On This Planet: Unlikely Teachers and Hidden Gifts
The game of “Let’s Pretend” is a game we probably all played as children. I think we continue to play as adults—we just forget we’re playing.
Support for life’s “key” moments.
The game of “Let’s Pretend” is a game we probably all played as children. I think we continue to play as adults—we just forget we’re playing.
A good friend gave me a book last week, thinking I might like it. The book is “Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion” by Jesuit Priest Gregory Boyle about his work with gangs in Los Angeles, CA. Reading the first chapters in the early spring sun this morning at Beach Pea in Kittery, Maine, I feel calm and centered and blessed.
When stakes are high, we often hold back because we’re afraid we’ll make a mistake, look foolish, hurt others, or get hurt ourselves. Using the Aikido metaphor, we’re afraid of falling down.
In Aikido, falling is an art form—the art of ukemi (receiving). We don’t see falling down as failure, because we don’t see what we’re doing as a contest.
In a recent workshop with a highly-respected engineering firm, the HR director asked if I had any suggestions about defusing employees who come to her “hot under the collar.” This is what I suggested…
Until you notice you’ve been hooked, you can’t do anything about it. You will unconsciously act out the emotion the same way each time because you aren’t there. But! When you can see yourself, even after the fact …. Ah! Everything is different. Because now you have awareness.
When I choose a new emotional response and repeat it often enough — no, I won’t scream, I’ll breathe and center instead — I form a new habit. I move from impulsive to intelligent behavior.
If you’re contemplating confronting a coworker, friend, family member, or even someone you don’t know very well, this 7-step checklist will help you address the issue respectfully and take care of yourself in the bargain.
You sit down to Thanksgiving dinner with the best of intentions. You want to savor the stuffing and delight in the pumpkin pie. You know you have a long list of blessings to count. But then it happens . . . your mom treats you like a child, your uncle insults your political beliefs, and your brother, whom you haven’t seen in months, asks if you’ve put on a few pounds.
I am given many dance partners in life. Whether the dance is easy or difficult is influenced at least in part by me.
I received a hopeful inquiry from a visitor to my Website recently.