Retirement: Now and Later "I try to treat each evening and weekend as little slices of retirement because no one is guaranteed a lengthy one at the end of their career. If we wait until retirement to enjoy ourselves, there may not be enough of ourselves...

    Your stories "The only thing that keeps us from floating off with the wind is our stories. They give us a name and put us in a place, allow us to keep on touching." Tom Spanbauer (1946-  ) American writer   "Stories are a communal currency of humanity"...

    All alone "Unlike achieving things worth having, to achieve things worth being usually requires long periods of solitude." Mayer Friedman, Ray Rosenman - American writers (Type A Behavior) Make no mistake, being all alone and still are states that our...

    Internet as Distraction "The Internet is designed to be an interruption system, a machine geared to dividing attention.... We willingly accept the loss of concentration and focus, the division of our attention and the fragmentation of our thoughts in...

    Sold Out "Someone sold us out ‒ but only when we ceased to pay attention." Timothy Findley (1930-2002) The Telling of Lies These words seem to be meant especially for us ‒ we who are alive right now. Being "sold out," means we've been betrayed,...

    Mobile devices "Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; You can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively." Sharon Salzberg (1952-  ) Teacher of Buddhist meditation                                                                      If you think of...

    You Already Know "At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want." Lao Tzu (6th Century poet, founder of Taoism) The challenge is to access that knowledge and understanding; the world has always conspired...

    The Grief of the World “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to finish the work ... but neither are you free to abandon it.” (The Talmud - A collection of Jewish...

    A Problem “I have a real problem with stillness. With just stopping and being quiet.” Gillian Anderson, American actress A lot of people do. In fact, I believe we all do, at one time or another. I understand what I am encouraging here is very challenging...

    Values by Default “The roots of the problems we face in the world, in our national life, and in our family and personal lives, are spiritual.” Stephen Covey (1932-2012) American educator, author, businessman I think the most significant thing about this...

    Counter-Cultural “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.” Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer and humorist “There is a great need for the introduction of new values in our society, where bigger is not...

    Getting It Out “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is in you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” Jesus of Nazareth (Gospel of Thomas: 70) "Not to transmit an experience is...

    Playing “We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything, than when we are at play.” Charles E. Schaefer (1933- ) American psychologist; "Father Play Therapy" I agree with Schaefer. Do you? "Fully alive" ‒...

    Dialogue   “I cannot ever tire of encouraging you to dialogue fearlessly.” Pope Francis (1936- ) Of all the words Pope Francis spoke during a visit to the United States, these are the ones I remember. They were spoken to church leaders, but I...

    Only Now   “The farthest place on earth is the hour that is just over. Make the best use of the hour that has just begun.” Dada Vaswani (1918- ) Hindu author and philosopher You hear a lot these days, at least in spiritual realms, about "being in...

The Fast “The future belongs to the fast.”                                                  Hewlett-Packard advertisement The ad continues, "To help you accelerate, we have created a new company.... Tomorrow belongs to the fast." Now there's nothing wrong with "fast"...

Trickle Down Values A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not.                                                                                                                                                   --American Proverb      You may be reading...

Taking a Shower The old folk crouching by their peat fires will tell their disbelieving grandchildren of standing naked mid-winter under jet streams of hot clean water.  --Ian McEwan (1948-   ) British novelist       That will happen, suggests McEwan as an aside in...