Philosophy
October 2026
: Free to What? We are obsessed with freedom. The rugged individualism in American culture is one of the mindsets …
: Life’s Main Story Our life is generally three acts; youth, early adulthood, and adulthood. Though we do not recognize …
September 2026
: Lose Yourself This year, Benedict is taking his first philosophy class. Called Virtuous Manhood, it is a study of …
August 2026
: Two Paths The breakthroughs in science and technology that we experience today are a direct result of the …
: Fortress of the Mind, Garden of the Heart Castles occupy a special place in the modern world. These ancient structures, built with simple …
July 2026
: Secrets of Peace Our summer RV trip is over, but its events are now part of our shared memory and language. It was a …
: All Things Bright and Beautiful Over the last several months, I’ve spent a lot of my time ruminating on aesthetics. This particular …
May 2026
: Bloom Early last winter, Alison planted tulips in our backyard. There was an area of dead space where a …
April 2026
: Open to Discomfort Perspective is the hinge on which our lives turn. We see this in the story of every saint. These men …
: Freedom Political science, philosophy, and human history is full of yearning for just governments. While it …
March 2026
: Push Harder For the last six years, I’ve built out my collection of pocket knives. The result is an incredible …
: Reign It is said that discipline is destiny, though it is one that few choose to pursue. Discipline is …
: These Better Things The relationship between Creator and created bends the mind. For centuries, theologians and …
January 2026
: Some Noble Purpose Earlier this week, I paused my workday to pray the Rosary. This is not a discipline that I’m …
December 2025
: Believe The heritage of our Catholic faith is deeply rooted in ancient peoples. From God’s first interaction …
: Stillness For two days last week, all four children were away from home and at their grandparents’ house. The …
: Simplify It’s easy to accumulate clutter. A single dish on the counter soon has many friends; tasks partially …
November 2025
: End of Days As the liturgical year winds down, the readings at the Sunday Mass focus on the end times, something …
October 2025
: Re-form The process of preparing a man for priestly ordination is more than just educational. It’s true that …
July 2025
: Delay It’s easy, when we are young, to assume that we have time. Life is a long journey whose minutes are …
June 2025
: Verso L’alto St. Irenaeus wrote in the second century that the glory of God is man fully alive. How can we aspire …
May 2025
: This Way of Life Memorial Day finds its roots in the post-Civil War era. A nation healing from a brutal conflict …
: Ready, Set Many times throughout the year, whether it be in January or our birthday, we get an internal urge to …
February 2025
: Shuffling Our new house has a full basement, about a third of which is unfinished storage space. In the past, …
: Tomorrow Never Comes I spent a lot of time thinking about the future. My brain is wired for efficiency, so no matter the …
January 2025
: A Full Day When I think about my ideal day, every minute is scheduled out. I have books I want to read, news …
December 2024
: Rethinking Everything The new year is just around the corner. In just over two weeks, 2024 will be in the books and a …
November 2024
: Gratitude And just like that, the end of 2024 is upon us. We celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday, and many of …
: Thank You I have written many posts over the years marking Veterans Day. This is a day for us to pause to not …
: One Second On Saturday, I made a scheduled site visit for work. It’s a bit of a hike to the office, just over …
October 2024
: One Thousand To understand life is to understand impermanence. As we grow, experience, and learn new information, …
: Starting Over In the 5th grade, my teacher, Mr. Gleeves, would start most days by announcing, “Today is the first …
August 2024
: Hints of Fall The dog days of summer are in the rearview mirror as pumpkin spice season is just around the corner. …
July 2024
: What’s Next Mindfulness gained a foothold in the imaginations of workers and corporations in the last few years, …
February 2024
: Start Now Tomorrow is the perfect time to start anything. With the whole day ahead of us, no interruptions, …
January 2024
: Trailhead Three hundred and sixty-five days later, we find ourselves at another trailhead. The new year holds …
December 2023
