mindfulness

Stop Assuming the Worst. Invite the Best of Life into Your View!

“Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won’t come in.” ― Alan Alda Growing up in a tiny Tennessee town with a mother who was a sweet Sooner from Oklahoma and a father who was a brilliant Boilermaker from Indiana, I was exposed […]

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All work and no play…the secret to society’s failings?

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” ― Plato Mac and Nano are two funny fellas.  When we arrive at Nano’s to visit, Mac is literally wiggling like a worm in his excitement.  As soon as the leash is unlatched from his collar, Mac […]

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You Never Know Who’s in Your Rear View Mirror

“Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.” — Thomas Jefferson Do you remember the John Grisham novel, The Firm, where the husband and wife were having to write notes to each other rather than speak out loud in their house?  Their home had been bugged, and everything they said could be overheard […]

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Right Here. Right Now.

“If you want to get something done, ask a busy person.” Benjamin Franklin “What is the biggest obstacle facing the family right now? It is over-commitment; time pressure. There is nothing that will destroy family life more insidiously than hectic schedules and busy lives…”  James Dobson   Is my to-do list ready for tomorrow?  Is […]

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Collaboration vs Competition

“Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes  You sit in your office and the younger gentleman or woman comes to you for advice on a project.  Will you help them?  You cook a wonderful dish and your friend wants to know how to […]

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Just looking for my place in the world

“He could not return to living full-time with the Dursleys, not now that he knew the other world, the one to which he really belonged.” ― J.K. Rowling   If we can utter the words I’m a member, we are also saying that we are not outsiders, not visitors, and that we belong.  It would […]

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It’s Your Grief

“The wound is the place where the light enters you.” – Rumi Grief can be a dark and heavy word.  I was responding on Facebook to a friend’s loss recently, and it hit me.  Just as people in my youth didn’t have to contend with social media to add to embarrassments, just as friendships in […]

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Every Member of the Cast

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else – Charles Dickens As I went through the photos of a play I attended recently, I was reminded of something I’ve known for a long time:  every member of the cast, the team, and the community matters.  In the […]

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Don’t be Mean

“She said, ‘I walked out of Auschwitz into life…I will never say anything that couldn’t stand as the last thing I ever say.” ~Benjamin Zander, Lessons from Auschwitz   Today, I will speak good words.  It’s that simple, after all, isn’t it?  I just decide I want to speak kindness into others’ lives, and it […]

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Leadership and Accountability for Us All

“Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls the greater.”― Mark Twain There is no law that says you must be an honest person, but there are laws that will punish you when you are dishonest in certain situations. The question I come away with after seeing Twain’s quote, though, is Why do people need […]

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Thoughts to Encourage

Joy is the will which labors, which overcomes obstacles, which knows triumph.~ William Butler Yeats

Whether you think you can or think you can’t you’re right. - Henry Ford

The best way out is always through. ~ Robert Frost

Real difficulties can be overcome, it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. ~ Theodore N. Vail

Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

You must be the change you want to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi

Nothing helps like a good nap…

Birds are Beautiful

A Dog is Faithful…