October 26, 2016 – A Choice
A Choice "For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile." Eli Wiesel (1928-2016) Romanian-American Jewish writer Eli Wiesel died just a few months ago, after a brilliant and generous life,...
October 19, 2016 – Feeling Anxious?
Feeling Anxious? "Neither comprehension nor learning can take place in an atmosphere of anxiety." Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy(1890-1995) American philanthropist "I try not to worry about the future - so I take each day just one anxiety attack at a time." Tom Wilson...
September 28, 2016 – A Friend
A Friend "When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender...
September 21, 2016 – Patience
Patience "The practice of patience toward one another, the overlooking of one another's defects, and the bearing of one another's burdens is the most elementary condition of all human and social activity..." Lawrence G. Lovasik (1913-1986) American priest and writer...
September 14, 2016 – Violence
Violence This week for your quiet moments I offer a passage from Thomas Merton's book, "Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander," which gives a different take on the subject of violence: "There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist most easily...
September 7, 2016 – Revision
Revision "Only the hand that erases can write the true thing." Meister Eckhart (1260-1328) German philosopher and mystic I think a good way to discover how open we are to new ideas is to ask ourselves, "How often and how easily do I change my mind about...
August 31, 2016 – Frustration
Frustration "When too many Americans don't vote or participate, some see apathy and despair. I see disappointment and even outrage. And I believe that out of this frustration can come hope and action." Paul Wellstone (1944-2002) Former U.S. Senator from Minnesota ...
August 24, 2016 – Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm "The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm." Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist and philosopher Enthusiasm is irresistible, contagious, exciting, powerful, and the basis...
August 17, 2016 – Playing Together
Playing Together "You have to give 100 percent in the first half of the game. If that isn't enough, in the second half, you have to give what's left." Yogi Berra (1925-2015) New York Yankees catcher As the world watches the Olympic Games from Rio, I believe all...
August 10, 2016 – Something Brilliant
"Something Brilliant" "Here's a relationship booster that is guaranteed to work: Every time your spouse or lover says something stupid make your eyes light up as if you just heard something brilliant." Rumi (1207-1273) Sufi poet and mystic Probably one of the...
August 3, 2016 – Group Thinking
Group Thinking "In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule." Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher Perhaps it's easier to abdicate one's responsibility when there are many others in the group with you,...
July 27, 2016 – Remembering/Forgetting
Remembering/Forgetting This week I offer a passage from a novel by Milan Kundera (Czech/French; 1975- ) titled Slowness, with the hope of offering a logical foundation for my encouragement to slow down the pace of our lives so that we remember what we need --...
July 20, 2016 – Unknown World
Unknown World "Lend your ears to music; Open your eyes to painting, and stop thinking! Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to 'walk about' into a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?" Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)...
July 13, 2016 – Compromise
Compromise "At every party there are two kinds of people -- those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other." ...
July 6, 2016 – The End of Reflection
"The End of Reflection" "Finding moments to engage in contemplative thinking has always been a challenge, since we're distractible." Nicholas Carr (1959- ) American writer Every once in a while -- but increasingly more often -- some piece in the media emphasizes the...
June 29, 2016 – Entrainment
Entrainment "Your body contains an autonomic mechanism that synchs you up with strong, external rhythms, pulses or beats, a phenomenon known as entrainment. Actually we entrain to the rhythms around us all the time, although we are not aware of it most of the time."...
June 22, 2016 – Retirement – Now and Later
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 to enjoy it."...
June 15, 2016 – Waste of Time?
Waste of Time? "Rest is not idleness, and sometimes to lie on the grass under the trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the blue sky, is by no means a waste of time." John Lubbock (1834-1913) English...
June 8, 2016 – Every Day
Every Day "One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. " Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) German writer, statesman I'd say this is not a bad four-fold goal...
June 1, 2016 – Your Stories
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" Tahir Shah...