: Some Greater Glory Hopelessness is poison for the soul. With nothing to look forward to in the future, man starts to …
: Just War As advanced as we all like to think we are, even in this post-modern era, still struggle with the …
November 2023
: Love the Path In life, we often have to walk difficult paths to achieve our desired outcomes. Whether at home, at …
October 2023
: Natural Conclusions There’s something about waypoints in our lives that lead us to become pensive. We reflect, look …
August 2023
: Inconvenience The kids went on vacation earlier this summer without Alison and I. Grandparents Camp is a nice …
: Disrupt Wall Street is obsessed with disruptors; those companies that take a stale industry and deploy an …
July 2023
: Limitless There are certain things in life that we pick up and just can’t seem to put down. Rules, guidelines, …
June 2023
: More Our sense of timing is incredible. Consider the level of comfort that we experience daily, with …
April 2023
: The Idea Jesus is most commonly thought of as a religious figure, but in reality, his core message a …
: Summits Many years ago, shortly after turning 18 , I went on a church field trip with our young, and very …
January 2023
: Create Beauty There’s so much darkness and ugliness in the world. The links that get clicked and shows that get …
December 2022
: The Year It’s Been The final two weeks of the year always feel the same to me, and it’s a feeling that I love. Calm, …
: Time to Care It’s easy, when time is tight, to cut the things that benefit us. Exercise, meal prep, prayer, these …
November 2022
: Enjoy Today Living life day-to-day is not easy, nor is it simple. In many ways, it’s boring and mundane. I never …
October 2022
: The Emperor Has No Clothes Hypocrisy is part of what it means to be human. We’re deeply flawed. To have the expectation that we …
: The Sexualization of Everything I have to imagine that there was a time in human history when every human relationship wasn’t …
September 2022
: A Single Spark There’s a funny thing about inertia. It stands in our way and holds us back until the moment that it …
: Freedom Squandered No other nation, in the history of civilization, has endured so long without the benefit of kings or …
August 2022
: Diligence On Friday night, at 8:30pm to be exact, a very motivated local landscaping supply business owner …
May 2022
: Turn on Your Brain The culture of rage is here, a general acceptance of rule breaking in the furtherance of political …
April 2022
: The Paradox of Time There’s a quirk in human psychology when it comes to time. We have lists of things that we’d like to …
: Victory Easter is here and the tomb is empty. The timing of Easter this year was prescient. In my listening …
: The Human Person It’s a great paradox that in the Information Age, when every book every written and every fact known …
March 2022
: Desensitized Evil’s greatest objective is to desensitize us to its reality. If we fail to perceive evil for the …
February 2022
: Keto Recycle Over the past three years, I’ve experimented with the keto diet. It’s fashionable right now, a fact …
January 2022
: Noticing Progress It’s hard to notice progress in our personal growth. We’re so intimately familiar with ourselves …
November 2021
: Pivot We’re in a season of disruption. Three major holidays in a row, travel plans, end of year tasks, and …
: Acceptance Most of the Christian life is about acceptance. Acceptance is the humble admission that the great …
August 2021
: Building Momentum Just after my birthday this Spring, I started walking again each morning. My most successful streaks …
: The Monk and the Merchant The pictures coming out of Afghanistan are heartbreaking. We will forever remember the image of the …
: Environment I caught the back to school bug last week. The malaise of summer broke, and I worked through my …
: Second New Year August is here and back to school is right around the corner. We limped over the finish line in …
July 2021
: Spiritual Wokeism I’m old enough to remember when being woke was enough to get you made fun of on SNL. What started as …
: Lazy Summer Days With deep regret, my vacation is over. A few days at home with just one kid to watch, followed by a …
: To The Lake July at home is a hot, muggy affair. Humidity rarely disappears, meaning even my early morning …
May 2021
: Kill the Golden Calf Everyone hates the polarized culture, but no one wants to give an inch. We blame the other side as …
: Weakness “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9 As a part of my …
