My dear father-in-law is currently in surgery — open heart surgery to repair his dissected (torn) aorta. And we are sitting in the hospital totally happy! Lester M. Dunning (initials LMD, aka Lucky Mr Dunning) has been healthy for 80 years, until eight weeks ago when he *thought* he hurt his back making a difficult … Read more
Two ends of a flight. Picture this. 1. Flying out of Miami International airport on a bright, sunny day, flying north, in a small plane: To the left, smooth lines — the white strip of beach, parallel lines of orange and sand colored art deco buildings, fringed in green, green, green. Beyond: the muddy green-brown … Read more
I’m on a road trip, and have a schedule that initially caused me some concern — where will I have time to take care of myself? Tight flight schedules, early morning conference starts, group meals, and the extra time required to navigate an unfamiliar city often conspire to reduce or eliminate self-care time. Still, I … Read more
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main….”
I recently came across this short poem by John Donne, which I memorized in junior high school and am still able to recite (mostly) today. It’s always meant a great deal to me, to know that I am, always, a part of something much bigger than I.
Although the passage speaks of death, my ‘read’ of it is much more about how we all connect. We are emotional creatures, all linked to one another in deeper ways than most of us admit or realize….
It’s the end of a coaching conversation, and my client confesses, “I notice this whole conversation has been about me. Usually I’m working on everybody else and what they need. I like it… but I’m really uncomfortable.” She’s in her mid-40’s and in all that time it’s never been about her. What she hears in … Read more
I was delivering a talk on Happiness. When I asked people to consider, “what gets in the way of your happiness?” one man said, “Time. I am so stressed and have so much to do, I don’t have time to do any of the stuff that makes me happy.” OK, so let’s establish something: Happiness … Read more
I found this story on the web, and just had to share! “There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. ”Well,” she said, ” I think I’ll braid my hair today.” So she did, and she had a wonderful … Read more
It was exactly four years ago — 10:10 AM on a Monday morning — that my world got knocked off its axis. That was the moment a police officer came knocking on my door to tell me that my daughter had been in an accident. Later that morning we learned she had died of a … Read more
This is about a little miracle — in the midst of a bad economy. My wife and I bought another house (a foreclosure) in our neightborhood a few years ago. After rehabbing it we rented it out. The tenants — who were decent sorts — recently moved, but after fixing all the problems they left … Read more
The Akron Marathon is this weekend, and I have two clients and several friends who are running. Should be a gorgeous weekend! Thinking about marathons reminded me of a recent discussion I was part of. I was a guest on a local public radio station show two months ago. The Sound of Ideas topic was … Read more