America being behind France in upward mobility is a little bit like France being behind America in Croissants and Afternoon Sex.

Clearly drive, IQ, and hard work are incredibly important. But ultimately what matters most is resilience--the ability to quickly rebound from failures, indeed to see failure as a stepping stone to success.

You can complete a project by dropping it.

As a blogger, Chez Pazienza is filled with outrage, passion and insight -- delivered with a distinctive point of view, a wicked sense of humor, and a two-fisted style of prose. In Dead Star Twilight, he turns all these on himself -- and produces a fierce, funny, disturbing, but ultimately uplifting memoir. This is the book A Million Little Pieces dreamed of being.

When we really connect to that place of wisdom and strength and understanding, everything becomes easier.

We don’t have to wait until we move or change jobs to change our lives. Nor do we have to wait for large-scale, upstream change. We can initiate change right now. There are endless starting points.

I've always said that I think one of the best and cheapest ways to become healthier and happier is through mindfulness exercises like meditation.