Life – a cup at a time
Don’t Believe Me? Read On Anyone who doesn’t live in a bubble has noticed that “common courtesy” seems to have been abandoned in the last several years, giving way to aggressive entitlement. Road rage, out of control airplane passengers, street fights and violent death are all on the rise. Now the pandemic seems to have …
Labels Don’t Tell the Whole Story Labeling is a basic survival activity of our brain. We need labels such as danger, safe, sweet, bitter, and scary. Some of these we learn before we can formulate words for them. Consider the infant who bonds to their mother as a source of food and comfort but startles …
It’s Time to Refine Our Understanding of Stewardship Stewardship is one of those words that can mean so many things to different people. On the secular level, stewardship has come to mean “an ethic that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources,” according to Wikipedia. In many religious circles, stewardship is all about tithes, …
Joy Isn’t What a Lot of People Think It Is I’ve been mulling the idea of joy ever since reading the article The Rachel Hollis Drama Is Why I Don’t Trust Influencers by Bertilla Niveda on Medium. I’m not familiar with Rachel Hollis, but apparently her famous motto is “Choose Joy.” Ms. Niveda’s case against Ms. …
They Really Don’t Belong Inside I had just stepped into the hall on the second floor when I saw the black bear down at the end. Beating a retreat back down the stairs, I started through the sitting room, only to be confronted by a smaller, blondish cinnamon bear coming in from the next room. …
For Us Negative Nellies and Anyone Else Who Wants to Be More Positive I’m not an optimistic person by nature. Partly due to my personality and partly my upbringing, I find it’s easier to see the problems and imagine the pitfalls in any endeavor. But over the years, I have learned that I enjoy being …
Sooner or Later You Must DO Something In the late 1970s, long before self-improvement became a thing, I was traveling in Europe after 2 years of college and struggling with what to do next. Sitting on the beach at the Black Sea, one of my companions told me the following: Say you want to sail …
Seek Better Instead of Normal I realize it’s a bold statement to say that normal doesn’t exist. But stop and think about what normal really is. Is it average? That’s merely a percentage in the middle. By definition, at least two-thirds are on either end. Is it common? But what’s common for your community or …
A Peek into My Process to Conquer Insecurity and Self-criticism People who know me often describe me as strong. I’m calm in a crisis, champion the underdog, and have been strong-willed since childhood — just ask my sisters! What most don’t know is that I have a deep-seated fear of both failure and success. As …
We all need renewal and refreshing from time to time. Missy and I walked in the rain today. The kind of drizzle we called a “dry rain” when I was growing up in Seattle. Enough to spot your glasses and cling to clothes and hair, yet not enough to penetrate through to skin or scalp. …