Instead, we opted to join the first co-housing group on the east side of our state, choosing to live in a condo that would reduce our private square footage by half, downsize us into a one-car garage, allow us to participate in the work and fruits of a communal garden, woodshop and more, and exchange my cooking for all the households one night a month for 24 feasts provided by my new neighbors.

Is the Noble Eightfold Path applicable to a sustained romantic love, a committed relationship?  Yes

Lately, I’ve been especially intrigued by the idea of humility, as much of our national political discussions have deteriorated into a swamp of incivility and the word, humility, seems to have vanished from popular diction.

Years ago I heard a quote that has always stuck with me: “Americans are the only people on earth stupid enough to believe we should be happy all the time.”

An old activist friend of mine, Fran Peavey, used to travel the world’s benches in the 1970s and 80s with a simple sign that read, "American Willing to Listen." We’d be looking at a different political landscape now if only more of us had.

What I do know is that humility, becoming small, has an inverse relationship to increasing happiness.