behind the scenes is always a treat. 
10. When you see a work of art in a museum, know that it was placed there with great care, and that there are thousands (at least) of others that would be honored to one day take its place. 
11. When you’re not accustomed to staying awake until 2am you feel it the next day. 
12. Our love will allow (sometimes require) us to go through great pains and discomfort. 
13. Turns out we don’t really know what it means to be free. 
14. There are lots of different ways to use your mind. 
15. Sometimes you can feel the energy shift profoundly just by taking an extra beat, an extra breath.