Love
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Podcast Episode: WannaHug — Values-Driven Shopping With a Twist
Note. The underlying article can be found at https://ajprokop.com/2026/08/10/wannahug-values-driven-shopping-with-a-twist/ Second note. I am disappointed that Mara fails to mention that William is the founder of WannaHug. This is still beta technology and I am unable to correct that with specific prompting. Pip: There is a company out there that will sell you a hoodie and… Continue reading
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WannaHug — Values-Driven Shopping With a Twist
You can’t make positive choices for the rest of your life without an environment that makes those choices easy, natural, and enjoyable. Deepak Chopra As a child, I loved going grocery shopping with Mom. I would like to think she appreciated my help, but for her it may simply have been a chance to spend… Continue reading
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Podcast Episode: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Note: The underlying article can be found at https://ajprokop.com/2026/07/27/knockin-on-heavens-door/ Pip: There’s a moment when you realize you’ve been closer to the end than the beginning for a while now — and instead of panicking, you sit down and pick funeral songs. Mara: That’s exactly where Andrew Prokop takes us today. The episode covers one extended… Continue reading
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Podcast Episode: July Meditations, Reflections, Travelogue, and Scrapbook
Note: The underlying article can be found at https://ajprokop.com/2026/07/13/july-meditations-reflections-travelogue-and-scrapbook/ Pip: July — the month where some of us turn another year older, and at least one of us turns it into an entire philosophy of living. Mara: That’s the territory Andrew Prokop covers in his latest post — birthday inventory, a long-running Lake Superior tradition,… Continue reading
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July Meditations, Reflections, Travelogue, and Scrapbook
My life, I realize suddenly, is July. Childhood is June, and old age is August, but here it is, July, and my life, this year, is July inside of July. Rick Bass July is very important to me. First and foremost, it is the month I was born. It’s hard to imagine what Mom endured… Continue reading
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Podcast Episode: Redefining Productivity
Note: The underlying article can be found at https://ajprokop.com/2026/07/06/redefining-productivity/ Pip: What does it mean to have a productive day when nobody’s keeping score anymore? That question turns out to be a lot harder than it sounds. Mara: Andrew Prokop takes it on directly in this episode — we’re looking at what productivity actually means once… Continue reading
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Redefining Productivity
You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful. Marie Curie During… Continue reading
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The Burden We Call Love
The burden which is well borne becomes light. Ovid At a recent gathering with a few male friends, our freewheeling conversation turned towards aging and caring for those who are no longer able to look after themselves. As is common, and somewhat expected with a group of white Americans, someone almost immediately said, “I don’t… Continue reading
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Podcast Episode: Free Range Retirement
Note: The underlying article can be found at Free Range Retirement. Pip: There’s a quote that opens the post we’re covering today: “The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.” Which, honestly, sounds less like a warning and more like a sales pitch. Mara: Andrew Prokop is two years into retirement… Continue reading
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Free Range Retirement
The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off. Abe Lemons I love a good coming of age story. It doesn’t matter if it comes in the form of a movie, book, or song. I love thinking about the transition from one way of living to something completely different. In many ways,… Continue reading
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Randomness
This wretched brain gave way, and I became a wreck at random driven, without one glimpse of reason or heaven. Thomas Moore Linda and I are up at Lake Sallie for our annual cabin opening extended weekend. This involves cleaning up mouse poop, putting patio furniture back into place, coordinating with plumbers and dock installers,… Continue reading
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Healthy Sexuality
Sexuality is one of the ways that we become enlightened, actually, because it leads us to self-knowledge. Alice Walker Note: I tried to not use the word “sexuality” in the title of this article, but the alternates were either too clunky or sounded as if I was trying too hard to sound clever. “Life is… Continue reading
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My Future Self
You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. Abraham Lincoln A little more than a week ago, I attended a retreat for older men. We discussed a number of topics during the course of the day, but the one that stood out the most was developing and maintaining healthy sexuality. Due to… Continue reading
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Point and Click
Looking through some photographs I found inside a drawerI was taken by a photograph of youThere were one or two I know that youWould have liked a little moreBut they didn’t show your spirit quite as trueYou were turning around to see who was behind youAnd I took your childish laughter by surpriseAnd at the… Continue reading
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On Finding the Sacred
There are four questions of value in life, Don Octavio. What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love. Lord Byron If you have been following along with my Coming Of Age journey, you are… Continue reading
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Rising to the Level of Love
Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. Tao Tzu I recently finished reading Luis Alberto Urrea’s The House of Broken Angels. Like most books I read these days, I found it in one of the many Little Free Libraries scattered around my neighborhood. Thankfully, I live among… Continue reading
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Where Do We Go From Here?
Some of them knew pleasure. Some of them knew pain. And for some of them, it was only the moment that mattered. Jackson Browne Minnesota is in the news again. Nearly six years ago it was for the murder of George Floyd. This past June, a crazed gunman shot and killed state representative Melissa Hortman,… Continue reading
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We’ll Have to Muddle Through Somehow
There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. Erma Bombeck Thursday will be my first Christmas without Mom. I have been facing this realization since her death earlier in the year, but the awareness has become more intense with each passing day. I can’t stop thinking about… Continue reading
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On Beloved Community
Love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the ‘fight with fire’ method is bitterness and chaos, the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and creation of the beloved community. Yes , love — which means understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill, even for one’s enemies-is… Continue reading
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Ten Thousand and One Reasons
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always. Mahatma Gandhi Preamble There is no denying it. We live in difficult times.… Continue reading
Can You Hear Me Now 