Enjoy my conversation with Luis Alberto Urrea—NY Times bestselling author, Pulitzer finalist, and genuinely the coolest guy.

"After visiting two clinics in one day, I found my five-year-old niece waiting for me to play. My dad asked to join us. I saw them side by side in the yard, her bouncing with all the energy in the world, him ambling with his walker. We're all on a journey back to childhood. He is acting out the only version of childhood he knows; not playing games, but playing defense."

My eagerness to make things work before they were ready created a bigger setback.

In April I completed something that started twenty years ago.

On noticing the signals from within

How clarity of purpose brought a great rejection

For years I've used a notebook to hold myself accountable. Last month I noticed an uncomfortable pattern hiding in those pages.

Recently, I found myself reverting to an old habit: Reacting emotionally during unfavorable situations. On the surface, I strive to remain calm and poised, and for the most part I think I succeed. I can't deny, however, that stoic as I may aspire to be, a hot-headed Latino also lives inside me. I can point to two examples from this month: At work, where I've been for almost a decade, I've been able to tour and travel home to see my family at a moment's notice. Now, th

I went to Colombia to play shows last month. I’d planned the trip for most of the year; flights for five people, housing, gear, promotion, filming, and thousand other details to mold it all together. It went flawlessly. The shows were electric, the mountains mystical, the coffee superb. Everything was a ten out of ten. But before we’d left for Bogotá, I had already lived through an imaginary version of the experience, one that played out less favorably. I’d catastroph

For the past few months I’ve been listing a few things to be grateful for each night. I’m often surprised at how small things that I never thought to be thankful for make an appearance: •A favorite Indian restaurant taking my order near their closing time. •An annoying client who I never thought to be anything other than irked by. •Having a dishwasher for the first time. These add joy, comfort and stability to my life; no small thing. I started this practice because I not

I’d been in a funk since last month. It came out of nowhere. Summer has been enjoyable and I’ve felt excited about my progress on a few projects: I finished two short stories I’d started back in December. Completed a batch of songs and booked studio time to record them. Published an essay I was not expecting to write. Then, on a sunny Chicago afternoon, I met up with a friend passing through town while on tour. We used to play in a high school band together; now he travels

At the urging of multiple close friends, I went to see Sinners last month. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have. I have a long track record of finding modern mainstream movies horrible; over-explained, overly packaged, and with nothing left to the imagination. Afterward, one of those friends and I got into it. He loved the film. I couldn’t understand how. “Not everything needs to be deep and drawn out,” he said. Fair. Entertainment is valid on its own. But I pushed back

In May I passed a milestone; one year since I stopped seeing my therapist. Our work together changed me, and before we parted ways I showed her how I’d distilled my biggest lessons from it into a single acronym: BIBAVÖ. - Balance: Learning to deploy my time and energy effectively, while avoiding burnout and anxiety. - Integration: Learning to take direction not just from my head, but also from the wisdom in my gut. - Boundaries: Learning which limits I need to set in order t

In January I surfed for the first time. Even with having been born and raised on an island, it’s something I kept filed away for “someday.” But as I tallied notes from my journaling during the previous year, I was reminded of one of the most impactful highlights I’ve ever made: Someday is just a thought. One morning, bright and early with boards in hand, an instructor led me and two others across the beach to take instructions on the sand. He had us lay face down on our b

In November I had a five-thousand-pound failure. Over two years ago I started a small transportation business; renting out a van to musicians. After a successful first year, I scaled to two vehicles earlier this spring. Already working a full-time job, this growing side gig meant transferring hours from the time I had to write and make music, onto business. Here it comes! I thought, my road to financial independence! Halfway through year two, one of my vehicles became undriv