Own your typhoon
“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. …
Mind the gap
“Compassionate action starts with seeing yourself when you start to make yourself right and when you start to make yourself wrong. At that point you could just contemplate the fact that there is a larger alternative to either of those, a more tender, shaky kind of place where you could …
Study for the essay questions
“It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.” – Alec Bourne, A Doctor’s Creed Way back when I was learning my ABCs, names of state capitals, and the preamble to the U.S. Constitution at happy Hillcrest Elementary School way up there on …
Let go of your legal pad
“The best things in life are not things.” – C. & J. Woods On Sunday, August 28, 2005, as I cleaned Cheerios off the kitchen floor for the 59th time, and just after the contents of a 12.5 fluid ounce glass bottle of maple syrup were ceremoniously unleashed onto that …
Say WOW when you see a bus
“As once the wingéd energy of delight / carried you over childhood’s dark abysses, now beyond your own life build the great arch / of unimagined bridges.” –Rainer Maria Rilke There is a pure and shining glory in the world of my 2-year-old daughter, Tess. It is called a bus, …
Roll on the floor
"Perspective is worth 80 IQ points." – Alan Kay (American computer scientist and researcher) My daughter Emma and I watched a show on Animal Planet last Saturday that made me laugh. Then it made me think. And then it made me realize I had laughed because I could identify with …
Search for beneficial surprise
Every summer, I escape to the beautiful countryside outside Portland, Oregon, to teach for a few weeks at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication. It’s a fantastic learning space, with people from all over the world. This summer, I’ll teach two 5-day courses: one from July 25-29 on “Building Effective …
Get off the ship
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do." –Eleanor Roosevelt In the fall of 1988, I sailed around the world. Actually, that sounds more romantic and rugged …