March 2021
: Milestones This week will mark the eighth anniversary of this blog. We live in a hurried and distracted …
January 2021
: Off the Wagon After years of practice and observation, I know the keep components that I need to build up physical …
December 2020
: Carrying Too Much As I sit to write this post, I’m at the kitchen counter in our new house. We’re in the midst of a …
November 2020
: Live Today Jesus told us to not worry about tomorrow, that it would take care of itself. I wrote a few weeks …
October 2020
: Time to Go Life in March was paralyzing. The incessant flow of negative news stories crashed over us like a …
July 2020
: Focus The opportunity to gain clarity in your life is rare. The busyness of the world and daily …
: A Few Extra Minutes Taking care of children is no easy task. Apart from the heavy lifting of moral and character …
May 2020
: Some Gave All Memorial Day marks the official start of summer. While the holiday weekend is typically filled with …
: The Lessons Learned Back in January, I had high hopes and expectations for 2020. The future was bright as a new decade …
: Resisting Structure Sticking to a routine and a list of daily habits is much easier to do when I have momentum. Building …
: Dive Into Something What a difference three months can make! Back in January, I felt completely overwhelmed with all of …
April 2020
: Mind Your Diet We become what we consume. The uncertainty that we all experience now is only intensified when we …
March 2020
: In the Desert What a Lent this has been. We’re familiar with the story of Jesus going out into the desert for 40 …
January 2020
: Normalcy It’s the last week of January, which means just about everyone’s New Years resolutions are …
December 2019
: A Remarkable Year As I wrote in January about my grand plans for 2019, I laid out a vision for a totally new me. I …
October 2019
: Reaching A Goal I still remember it vividly. I stepped on to the scale one winter morning to see a three digit …
December 2018
: Becoming Technoskeptic When the iOS App Store first opened its doors, I was one of the first customers. For years, …
: On Tumblr Tumblr recently faced an internal crisis. The niche mass-blogging platform had become widely …
: Where Emotion and Perception Rule My degree is in classical philosophy, with a heavy emphasis in Ancient Greek thought. Of all of the …
November 2018
: Media Anxiety The midterm elections are concluded. With over 700 days before the 2020 presidential election, the …
: Guard Your Joy There are many reasons to be optimistic in life, especially as an American. We live in comfort and …
October 2018
: The Gluttony of Surfing I remember a time two decades ago when the Internet was a fun place to be. It was new, exciting, and …
May 2018
: Commit Yourself to A Program What a privilege it is to live in the Modern era. No matter what goal I set for myself, someone has …
: Quitting Social Media I remember a time, a decade ago, when the Internet was fun. It was an open, collaborative place …
March 2018
: Data Driven I’m a guy who likes data. I like to see numbers, charts, and graphs. I can understand them and make …
February 2018
: I Choose Superhero Our cities and neighborhoods produce the finest political thinkers, artists, innovators, and …
: August Ames Until late last year, I didn’t know August Ames. One day in early December, I was checking in on the …
November 2016
: Mending Election Fences Our culture is sick. How far we have fallen from the America that De Tocqueville documented in his …
: Thoughts on Friendship in the Digital Age One of my favorite activities is to pick an area of life where I need improvement and to work hard …
: The Necessity of Rest (and Why You Need More of It) I spent four years in the workforce after college. The environment was challenging, but it was a …
September 2016
: Seeking Simplicity Life has a way of coming full circle. Just five years ago, when I was young, free, and single, I was …
: Pam, Porn, & Paul There’s no renewal without conversion. There’s no mercy without justice. There’s no resurrection …
: The Duplicity of Moral Superiority There’s a tendency in human thought to desire superiority over others. We must show those we resent …
August 2016
: The Fatal Flaw of Feminism Americans have a great tradition of rugged individualism. We have a heritage of self-reliance …
July 2016
: Keeping Things Civil Every four years, we have a tremendous, Constitutionally guaranteed, opportunity to remind ourselves …
