being better
Listen Completely
“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” ― Ernest Hemingway “Graaanddaaaddy, Mother says you’re a reeal cowboy. Is that truue?” The words are mine, but the voice is one of so long ago that I hardly recognize that little girl with the thick southern drawl. Listening to the tape made long before we could […]
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Stories that Matter
“When we deny our stories and disengage from tough emotions, they don’t go away; instead, they own us, they define us. Our job is not to deny the story, but to defy the ending—to rise strong…” ~Brene Brown “This is deep,” my friend said and sent a video my way. I watched without sound and […]
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A Little Good News
“One more sad story’s one more than I can stand Just once how I’d like to see the headline say “Not much to print today, can’t find nothin’ bad to say” ~ Rory Michael Bourke, Charlie Black, Tommy Rocco Good Morning! On my walk… The bluebirds were flying between the field and a fence, eating worms […]
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Hitting a Home Run
“Somebody once asked me if I ever went up to the plate trying to hit a home run. I said, “Sure, every time.” ~ Mickey Mantle When the football team takes the field, they take it planning to win the game, yet one team will lose. Every swimmer, runner, dancer, gymnast wants to win the […]
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Behaving Badly
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Watching and listening to the tirade of a newsman recently, I felt embarrassed for the normally calm (on camera) man. The leaked clip of his humanness played across the screen for all the internet world to […]
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The Permission Slip
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” ― Marcus Aurelius It will take a few weeks to get the pictures of people lost and wandering in the flooded streets and yards out of my mind. It will take longer for them to get a clear […]
Read MoreHelping and Being Helped
“Never underestimate the difference you can make in the lives of others. Step forward, reach out and help. This week reach to someone that might need a lift.”– Pablo He arrived with nothing. He was helpless. He had no clothes, he had no words to express his needs, all he knew to do was cry. She […]
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Hum a Little Diddy
“Who hears music, feels his solitude peopled at once.” ― Robert Browning The local university was hosting Freedom Sings, a project of the First Amendment Center. Their description says, “American history meets rock ‘n roll to put together a remarkable story…about how guitars and drums changed the path of history because they were accompanied by […]
Read MoreShow Up for You and for Them
“The willingness to show up changes us, It makes us a little braver each time.” ― Brené Brown Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh were climbing in a tree one night, and Christopher Robin said to Pooh, “You’re braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. But the most important […]
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Shedding the Skin that No Longer Fits
The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come… We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.– Joseph Campbell A lawyer in New Orleans took his family to a small town in North Carolina as temporary […]
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Thoughts to Encourage
Nothing helps like a good nap…
Birds are Beautiful
A Dog is Faithful…
