Last year I wrote about my primary takeaways from listening to Arthur Brooks in conversation with Simon Sinek at an event I attended. The conversation, as I outlined in a prior post, was about the way we can heal our divided world by practicing an approach of loving your enemies…
One lesson that’s been reinforced for me during the pandemic is that new experiences come with fear, uncertainty, and discomfort. The first time I went to the supermarket was unnerving. The second time was a bit easier. The third time easier still. I got into a routine, and while the…
I recently stumbled across two posts I wrote in 2014 about parenting. I enjoyed reading those posts, which had been inspired by my eldest child’s graduation from college, and I am republishing some of that content today. Parents need to be leaders: it's leadership by example. Parents also need to…
I’ve shared parenting suggestions here a few times. Leo Babauta, who writes on his site Zen Habits, is one of my long-time, favorite, personal development writers. Last year, he posted about some of the life lessons he has taught his (now mostly adult) kids—lessons they shared back with him on…
Exposing yourself to new ideas is critical, and if you only read one article this month, I highly recommend this, powerful, important piece by Nikole Hannah-Jones in the New York Times Magazine. This long article is a short way to learn about the injustices Black people have faced in the…
In this horribly sad time of COVID, with so many families experiencing illness and the death of loved ones, by complete coincidence I just finished reading a book about death and dying. Many years ago, I read Complications by Atul Gawande. Gawande is a surgeon and his writing about his…
When my kids were in high school, I wrote a five-part series of "Teenproofing" posts about teens and drinking. The posts include many of my opinions and suggestions including not letting your kids drink in your house. My kids are all in their mid-twenties now, so I haven’t given a…
When I was a teen, I did not read a lot of books. I resented the reading requirements in high school and do not recall enjoying more than the handful of novels I read for pleasure. The reading load in college was overwhelming. I didn’t love most of it, but…
Happy New Year! As I have done for quite a few years, here are some of the many experiences I enjoyed this past year: places I visited, what I listened to, what I read, what I watched, and more. Reading For the last several years I had read fewer and…
As has happened to me many times before, this year I found myself inspired by a eulogy delivered by a friend upon the passing of one of his parents. Every funeral I attend leaves me a better person because of something I learn about the deceased, and their life well…
This past summer, I began an intentional change in my media consumption. As a result, over the months since, I cut back on, or gave up completely, a bunch of activities. I stopped watching late night talk shows. I had been DVRing them, and then watching the opening monologues the…
With summer upon us, I wanted to write, as I did last summer at this time, about the importance of taking time off from work. I was fortunate to have participated for many years in Strategic Coach, a personal and professional development program where I learned, among many other things, the…