Today, as I begin the second year of my seventh decade—with kind and generous missives filling my microscopic corner of Cyberspace—I struggle to understand the clash of gratitude and sadness with which I sit. A few hours ago, Judi and I left “Charm City”, the place our daughter has taken up residence for two …
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 …
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 …
If it was that easy, we would all do it, and put an end to much of human misery. The world can be frightening for any of us, but for teens who are struggling to awaken to who they are in the world, it’s especially difficult. Recently, a courageous young man led a conversation with …
Intimacy is being seen and known as the person you truly are. Amy Bloom In my February blog entitle “On Being Fully Human,” I wrote about three leaders, each of whom allowed inhumanity to slip into the “edges” of their lives. When I penned those words, I had not yet read Isaacson’s …
I’m Still Standing: How One Woman’s Brushes with Death Taught Her How To Live by Kelly Standing. In the spirit of full disclosure, I know Kelly Standing…at least in small measure. She and I were cohorts at Speaker University, a wonderful series produced by the Illinois Chapter of the National Speakers Association. For that, the …
At Operation Snowball, the teens call the exercise “Sex in a Fishbowl,” but it’s not some weird, erotic game. They divide the room sending males to one side with females facing them from the other. Everyone scribbles questions they would like their counterparts of the opposite sex to answer, and places them into a …
I have been thinking a great deal about what it means to be wrong since reading Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz. The author asks a fascinating question. What does it feel like to be wrong? Her answer? It feels the same as being right, because before we realize …
What appears below was published recently in Neighbors of Batavia magazine. On July 13, separated by a mere 22 minutes, calls arrived at the Batavia Fire Department announcing that the community it had lost two of its elders. On that warm summer day, we lost one who, through her extraordinary life of generosity, created much …
What appears below was published recently in Neighbors of Batavia magazine. “It must have been a place so dark you couldn’t feel the light, reaching for you through that stormy cloud.” Country Music Group Rascal Flatts In the prior issue of Neighbors (published here on April 12 as “Connections”), I said, “…when a …