“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this…I can take the next thing that comes along.“
Eleanor Roosevelt
While none of us wish for fear–and many of us avoid it at all cost–it is true that we grow from experiences that make us feel afraid. (more…)
“We are what we repeatedly do.“ Aristotle
Think about how you spend an ordinary day. Much of our time is filled with things we repeatedly do! Aristotle reminds us that as we take actions over and over again, they become our habit of living and finally our way of being. (more…)
“President Obama has announced that Sonia Sotomayor
is his nominee for the Supreme Court.“
Yesterday, after several weeks of consideration, President Obama introduced us to the woman he is nominating as the next Supreme Court Justice. (more…)
“There are a hundred ways
to kneel and kiss the ground.”
Rumi
This quote, from the Middle Eastern poet Rumi, hangs above my desk as inspiration. Written to suggest that holiness is not prescribed but can instead be expressed in any number of ways, it is also a mantra for how to live creatively. (more…)
”Regard your soldiers as your children…
look on them as your own beloved sons
and they will follow you even unto death.”
Sun Tzu
Today is Memorial Day. The day for aging WWII and Vietnam vets to polish their medals, memorialize sargeants, call old friends. A day for men and women who fought in Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan to remember their comarades, rub their regrets, wear their honor. Today, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers of amazing young adults lost in battle will dust off portraits of their special heroes, then tell their stories hoping they will never be forgotten. And on military bases around the world, soldiers will enjoy a good meal, shoulder chuck one another in pride, reread love letters, talk to family by phone or online.
The rest of us will mark the day too. (more…)
“When you don’t want to do something
one excuse is as good as another.”
Yiddish proverb
This quote is a reminder that we have more control over our lives that we would sometimes like to admit!
Do you have things stay on your to-do lists: paying bills, homework, housework, a phone call, repairs, losing weight, making a life change, serving your community? Many of us claim the reason for things not getting done is lack of time or money or sleep or help or even good weather, but most of the time our excuses don’t hold up to scrutiny. If we’re honest, we know there are things, as the proverb above aptly suggests, we just don’t want to do!
If you have something you keep putting off, it’s worth doing a self-check to see why. (more…)
When you are the anvil, bear;
when you are the hammer, strike.”
Edwin Markham
“The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.”
Japanese proverb
“While the hammer drives the nail,
it is the nail that finds its way into the wood.”
As we work together to solve dilemmas in our families, our places of work and even our world, things go best when we each have a role to play. What an interesting metaphor develops if we think of ourselves as items in a woodshed. Hammer, anvil, nail –each type of tool and person serves a purpose. Though our social roles change in different circumstances with a little more flexibility than an iron tool, because of our natural abilities, we frequently tend to choose (or be given) one kind of responsibility or another! (more…)
“Human history is in essence a history of ideas.”
H. G. Wells
Most of us, when we look back in time, have periods that intrigue us — prehistoric epochs, Biblical Times, the 1700s, WW II, the 60s. (more…)
“Creativity is a lot like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You look at a set of elements — the same ones everyone else sees — but then you reassemble those floating bits and pieces into an enticing new possibility.”
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
In this time of financial crisis and the need for innovative solutions, creativity is perhaps the most crucial strategy for our leaders and our communities. Personal problems are no different; sometimes the best approach is to set aside our old conceptions and create new possibilities. (more…)
Have you heard these words? We say them when we care deeply about a person or are moved by the plight of a group of people in a difficult situation. The wonderful idea created is that we send our heart – that keeper of our spirituality, our emotions, our souls — to be shared with someone else! (more…)
