My daughter, Samantha, graduated from Duke a couple of weeks ago. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, was the commencement speaker and gave a great talk. I love that we have guides everywhere. When you’re open to new ideas, a hot morning in a football stadium can turn into a cool well of inspiring thought.
Here were a few of my favorite take-aways from Mr. Cook. Continue reading
If you’re trying to bring more energy into your life, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans prescribe making a fun, mind map in their book Designing Your Life.
It starts off easy! Think back on a time when you felt energized and engaged with life. Continue reading
In Chip and Dan Heath’s The Power of Moments, I love the concept of “tripping over the truth.” There are some truths in our lives we choose to not see. Then we trip over them and the pain of the stumble brings us insight we’d rather not acknowledge. But there it is. You didn’t see it coming but now that you’ve stumbled over it you recognize it as a truth that’s probably part of a larger pattern. Continue reading
I run the adult programs at our town library, and one of my favorites is a new Songwriting Workshop. The leader, Jud Caswell, has mad skills at being able to hear what someone plays and sings, then offering bits of advice that seem small but that help immensely.
Last week, Jud offered this advice to stop procrastination in its tracks: Continue reading
Is it too mysterious to think that for every major choice in your life where you headed off in a new direction that you also continued in the original direction?
That you simultaneously went to more than one college.
That you have your current friends and you have friends from that other life, the one you’re not living.
That you got divorced and you stayed with your ex. Continue reading
Do you ever have one of those days, or weeks, or months, where everything seems out of control? People tell you not to worry, that, “Mercury’s in retrograde.” And you’re like, “My life is in retrograde!”
When you’re faced with the overwhelming, it helps to picture your mind as a big sky – vast, and limitless. And this “thing” that’s happening? It’s such a small thing in that vast sky. The “thing” isn’t everything. It’s a tiny piece of a big sky. That’s everything.
And that immovable block? What can you build on it? Continue reading
“Some trees spread root systems underground that interconnect individual trunks and weave individual trees into a more stable whole that can’t so easily be blown down in the wind. Stories and conversations are like those roots.”
~ Rebecca Solnit, from The Mother of All Questions
So here’s the thing. If you’re facing a fear or a dilemma, and you think your options are “fight or flight,” consider a third option: “Gather.” Gather for solidarity. Gather for advice. Gather for support. Continue reading
In case you were wondering, I have to say something about my last post that started with the mysterious “444444444.” Does anyone else work on a computer where your cat stretches out between the monitor and the keyboard? And MOST of the time it’s okay? Yeah, well right as I hit “publish” last week, Flynn stretched out and added his little signature line, which is apparently, “444444444.” And once you hit “publish” in a blog post, there’s no going back. So from Flynn to you, I wish you a very happy “444444444.” And now on to to my current post 🙂
A common regret you hear about from people near the end of their lives is that they didn’t live a life that was true to who they were, and instead lived a life others expected of them.
You don’t want that! You want to go out a big smile on your face because you’ve done the things you’ve dreamed about. You want to think back on the opportunities you created. The people’s lives you touched. The energy you brought to the earth. Continue reading
I’m reading The Element by Ken Robinson and am finding all sorts of deliciousness. Here’s a point I was pondering today.
If you feel most at home in a library, then loving books and loving to read may be your “element,” and your soul may want to be a writer, editor, or publisher. Continue reading
Organizational Habits 