It is so very difficult. When I witness anger and hatred boiling out of a mass of humanity, as that which flooded my life on January 6, part of me wants to turn away and remain in denial. Another part sets out, with the rest of me as an unwitting accomplice, to hate those who …
I began as I always do…“Thank you for calling the depression hotline. How can I help?” The young man at the other end sounded disappointed; he had hoped to discuss, not depression, but anger management. He had just left a store and was sitting in his car, overwhelmed with anger and self-loathing. Moments earlier, he …
There are moments that emerge unexpectedly that remind me to slow and be witness to miracles. Many years ago, I published an interview with a favorite author, Peter Block. One of the most touching moments came when I asked about his children. He said, “I always knew that the kids were the most important thing …
Note: I am submitting this for publication in the November/December issue of Neighbors of Batavia magazine. “Imagination is the organ that allows us to thrive on the cusp between danger and opportunity.” Lee Smolin in Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe Every morning we wake into a world fraught …
No matter what tragedy people are experiencing, their suffering is alleviated when they learn that others are standing with them. Some of my best teachers of this truth have been younger leaders. One in her twenties said, “How we are going is important, not where. I want to go together and with faith.”* Many …
The World is Better for Our Being Rather than Our Doing Read More »
A recent, innocent-sounding Facebook message from a friend brought back a childhood memory…one I was not eager to relive. But the experience is teaching me a great deal about what it means to be alive. The message pointed me to two TED.com talks by Brené Brown. If you have not spent time with TED …
I have been reading Choosing Gratitude: Learning to Love the Life You Have, a wonderful new book by a favorite author, James Autry. He penned an essay entitled “To Serve & Protect” in which he speaks of the difficulties of the honorable profession of being a police officer. In my work related to suicide prevention …
Note: This article will appear in the September-October issue of Neighbors of Batavia magazine. How are you doing? Before you answer, think carefully…there might be more at stake than you think. I might be wrong, but there is a good chance your immediate response would have been to a question other than the …
Too often, that which has the capacity to make our lives most fulfilling leaves us precisely when we need it most. I was reminded recently that in any two-person conversation, at least six personalities show up. On your end are two versions of you: (P1) the real you—the person you are in that place of …
Note: The following is being published this week in the March issue of Batavia Business, the monthly publication of the Batavia Chamber of Commerce. When I began these words, I would have thought that being human and being inhuman were opposites and mutually exclusive. But now I wonder. The spectrum of words that define “inhuman” range …