: Respect People The Catholic Church’s position on life is unimpeachable. Every human person has inherent dignity and …
: I hate Facebook. So I did something about it. I recently received an email from Facebook congratulating me on my 10 year anniversary on the …
June 2016
: Sick of Reality TV Television programming has the unique ability to bring people together. Pursuing Twitter after an …
April 2016
: Vote Your Conscience When Virginia held its primary election on Super Tuesday this year, I found myself in a position …
March 2016
: Painful Reminders We’re all a bit detached from reality. We see ourselves in a certain light that tends to be a bit …
: Be You We all wear masks. We instinctively alter our behavior when we believe we’re being watched in order …
February 2016
: How Will You Use Your Fresh Start? I love this time of year when I and every other writer on the Internet write about goals, …
: What Great Things Will You Do in 2016 I’ve asked you how you will use the fresh start that the New Year gives you, but today I want to ask …
: Cutting Corners is Weak Personal integrity is a key component to success. In fact, America’s millionaires rated integrity as …
: The New Year Slump It’s about that time of year when people hit their New Year slump. The grand plans, resolutions, and …
: Grading Your Performance It’s a good idea to think about your performance as a man and husband in terms of a grading scale. …
January 2016
: Discipline Trickles Down Alison’s schedule around Holy Days is always a little tricky. Our parish generally offers sufficient …
: When to Quit Around this time of year, I’m always excited by the potential of the new year. I have a long list of …
: 2016 Goals 2016 is officially here! As is my tradition, I wanted to share with you my goals for the upcoming …
December 2015
: Preserve Your Energy Negativity is the biggest drain on our energy. Every day we encounter plenty of rabbit holes to go …
: Setting Your Goals for 2016 I think that the most interesting aspect of goal setting is looking at them in hindsight. As I sit …
: Drive Safely This Season As the cool fall air moved into the region, I made a concerted effort to get Benedict outside more. …
: Everyone Craves Respect The Golden Rule should be the gold standard in human relationships, but my experience tells me it …
: My Own Biggest Obstacle When your thirst for change exceeds the threshold of your objections, things start to happen. We all …
: Change Requires Pain There’s something very real and raw about wanting to make changes in our lives. We all want to be …
November 2015
: I Hate Car Dealers Alison and I are in the market for a new car. Well, we thought we wanted a car, but now we’ve …
October 2015
: Daily Grooming How we present ourselves to the world is an important aspect of live, and so making time for daily …
: Never Quit Quitters quit. In perhaps the most obvious statement ever made on this blog, I’ll state it again. …
: A Society That Doesn’t Read We live in a society that doesn’t read. In 2013 a quarter of Americans didn’t read a single book. …
September 2015
: Where Do You Send Your Thoughts? In a widely circulated Matthew Kelley talk, Matthew made the point that where you send your …
: Be Courageous When we think about courage, we often think about people overcoming all odds to accomplish something …
: Break Your Phone Addiction Alison and I are both up for phone upgrades this month. It was with great glee that I watched the …
: The Value of Sharing The world is an incredibly noisy place, even more so now that the Internet gives a bullhorn to …
: The Speed of A Year The speed of time never ceases to amaze me. It seems like every time I blink a day, week, month, …
: Believe in Yourself There’s a direct correlation between how successful you are and how diligently you work. The hardest …
August 2015
: Do the Essentials Daily schedules fluctuate a lot. Between work, appointments, shopping, and after-school activities, …
: Cutting Your Schedule It’s said that the worst boss that you’ll ever work for is yourself. At one time or another, you may …
: How to Read the News Online news is both a blessing and a curse. You can get up-to-the minute updates, but oftentimes the …
: Resolve Conflicts Far too many of us carry around burdens that we don’t have to endure. Mistakes from the past haunt …
July 2015
: Traveling Parents Today I want to put out a challenge to travelers everywhere: be kind to parents with young children. …
: Reset Occasionally I keep rigorous track of my goals throughout the year. I’ve mentioned before that I use the …
June 2015
: Let Go of Past Hurts I’m a grudge-holder. I don’t do it for all things, but when a particular relational infraction …
: Fighting Impatience Several times a week, I fail to reach the high Catholic Husband standard. Being the husband that I …
: How to Deal with Traffic Our National Driver’s Education curriculum needs to be overhauled. At least half of the teaching …
May 2015
: Humble Yourself Humility may be the most unpopular virtue. We all love interacting with humble people and we enjoy …
: Never Miss An Opportunity Throughout any given day, we have plenty of opportunities to do the right thing. Several months ago, …
: Thank A Vet Five words are all it takes to make the difference in a service member’s life. We see men and women …
April 2015
: Editing Friendships College is the gilded age of friendships. At no other point in your life are you more fully immersed …
March 2015
: Respect Women Sex sells, even when it’s irrelevant. Watching commercials during the Super Bowl underscores this …
: Adult Report Cards When I was in high school, in my Junior and Senior year, I was introduced to something truly …
: Turn Off the News Since late last summer, I’ve had a subscription to the Wall Street Journal. It’s my first newspaper …
: Make Time to Read There are limitless ways for us to use our free time during the day, but most activities leave us …
February 2015
: Don’t Press Snooze I have three layers of alarms each morning. My Fitbit has 3 silent alarms scheduled each morning for …
: Have Clear Motivations There are a lot of things that I’d like to do. Almost every day, I get a new idea for some project …
January 2015
: End Month One If you can believe it, we’ve already reached January 30th. Yes, just 30 short days ago we all …
: Motivate Yourself 2015-01-16 The New Year is always a popular time for fitness goals. Setting a fitness goal for …
: My 2015 Goals The New Year is here! 2014 is over and gone and 2015 has officially arrived. I love the newness and …
December 2014
: Why Resolutions Fail We’re very rapidly approaching 2015 and with it, the onslaught of New Year’s Resolutions. Year after …
November 2014
: What to Do When Your Want to Add Something New Time is finite. Each day, we have just 24 hours to spend on our pursuits. Between 6 and 8 of those …
October 2014
: The Power of Discipline In the moment, discipline is never pleasant. Once the occasion has passed, we all love its benefits. …
September 2014
: Why You Should Wake Up at 5am 5am is early. As I write this, it’s 5:19am and I’ve been up for 25 minutes. It seems crazy. There …
: How to Avoid Wasting Afternoons Wasting time is a waste of time. I hate afternoons or evenings where I just sit around watching TV …
August 2014
: You’re Worth More Than A Paycheck At some point in our lives, we each ask ourselves the question, “What is my worth?" Towards the end …
June 2014
: Last Thoughts of the Day A few weeks ago, I wrote about your last words of the day. In that article, I talked about how you …
: A Line in the Sand Our lives are an experiment. We have one chance to live, and as a part of that experience, we have …
May 2014
: A Fresh Start, Daily If you’re like me, you’re really good at making mistakes. Oftentimes, you’ll reach expert level in …
April 2014
: Subject Matter Authority Last month I achieved a major milestone for both myself personally and for Catholic Husband. I …
March 2014
: Planning Margin Time Think of the most successful people that you know. Consider what they do, their characteristics and …
February 2014
: Reclaiming Wasted Time Time is our most precious commodity. Like our health, once it’s gone, it’s not coming back. Yet, …
January 2014
: Men vs. Bros I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We live in a world full of boys. Actually, let me …
: Keeping Yourself in Balance Each stage of our lives has unique benefits. The single life brings freedom, but a lack of …
September 2013
: Carry On There’s only one thing you can do when you fail: carry on. There are going to be tough days. There …
August 2013
: You’re Not A Punk You’re not a punk. Believe me, we’ve both met a lot of punks out there. A punk is a guy who cares …
June 2013
: You’re Not that Important I don’t really mean that. You’re important to someone. Hopefully a lot of someones. You’re just not …
April 2013
: The Club We emerged from the Christmas Season a few months ago. This Christmas was my wife and I’s first …